THORP-MARKET.
William Earl Warren was lord, and Ralph held of him at the
survey, 2 carucates of land, which a freeman of Stigand the Archbishop
held in the reign of the Confessor, and was deprived of at the conquest,
4 villains, 24 bordarers, and one servus belonged to it, there were 2
carucates in demean, 3 among the tenants, and paunage for 40 swine,
2 acres of meadow, 2 mills, one skep of bees, 2 runci, 3 cows, 20 goats,
&c. and 5 socmen with 32 acres of land, and a carucate; also a church
endowed with 10 acres, valued in the whole, then, at 40s. but at the
survey at 8l. The said Earl had also here and in Mundesley and
Trunch, 19 freemen, 3 of which were only under protection or commendation, but the rest all paid customary dues in King Edward's
time, and R. Mallet laid claim to these men. (fn. 1) Pauline Peyver was
lord, and a judge in King Edward the Third's reign; built at Tuddington in Bedfordshire a magnificent manor-house, &c. of stone, with
a park, garden, &c.
The family of de Peyvere were enfeoffed of this lordship, under the
Earl Warren; it appears by an original receipt of Sir John de Grey,
lord of Wrast in Bedfordshire, dated 1257, that he had the wardship
and marriage of John Peyvere, son and heir of Lord Pauline Peyvere,
and Mr. Peter Peyvere, one of Pauline's executors, paid then to Sir
John, 100 marks, (a very great sum at that time) by way of release of
the said wardship and marriage, and for certain goods and chattels,
late Pauline's.
This family of de Peyvere descend from Roger, the great Bishop of
Salisbury, in the reign of King Stephen, who had a son by Maud de
Ramsbury, his harlot, called Roger de Paupere Censu, chancellor of
England, whose son, Sir Walter, was lord of Odington, in Oxfordshire,
—Kennet's Parochial Antiq.
Sir John having married to his 2d wife Joan, widow of the said
Pauline, by whom he had no issue; (fn. 2) but by his first wife he had a
daughter, afterwards married to John de Peyvere the minor. The
said Pauline died in the aforesaid year; he was lord of Wendlebury
in Oxfordshire, and one of the King's justices in the 33d of Henry
III. when a fine was levied before the King in person present, Ralph
Fitz-Nicholas, John de Lexington, Pauline Peyvere, seneschal, Henry
de Bath, Jeremy de Caxton, and Henry de Bracton, the King's justices
which Henry was author of the famous treatise—De Consuetudinibus
Anglicanis.
William de Peyvere, a younger son (as I take it) of Pauline, was
lord; and in 52 of Henry III. recovered damages of the bailiff of
Gimmingham, for distraining in this town, and in Roughton, which
lordship he held in demean; in the 3d of Edward I. he claimed royal
privileges, a gallows, assise, a mercate and a fair, and died before the
20th of that King, when Margaret his late widow, then the wife of
Gilbert Hacon, claimed her third's in this town.
John was son and heir of William, who in the 30th of the aforesaid
King, granted by deed, on Tuesday next after the feast of the nativity
of the blessed Virgin Mary, to Sir Walter de Norwich, some pasture
ground, by way of exchange, and in 31st of that King, a piece of land
called Bygot's in Thorp, for 30l.
In the 30th of the said King, John de Broghton, by a fine levied at
York, passed to the said Walter, 12 messuages, 57 acres and an half
of land, 2 of meadow, 5 and an half of wood, 4 of pasture, and
59s. 1d. ob. rent in Thorp Mercate and Bradfield, with 2s. rent out
of the profits of the mercate. This was a distinct lordship from that
of Peyvere's, but held of the Earl Warren, and in the 5th of Edward
II. Sir Walter had a grant of free warren.
In the 16th of Edward II. 2 parts of this manor were settled on
William de Peyvere, and Hawys his wife, by their trustees, with a mill;
in the 30th of Edward III. Richard de Kent, and Isabell his wife,
convey the 3d part of this manor to Sir John Repps; and in the 3d
of Henry IV. Edmund Reedesham, John de Repps, &c. held the manor
of Thorp Market, by the service of one fee of the heirs of John Peyvere, and he of the Lord Say, who held it of the dutchy of Lancaster;
and John Repps of Hering fleet had the 3d part of it in 1473, from
whom it came to his son Henry, as in South Repps.
Sir John Heveningham, and Elizabeth his wife, settled by fine,
1441, on Robert Rands, and Cecilia his wife, the 3d part of the manor
of Redesham, in this town. This Elizabeth was daughter and heir
of Sir John Reedesham, by Alice, daughter and coheir of Sir John de
Repps; after this, it came to the Greshums, and Sir John Gresham,
Knt. and lord mayor of London, in 1547, died seized of it, October
23, 1556; he was son of John Gresham of Holt, Esq. by Alice his
wife, (daughter of Alexander, and heir to her brothers John and William Blith of Stratton in Norfolk, and John was son of James Gresham, Gent. of Holt, by Margery, daughter of William Billingford,
Esq. of Blackford-Hall, in Stoke, Norfolk; and John Gresham, Gent.
of Gresham in Norfolk, was father of the said James. Sir John, by
Mary his wife, daughter and coheir of Thomas Ipswell, had several
children, and left this lordship to Edmund his 3d son, who died lord
in 1586, whose son, Sir Richard Gresham, by Joan his wife, daughter
of Augustine Hind, alderman of London, inherited it, who married
Ann, daughter of Thomas Crofts, Esq. of Saxham Parva, in Suffolk,
whose sons dying without issue, Elizabeth their sister and coheir,
brought it by marriage to Henry Page, Esq. of Saxthorp in Norfolk,
councellor at law, whose son John Page, Esq. was lord in 1695, and
at his death, left it to his son, Gresham Page, Esq. of Saxthorp.
Coxford-Priory Manor.
This was given to the priory on the foundation thereof, by Sir John
de Cheney, the founder. In the 9th of Edward II. the prior sued
persons for fishing here; the temporalities in 1428, were valued at
106s. 4d. At the Dissolution it was granted by King Henry VIII.
on May 9, in his 29th year to Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk;
Edmund Gresham died seized of it, as was found by an inquisition
taken at Norwich, June 7, ao. 29 Elizabeth, and of the manor of
Thorp Mercate and Bradfield, with the manors of Sandersted, and
Wallingham in Surry.
Sir Thomas Richardson afterwards possessed it, and sold it to Sir
Thomas Rant, who married —, daughter of — Burwell of Rougham in Suffolk, and dying without issue, it came to William Rant,
M. D. whose son, Sir William Rant, held it in 1692; he married
Elizabeth, daughter of William de Grey of Merlon, Esq. and left 2
daughters and coheirs, Elizabeth and Jane; Jane married to Harbord
Cropley, Esq. and Elizabeth, to Robert Britiff, Esq. councellor at
law, at Norwich.
In Thorp, Robert Grenon, had at the survey, 40 acres of land and
one of meadow, of which 7 freemen were deprived, and Osbert held
it under Robert, with 40 acres of land, one acre of meadow, and one
carucate, valued at 12s. (fn. 3)
The Church is dedicated to St. Margaret, was a rectory, and
being granted to the priory of Coxford, by Jeffrey Lord Say, who
married Alice, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir John de Cheney, the founder, was appropriated to it, and a vicarage settled; the
rectory was valued at 18 marks, the vicarage at 15s. and paid Peterpence, 9d.; the vicar had a manse with 3 acres of land, and the rectory 13 acres; the present valor of the vicarage is 5l. 11s. 1d. ob. and
is discharged.
Vicars.
Walter Atte Strete occurs vicar in the 16th of Edward I.
1324, Richard de Rudham instituted, presented by the prior of
Coxford.
1356, Bartholomew de Norton. Ditto.
1361, Bened. de Kempston.
John Baldwyn, vicar.
1368, Jeffrey de Toftrys.
Richard Mason, vicar.
1381, Edmund Heyford.
1391, Robert Stanhow.
1400, Stephen Honyter.
1401, Thomas Hildebrond.
1405, John Benet.
1411, John de Mateshale.
1417, Robert Ware.
1422, Thomas Brightmer
1430, John Hert.
1432, John Grane.
1437, Roger Hawe.
1459, Robert Keson.
1536, William Munds.
Robert Barton, vicar.
1555, Cuthbt. Dales, by the Bishop, a lapse.
Bernard Hargar, vicar; in 1603, he returned 64 communicants.
1603, Edmund Bury, by the Bishop, a lapse.
1608, Richard Youngsband, by Bartholomew Thompson, and Thomas Woorts.
1615, William Comfort. Ditto.
1625, Edward Hall, by the Bishop, a lapse.
1626, Robert Chawmer, by Edward Tompson, and Richard Wiggot.
1634, Thomas Colby, by Roger Wiggot.
John Dibald, vicar.
1680, Jos. Ward, by Sir William Rant.
1690, John Oliver. Ditto.
1692, Michael Hart, by Sir William Rant.
1700, Thomas Martin Ditto.
1705, Samuel Salter. Ditto.
1709, Theoph. Rice. Ditto.
1748, Thomas Woodger, by Sir William Harbord.
On a large black marble tomb-stone,
This stone covers the dust of William Rant, Dr. of physick, and fellow of the college of Physicians in London, who after that he had there
exercised his art with much honour and success for full 20 years, upon
the 15 day of September, 1653, and in the 49 year of his age, finished
the race of his life at Norwich, where he first took breath to run it.—
Under this stone also do lye the ashes of his dear wife Jane, 3d daughter of Sir John Dingley, Kt. of Wolverton in Hampshire; she ended
this life on the 11th of June, 1656: they left issue, William and Jane.
A grave-stone with a brass plate,
For Edmund Gresham, Esq. who died August—, 1586.
In the church these arms; azure, on a chevron, gules, three boars
heads couped, between three cross crosslets, fitchée, or, Butrey; impaling, sable, a chevron, between three dolphins, ermine, Damme,
John Buttry of London, gent. and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of
—Damme of Susted, were here buried; he died July 30, 1488.
Hetherset, impaling Berningham, gules, a maunch, ermine;—Hetherset, impaling Rands, sable, a chevron, ermin, between three cross
crosslets, fitchée, argent; and Peyvere, azure, a maunch, gules, in a
bordure, argent. Here was the guild of St. Margaret.
It was decreed in the dutchy of Lancaster, in the 36th of Henry
VIII. that the King's tenants of his manors of Gymingham, Antingham, Thorp, Bradfeld, Trunch, and South Repps adjoining to the
common, should have their accustomed right in the commons between
the said towns, and that Sir John Gresham, and his tenants of Thorp,
should have but 300 sheep on the common called Oldfield Heath, &c.
The tenths were 4l. 1s.