- Screen Colours:
- Normal
- Black & Yellow
1730: “Heraldes Note. Redlingfield. I reade in a Heraldes Note, (whearto I yeld the better Credit, for that I fee by Proofe that he was diligent in Searche, thoughe not greatly travayled in Hyflorie; and for that the Heraldes alfo have their certeine Knowledge of many Thinges done, which they gather out of the Rolles of Difcentes, and by the Infpection of Tombes, Windowes and other Monuments) that one Manaffes de Gratia an Earle, and Emma his Wife, the Daughter of one Thomas de Arches, weare firft Authors of the Nonnery of Redlingfield in Suffolke, and that (as I conjecture) about the Tyme of Kinge Hen.III. This Houfe was valued in the Recordes at 67 Poundes by Yeare.” (1)
1767: “The foundation of the priory of Redlingfield. In this parifh was a religious houfe of black nuns, dedicated to likewife to the Virgin Mary, and founded by one Manasses De Guies. Valued at 81l. 2s. 5d. ½.” (2)
1822: “Redlingfield Priory, in ruins.” (3)
1846: “Brusyard was the site of a nunnery of minoremes, of the order of St. Clare, founded in the 38th year of Edw. III., at the suggestion of his son Lionel, Duke of Clarence and Earl of Ulster, and presided over by an abbess, and lies in the immediate vicinity of Dennington. Redlingfield was also a nunnery in the same neighbourhood, of the foundation of Manasses, Comte of Guines, and of Emma, his wife, daughter and coheir of William of Arques, misprinted “Arras” by Dugdale and Tanner; and the name of the Prioress Alicia Lampitt is an addition to the nomenclature of its superiors; they were Benedictine nuns.” (4)
1855: “Monastic institutions were as numerous here [Suffolk] as in most other parts of the kingdom. There were abbeys at Bury, Leiston, and Sibton; priories at Blythburgh, Bentley, Clare, Stoke, Dodnash, Ipswich, Eye, Felixstowe, Bricett, Herringfleet, Hoxne, Ixworth, Kersey, Letheringham, Mendham, Snape, Wangford, Woodbridge, and Bury; nunneries at Bruisyard, Bungay, Campsey, Flixton, and Redlingfield; and collegiate churches at Ipswich, Mettingham, Stoke, Sudbnry, and Wingfield. There were also, at some of these, and at various other places in the county, hospitals for lepers, endowed chantries, and other inferior institutions of a monastic character.” (5)
“The rectory [at Walpole] was appropriated to the nuns of Redlingfield but the whole parish is now tithe-free, except a yearly rent-charge of £37. 7s.10d., payable to Lord Huntingfield.” (5)
1859: “Benedictine Nunnery has considerable remains; the chapel now serves for the parish church, and the domestic buildings, or part of them, are turned into a farmhouse.” (6)
History from ‘A History of the County of Suffolk: Volume 2' (extracts): “Redlingfield is one of the very few religious houses omitted from the taxation roll of 1291; it was probably exempted on the ground of exceptional poverty. In 1343, it was stated that the prioress held part of the tithes of corn, wool, and lambs of Redlingfield worth two marks a year, and also forty acres of land worth 14s. 4d.”
“The foundation charter states that the house was dedicated to God and St. Andrew, but the Valor of 1535 gives the joint invocation of the Blessed Virgin and St. Andrew. In 1418 the Bishop of Norwich transferred the feast of the conventual and parish church of Redlingfield from 24 December to 24 September. The cause assigned for this change was that there ought to be an abstinence from work on the day of the dedication feast, but that immediately before Christmas there were so many worldly occupations and social duties pressing on both the nuns and the parishioners that the day could not be duly observed. The reason given by the bishop for selecting 24 September was that on that date the feast of the dedication of Norwich Cathedral was observed.”
“Prioresses of Redlingfield: Emma (probably daughter of the founder), c. 1120; Alice Davolers, temp. Henry III ; Margery, 1303-14; Agnes de Stuston, 1314; Julia de Weylond, 1331; Alice Wynter de Oxford, 1349; Eleanor de Bockynge, 1394; Ellen Hakon, died 1416; Margaret Hemenhale, 1416; Elizabeth Clopton, died 1419; Isabel Hermyte, 1419; Alice Lampit, 1427; Alice Brakle, 1459; Margaret, died 1482; Alice Legatte, 1482; Margery Cokrose, 1520; Grace Sampson, 1524.” (7)
History from Monasticon (extracts):
“Notable Heads: Emma di Guisnes, daughter of the founder, is thought to have been the first prioress. Other noted names associated with Redlingfield were: Davolers, Margery, di Stuston, di Weylond, Wynter of Oxford, di Bockynge, Hakon, Hemenhale and Clopt, Lampit, Brakle, Margaret, Legatte, Cokrose, Sampson and Sansome.”
“Population Counts: There were 9 in 1427; 10 in 1520; more than 6 in 1526; and 9 (7 nuns and 2 chaplains) in 1532. A fifth documented count established the population of nuns to be 7 in 1536.”
“Patrons/Benefactors: Queen Anne, wife of King Richard II, occupation document, 1383 William di Kerdiston circa 1344. Bishop Broun left 13 shillings, 4 pence to the prioress of Redlingfield, 3 shillings, 4 pence to each nun, and fifteen marks for the purchase of a Sarum grail (Religious Women in Medieval East Anglia: History and Archaeology c. 1100-1540. , 57”
“Economic Activities: Inventories taken at the Dissolution list a bakehouse and brewhouse (Religious Women in Medieval East Anglia: History and Archaeology c. 1100-1540. , 33).”
“Servants etc: There were also more than 23 servants, 2 priests, 4 lay women and 17 men.”
“Manuscripts Produced: The nuns at Redlingfield owned missals which followed the rite of Sarum, an indigenous variation of the Roman mass” (8)
1) Dictionarium Angliæ Topographicum & Historicum: An Alphabetical Description Of The Chief Places In England And Wales; With An Accounnt Of The Most Memorable Events Which Have Distinguish'd Them. William Lambarde, Fras Warden - Contributor Fras Warden - F. Gyles. 1730.
2) Ancient Funeral Monuments, Of Great-Britain, Ireland, And The Islands Adjacent: With The Dissolved Monasteries Therein Contained; Their Founders, And What Eminent Persons Have Been Therein Interred. As Also, The Death And Burial Of Certain Of The Blood-Royal, Nobility And Gentry Of These. By John Weever, William Tooke. Published by Printed by W. Tooke, for the editor, 1767.
3) The Family Topographer: The Norfolk circuit: Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk, Suffolk. 1833 . By Samuel Tymms. Published by J.B. Nichols and Son, 1833. Item notes: v. 3.
4) Liber de Antiquis Legibus. Royal Historical Society (Great Britain). AMS Press, 1846. Item notes: v. 34.
5) History, Gazetteer, And Directory Of Suffolk. By William White. Published 1855.
6) Some Account of Domestic Architecture in England: From Richard II. to Henry VIII. By John Henry Parker, Thomas Hudson Turner. Published by J. H. and J. Parker, 1859. Item notes: pt. 2.
7) A History of the County of Suffolk: Volume 2 - William Page (editor). This part-volume covers the medieval religious houses of Suffolk, including the abbey of Bury St Edmunds. ( http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=37889 )
8) Monasticon ( http://monasticmatrix.usc.edu/monasticon/?function=detail&id=1068 )