Eynford Hundred: Heverland

HEVERLAND,

Called in Domesday Book, Heveringalanda, from its site by watery meadows, was the lordship of Goodwin Earl of Kent, (though styled a freeman only,) and father of King Harold: in the reign of the Confessor, one carucate of land, 3 villains, 3 borderers belonged to it and 3 servi; there were 2 carucates in demean, one among the tenants, with 8 acres of meadow, &c. the moiety of a fishery, 2 runci, 5 cows, 30 swine, 40 sheep, 80 goats, with 20 skeps of bees, and 3 socmen had 5 acres of land, the whole valued at 60s. and a church belonged to it with 10 acres, and was granted by King William I. to Rainald, son of Ivo, lord at the survey. (fn. 1)

Heverland Manor.

This was the principal lordship, and the family of de Gisneto, or Gisse, or Gyney, was soon after the Conquest enfeoft of it, who probably took their name from the town of Guisn, near Calais in France; Sir William de Gynento was a witness to the deed of confirmation of Geffrey, son of Bartholomew, son of William de Glanvile, founder of Bromholm priory. Roger de Gyney lived also about the said time, (in King Henry the Second's reign) and was father of Reginald, rector of the church of Heverland in the time of King John.

Baldwin de Gisney was living in the 8th year of that King, and granted his right in the church of Wichingham to the prior of Longuevile; by Maud his wife, he was father of Roger de Gisneia, lord of this manor in the 18th of Henry III. held of the honour of Gloucester and Clare, and extended into Wichingham, Whitwell, Kerdeston, &c.; this Roger levied a fine in the 33d of that King, to Beringarius, prior of St. Faith's, of Horsham, the advowson of this church, and married Joan, daughter of - - - - - - - - - -, sister and coheir of Sir Peter de Pelevile, (who remarried Sir John de Vaux,) and by her had Sir William de Gyney, his son and heir, and Sir Roger, who married Margaret, daughter of William Peche, and in her right was lord of Brandeston; Sir William had a park, not enclosed, in the common pasture of Causton, and had drove some cattle of John de Burgh, lord of Causton, (that had entered therein,) to his manor of Heverland; on which there was a trial, and it was adjudged that he ought to enclose it. In the 55th of the said King, he had a charter of free warren, and in the 12th of Edward I. impleaded Adam de Heveringland for entering therein, and taking his hares, rabbits, partridges, and fish, out of his ponds; by Margaret his wife, he left Sir Roger, his son and heir, who in the 15th of Edward I. claimed frank pledge, assise of bread and beer, &c; (fn. 2) and in the 29th of that King, had summons to attend the King at Berwick, against the Scots, and in the 9th of Edward II. was lord of Pickworth in Rutlandshire.

He was succeeded by Sir William his son, lord in the 16th of Edward II. who was father of Sir Roger Gyney, by Elizabeth his wife.

Sir Roger occurs lord in the 21st of Edward III. in which year he had grant of a weekly mercate, (long since discontinued,) and of a fair on the 10th of August, (St. Laurence's day,) which is still kept up. He married to his 1st wife, Elizabeth, and to his 2d Margaret; his will is dated at Dilham, April 6, 1376, and requires to be buried in that church; appoints Margaret his wife executrix, gives to John his son this manor, with that of Dilham, after his wife's decease, and the manor of Spixworth, when he came of age. (fn. 3)

Margaret his widow was living in the reign of Richard II. and lady of this manor, and John Gyney kept a court here in the 22d of Richard II. and by the name of Sir John, made his will in 1422; gives his body to be buried in the church of the Augustine friars of Norwich, by the grave of his son Roger; orders his manor of Pickworth to be sold to Sir Henry Inglose; the Lady Alice his wife, according to her will dated September 30, in the 17th of Henry VI. was buried in the church of the said friars, and gave a tenement in the parish of St. Paul's in Norwich to the friars, to pray for her soul. (fn. 4)

The will of the Lady Margaret, mother of Sir John, is dated February 24, 1398; she gives him sums of money, several silver cups, &c. and to James, her son, her manor of Hempstead. (fn. 5)

Robert Gyney, brother and heir (as I take it) to Sir John, succeeded him; he married Margaret, daughter and heir of John Fastolf, relict of John Honing, by whom she had a daughter, Margaret, married to Robert Bois, Esq. of Ingham, and by Gyney had a daughter and heir, Anne, who married Sir Henry Inglose, lord in her right, in the 17th of Henry VI. by his will dated June 20, 1451, he devises his manors of Dilham, Lodne, &c. to Henry, his son and heir, who was lord in the 7th of Henry VII.

Edward his son sold this lordship to William Halse. of Kenedon, in Devonshire, Esq. in the 20th of Henry V. Thomas Halse, his son and heir, was living in the 37th of that King; William Halse was found to be his brother and heir, and had livery of this manor, in the 3d and 4th of Philip and Mary; by his wife Mary, daughter of John, and sister of Sir Thomas Cornwaleys (after remarried to Richard Warren, Gent. of Ipswich) he had 3 daughters and coheirs, Margaret, Catherine, and Elizabeth, who soon after their father's death conveyed their interest herein, to Miles Corbet, Esq. and Osbert Mundeford, Esq. in the first of Elizabeth; Mary, their mother, having her third part for life; and they in the said year conveyed it to Sir Christopher Haydon, and Henry Hobart, Esq. whose son and heir, James Hobart of Hales-Hall, Esq. passed his right to Sir Christopher, who was lord of this manor, that of Bilney, or Holveston's and Montjoy priory, in this town, in the 8th of Elizabeth.—Sir Christopher, in the 15th of the said Queen, sold to Thomas Gawdy, of Claxton, serjeant at law, this lordship, and that of Holveston's in the 17th of that reign, who conveyed them to Henry Richers, of Swanington, and Edmund his son, who in the 11th of that Queen, sold them to Thomas Hyrne, Esq. knighted at Greenwich, July 3, 1609, citizen, alderman and mayor of Norwich in 1604, 1609, and 1616; son of Clement Hyrne, Esq. mayor in 1593, by Margaret his wife, daughter of John Wysse, and relict of — Mautby, Gent. of Norwich, and Clement was son of Nicholas Hyrne, of Drayton, Gent.

Sir Thomas was sheriff of Norfolk in the 18th of James I. and by Sibilla, his wife, daughter of Richard Baker, of Cambridgeshire, was father of Clement Herne, Esq. who married two wives, Anne, daughter and heir of John Thurston of Hoxne, in Suffolk, Esq. and Mary, daughter of Sir John Kncvet; by Anne he had Thomas Hyrne, Esq. who left by Ann, his wife, daughter and coheir of William Hobart, of Twayt, Esq. relict of Nicholas Bacon, son of Sir Robert Bacon, Clement, his son and heir, who took to wife, Frances, daughter of Henry Fairfax, Lord Viscount Fairfax of Gilling in Yorkshire, and died September 17, 1694, aged 84. Thomas Hyrne, Esq. was his son and heir, who died October 30, 1736, leaving by the Lady Charlotte, his wife, daughter of William Paston, Earl of Yarmouth, Paston Hyrne, Esq. his son and heir: on whose decease s. p. it came to Everard Buckworth Herne, Esq. in 1762.

Sir Gilbert Dethick, Garter King at Arms, granted to Thomas Hyrne this coat of arms, or, three bars gevelle, gules, on a canton of the last five lozenges in saltire, of the first; crest, a talbot passant, sable, collared and chained, or.

Rainald, son of Ivo, had also another lordship, of Earl Godwin, which came to Rainald, son of Ivo, granted by the Conqueror, containing 100 acres of land held by 2 villains, and 3 borderers, one carucate in demean, and one among the tenants, 8 acres of meadow, &c. and one socman, 11 acres of land valued at 20s. (fn. 6)

This lordship, as I take it, was also held with that abovementioned, and being united, passed as is there observed, and was what was called Dawking's manor, and came on the death of John Richers in 1500, to Henry his son.

Bilney's or Holveston's Manor.

Another lordship also was granted to Reynald, out of which Edric was ejected at the conquest, held of Reynald by Herluine, containing 100 acres of land, 3 borderers, one servus, a carucate in demean, &c. and 2 socmen had 16 acres of land with 16 of meadow, and half a carucate, &c. valued at 20s. (fn. 7)

In the 20th of Henry III. William de Henecote held a quarter of a fee of the heirs of William de Nerford, and he of the Earl of Gloucester and Clare, into which family all the lordships that Reynald held at the survey came, and Peter de Narford granted lands sans date, to William Peche.

Simon, son of Jeffrey Peche, granted lands here to Peter de Bylney, son of John, by deed, sans date; Peter de Bylney, and Roger his son, had an interest in this town, in the 42d of Henry III. Sir Roger de Bilney was lord in the 3d of Edward I. and granted lands to Richard de Holwode, paying 2s. 7d. per ann. and doing suit of court twice in the year; and in the 8th of Edward II. Roger de Bilney held of Sir George de Gyney, by knight's service, lands and tenements here, valued at 20l. per ann.

In the 16th of Edward II. Sir Roger levied a fine of 9 messuages, 140 acres of land, 13 of meadow, 10 of pasture, 30 of heath, 6 of marsh, and 60s. rent in this town, Felthorp, Causton, &c. settled on Roger for life, remainder to John and his heirs; and in the said year, Sir Roger founded the north isle of this church, and a chantry there for 2 chaplains, and had license to settle 10l. per ann. in lands, for their support.

John de Holveston died lord in the 28th of Edward III. and was buried in the church of the Friars-Austin of Norwich; Amabilia his wife remarried — Maloysel, and was buried by him in 1383; Thomas de Holveston was their son and heir, aged 14, at his father's death (afterwards a knight), but died about the 38th of the aforesaid King, in which year the Lady Isabella de Holveston, and her son William, leased lands in this town; he was living in the 45th of Edward III. and in the 2d of Henry V. but died soon after, leaving 3 daughters and coheirs; Anne, Mary, and Catherine, all living in the 7th of Henry V. Catherine married William Botiler, (fn. 8) and in the 17th of Henry VI. they conveyed by fine, to Sir Henry Ingloss, their 3d part of this manor; Robert his 2d son possessed it by his father's will, (fn. 9) and his daughter, and heir, Catherine, brought by marriage to Richard Blundevile, or Blomvile of Newton Flotman, Esq.; by her he had 2 sons, Robert, the eldest, of Newton, and Richard, the 2d, to whom his mother Catherine gave this lordship, but he dying s. p. about 1503, Edward Blomvile, Esq. son of his brother Robert, was his heir, and sold it to William Halse, lord of Haverland manor, so it came to Christopher Heydon, Serjeant Gawdy and Richers, who conveyed it to Sir Thomas Hyrne, and became united to the manor of Heverland.

Mountjoy Priory Manor And Priory.

Rainald had also the grant of a lordship, of which Ulketel, a freeman, was deprived, and held at the survey by Ranulf: half a carucate of land, belonged to it, with 4 borderers, one carucate in demean, and 6 acres of meadow, &c. valued at 20s. The whole town was one leuca long, and one broad, and paid 7d. gelt, to the King. (fn. 10)

It was founded by William de Gyney, lord of Heverland, in a place there called Thweyt, about the reign of King Richard I. Baldwin de Gyney, and James de Gyney, were witnesses to the charter of its foundation, and Roger de Gyney gave 2 parts of his demeans here to the abbey of Bec, in Normandy. (fn. 11)

Newcourt says that the brethren or fraternity of Mountjoy was an order of knighthood established at Jerusalem, by Pope Alexander III. and confirmed in 1185, under St. Basil's rule: (fn. 12) but this priory is generally said to have been for canons of the order of St. Austin, and the patronage was always in the lords of this manor.

In the 20th of Henry III. John Shelton held a quarter of a fee of the heirs of Narford, and gave them lands, and in the 5th of that King, Peter de Nerford gave the rectory of Stanfield in Suffolk; in the said year, "Pope Clem. IV. granted license that they might enjoy all their goods, lands, &c. which they already held, or should be hereafter possessed of, and bestowed on them, to be exempt from payment of tithes of their plowed lands, newly broke up, and cultivated by them, and of their increase of cattle; that in the time of interdicts they might celebrate divine service with a low voice, and their gates shut, and persons excommunicated, excluded; that no person might erect a chapel in the parish, without the diocesan's and their leave; that no archbishop, bishop, archdeacon, &c. should exact any customs of them; that they should have liberty to bury any person in their priory, &c." (fn. 13) To this bull are the names of several cardinals. Simon, son of Jeffrey Peche, was a benefactor, sans date.

In the 8th of Edward II. Sir Roger de Bilney aliened to it 60 acres of land here, and in Felthorp, 30 of land and heath in Felthorp, and 30 in Helmingham, of land.

The prior of St. Faith's of Horseford released to them the tithes of this town.

In the 10th of Edward II. there was an agreement between John, son of Sir John de Shelton, Knt. and Robert his son, on one part: Nicholas, son of the said Sir John, and Alice his wife, Richard de Ely, and Catherine his wife; the said John and Robert granting their manor to Nicholas and Alice, Richard and Catherine, for their lives, on condition of repairing the old, and building a new house 80 feet long, and 18 broad, and paying them 30l. sterling for 13 years. To this deed is the seal of John de Shelton, a fess, between three mullets, pierced, and his name round it.

John de Shelton after this, sold his manor to this priory, reserving to himself 11 marks, and a stone of wool per ann. for life; and in the 17th of Edward III. he released to them 5 marks and an half per ann. and the wool. In the said year John de Hadesco, and John Fode, chaplains, had license to amortize 2 messuages, 77 acres of land and meadow, 10 and an half of pasture, 13 of heath, and 7s. 7d. rent in this town, Felthorp, &c. the gift of Martin, rector of Brandeston, and Thomas, vicar of Heverland.

Peter, rector of Irmingland, gave them lands there, and the advowson of the church, with lands in Felthorp, Brandeston, &c.

Thomas de Whitewell, rector of Felthorp, gave all his lands, rents, and services, with a fold-course and heath in Felthorp, for a pension paid him yearly, for the souls of his father Richard, and Alice his mother.

In the 20th of Edward III. the prior was found to hold the fourth part of a fee of the heir of Thomas de Nerford, and he of the Earl of Gloucester and Clare, which John de Shelton formerly held; and in the 33d of that King had a patent for tenements in this town and Felthorp.

Pope Urban by his bull dated at Avignon, 6 of the nones of May, in the 2d year of his pontificate, and 38th of Edward III. granted a special privilege, that whosoever being truly penitent and confessed, should visit their church on Christmas-day, the Circumcision, Epiphany, Easter-day, the Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost, the Nativity, Circumcision, Purification, and Assumption of the blessed Virgin, nativity of St. John Baptist, St. Peter and St. Paul's, or St. Laurence's day, should have a year and 40 days released of penance enjoined them; (fn. 14) by another bull he took this house into his immediate protection, and by a 3d bull gave the prior of Butley in Suffolk, power to excommunicate all those who withheld any lands, goods, rents, tithes, &c. from them; and in 1420, Pope Martin granted a bull of indulgence to the repair of it.

In 1426, their spiritualities were 9 marks, and their temporalities 40s. 7d. q.

It was suppressed in 1528, before the general dissolution, by a bull of Pope Clement, in order to endow Cardinal Wolsey's college at Ipswich; but on the attainder of that Cardinal, it was seized by William Hales, lord of Haverland, patron of it, as an escheat to him, and so was united to his lordship; but some of (if not all) the lands belonging to it, were, September 2, ao. 17 of Elizabeth, granted as concealed lands belonging to the priory with messuages, &c. in the tenure of John Davy. Sir Christopher Heydon had this lordship and priory before this, and had conveyed it to the said Davy; and on this, Sir Christopher purchased of John Herbert, Gent. and Andrew Palmer, (who had the grant) their right herein, and passed it to Davy, who conveyed it to Henry Richers, Esq. and Edmund his son of Felthorp, in the 26th of that Queen, conveyed the manor and the site of the priory, to Thomas Herne, Esq. and so was united to Haverland Hall.

The priory was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, St. Michael and St. Laurence, and stood about a mile south-west of the parish church.

Priors.

Vincent was the first prior, sans date.

Thomas occurs prior in the 22d and 30th of Edward I.

1304, John Weting admitted prior.

1305, Thomas Carlevile, presented by the canons of St. Laurence of Mountjoy.

1308, Peter de Cley, by the Bishop, a lapse.

John occurs prior in the 18th of Edward II.

1349, Simon de Flegg.

1369, John de Elvedon.

1379, Philip de Titeshale.

1401, Edmund Amys, canon of Hempton, by the Bishop.

Edmund de Walsingham occurs prior 1429.

John Sudbury, prior.

1448, Robert Snape, canon of Butlee.

John, prior.

1465, Thomas Everard.

1470, John Clement, canon of Cokesford.

Christopher Brown occurs 1449.

William Lovell, prior.

1491, William Kyrtelyng.

1502, Thomas Grimston, canon of Walsingham.

1515, Thomas Clerk, S. T. B. collated by the Bishop, and living in 1526, and rector of Moulton Parva. Besides these, in the institution books, I find

Symon to be prior in 1352, and

John de Cotton, regular canon, admitted prior by Wittlesey Archbishop of Canterbury, on the death of Elvedone.

By the institutions above, it appears that this priory was for canons regular of St. Austin, some of these priors belonging once to Butley, Cokesford, and Walsingham, all of the same order.

The tenths were 3l. 19s. Deducted 1l.

The Church is dedicated to St. Peter, was in ancient days valued at 12 marks. Rr. de Gyney gave in the reign of Henry III. 2 parts of the tithe of his demeans, to the abbey of Bec in Normandy, founded by the ancestors of the Earls of Clare. (fn. 15) This probably was that portion of tithe that the priory of Stoke had valued at 13s. and 4d. per ann. and in the 33d of that King, Roger de Gyney conveyed by fine, to Beringarius, prior of St Faith's of Horsham, this rectory and advowson of the church, and it was appropriated thereto in 1277, by Roger Bishop of Norwich; he also with Maud, his wife, gave to the said priory the moiety of a turf-pit in this town. On this appropriation a vicarage was settled, the present valor of which is 4l. 12s. 1d. He also granted to the said priory 1l. 6s. 8d. per ann. for tithe wood, out of his park here, and in 1293, the priory of St. Faith's released the tithes of the rectory, to the priory of Mountjoy.

Sir Roger Bilney built the north isle of this church, and was there buried under a marble grave-stone, ornamented with his effigies in brass, and about the rim of it was this inscription in French:

Sr. Roger de Bylney gyst ici, Dieu de S' Alme eit merci. Et prie quelque le voyont Ke en memorie le avont.

In the windows of this isle were in many pannels his arms; an eagle displayed, vert; here was also the effigies of Thomas de Narford (as is commonly said) with an Orate p. a'i'ab; Thomas de Narford, and this shield in the glass;—paly of six, or and gules, and a chief, ermine, but that is the shield of Gyney, whose effigies most likely was also here; the crest is an hound, ermine, and above it on a label:—Sc'us Paulus doctor magnus ora p. nobis.

On a grave-stone in the chancel,

Hic requiescit Clemens Hyrne arm. vere dictus Honestus, filius unicus Tho. Hyrne militis, qui obt. 25 Janu. 1655, ao. ætat. suæ 72, cui Anna Goslin vidna filia ejus hoc monumentum posuit.

Orate p. a'i'a. Dni. Tho. Bettys quo' da' vicari. isti. ecclie.

Tho. Hyrne miles et D'na Sybilla uxor, adventum Jesu expectamus.

Gul. Butflower gen. et Margaretâ filiâ Clem. Hyrne arm. conjugatus 1638, 25 Sept. e vivis exijt, 30 circiter ætat. suæ.

Here is a memorial

For Alice Townsend, late wife of John Davy of Mountjoy, Esq. who died January 21, 1561, and this shield; quarterly, in 1st and 4th, argent, on a chevron ingrailed, gules, between three bears heads erased, sable, muzzled or, as many trefoils of the last; in the 2d and 3d, sable, a chevron, ermine, between three annulets, argent, Davy;—impaling, quarterly, first Townsend, 2d and 3d, Haywell, and in the 4th, Brews.

In the 8th of Elizabeth, Robert Earl of Leicester had a grant of the rectory on June 29, and in the 7th of James I. January 8, it was granted for certain sums, to James Lloyd, and Arthur Gooch. Richard and Robert Hardy possessed it about the 30th of Elizabeth; Sir Thomas Hunt also held it, and sold it to Sir Thomas Hyrne, and in the 37th of Henry VIII. it was possessed by Richard Southwell.

In the church were also the arms of Inglose. Gules, three bars gemelle, or, on a canton, argent, five billets in saltire, sable; and in the priory was the arms of Halse, argent, a fess, ermine, between three griffins heads erased, gules.

Reginald, son of Roger de Gyney, was rector in the time of King John.

Vicars.

1310, William de Seckford instituted vicar, nominated by the Bishop of Norwich, presented by the prior of St. Faith's.

1315, Richard Hovell. Ditto.

1315, Thomas de Cressingham. Ditto.

1338, William de Braceberg.

1352, William Gyzoun.

1361, Simon Parker.

1365, Roger Marcolf.

1386, Thomas Heyward.

1387, Walter Mey.

1387, Thomas Metter.

1387, John Bees.

1390, John Snow.

1402, John Cobald, nominated by the Bishop, and presented by the King; the temporalities of St. Faith's being then in the King.

Edward Medilgale.

1486, Thomas Bettys, by the King.

1494, Thomas Barker, by the King.

1521, James Boswell, by the King.

William Pawe.

1536, Roger Sedall, by the King.

1547, William Stedeman.

1554, Robert Tayler, by the Bishop, a lapse.

1555, Thomas Church. Ditto.

1557, Thomas Scory, by Mary Darcy.

1560, Henry Kirk, by lapse.

Christopher Breese occurs vicar in 1593.

1602, John Bottrell, nominated by the Bishop, presented by Thomas Hyrne.

1608, Thomas Howlet, by Sir Thomas Hyrne, on the Bishop's nomination.

1633, Thomas Gooch. Ditto.

Herbert Ward occurs vicar in 1662.

Mr. Haylet died vicar in 1720.

William Allen, vicar, occurs in 1751.

Here were the guilds of St. Peter, of St. Mary in the chapel, of St. William, and the tabernacle of St. Peter; the lights of St. Nicholas, St. Thomas, St. Christopher, St. Erasmus, St. Edmund, St. Anthony, St. Gregory, St. George, Holy Trinity, St. Catherine, our Lady of Pity, St. John Baptist, and the plough light.

The temporalities of St. Faith's priory valued in 1428, at 28s. 10d. in rent, of Walsingham, in a turbary 3s. given by William de Gyney, son of Roger, by deed, sans date.