Francis Blomefield

“ In 1457, he was lord mayor of the city of of London, and at the same time, honoured with the dignity of knighthood. An upright honest man, of such estimation, that Thomas Lord Hoo and Hastyngs, knight of the Order of St. George, gave him his daughter, and one of his heiresses, to wife; and of such wealth, that he matched his daughters into the noble houses of the Cheyneys, Heydons, and Fortescues; left his son a goodly inheritance, and bequeathed 1000l. to the poor of London, and 200l. to the poor of Norfolk. ”

“ But the heirs of the benefactors denying to pay the wonted beneficence for any sermon, unless it was preached in the Green Yard; after a full hearing, it was adjudged, that they should be always preached in the cathedral, for the future, as they still continue to be, every Sunday morning; the preachers being appointed by the Bishop every half year, viz. the Norfolk clergy in the winter time, (as being nearest,) and the Suffolk in summer time: and each minister so appointed, receives a guinea of the mayor for his sermon, and is entertained at the corporation's expense. ”

“ On one side of the niche are the arms of the see; and on the other, those of the church. Right over the arch is a shield of the five wounds of Christ, represented by a heart between two hands cooped in chief, and two feet cooped in base, our Blessed Lord being wounded on the cross, with the nails that went through his hands and feet, and with the spear that pierced his heart.
On the north side of this, are three shields; the largest hath on it a triangle, to represent the blessed Trinity; the lowest hath our Saviour on the cross ”

“ Giles's hospital from finding the other two chaplains in this chapel, and so the chantry ceased: the master and brethren indeed obliged themselves to find a priest to sing for the founder in their own house; and certified that the profits of Thurveton were so reduced, that they would only find a parochial chaplain to serve the church; but this was a mere pretence only: the truth is, the Bishop, who was to maintain them in the palace, and find them apartments there, was glad to get rid of them, and not to have such chaplains as he was forced to keep, after he had once collated them ”

“ And from that time, the school was kept in the frater or firmary, belonging to the late dissolved Black Friars convent, according to their promise to the King, when they petitioned for that monastery to be granted them.
But now the charnel chaplains houses were assigned to the schoolmaster, and the upper chapel was fitted up for the school, as it still continues; the names and arms of such benefactors as contributed to the work being at first placed in the windows, most of which are now lost, except some remains in the north windows, of the drapers, grocers, and St. George's arms ”

“ Before his death, he gave 300 marks to the prior and convent of Norwich, to found a chantry for a monk to sing daily mass for him and his family for ever, at the altar of the holy cross in the cathedral, and to keep his anniversary ”

“ Paul's day, and at Whitsuntide, raised a good sum: the copes, vestments, and other ornaments belonging to this altar, were very grand, and the plate and furniture very sumptuous, till the Reformation, when it was much lessened; but in Queen Mary's time was again much increased; till Dean Gardiner and the prebends, reduced it to a cup of 19 ounces only; but by the time of the Rebellion, it became handsome enough to be seized by the rebels, headed by such of the principal citizens as were then in power; for which abuse and spoil, after the Restoration, the city gave 100l. ”

“ This chorister bishop went in solemn procession with his fellows, to the high altar of the Holy Trinity, in their copes, and burning tapers in their hands; there performing the service of the holy innocents, designedly represented by these children, which seems to have been the main cause of this institution ”

“ At figure (31) between the 9th and 10th north pillars, was a chapel belonging to the Hobart family, enclosed till the late repairs, and then laid open; (the likeness of which is still preserved in a cut in the Repertorium, at p. 4.)
In it stands an altar tomb disrobed of its brasses, under which was interred Sir James Hobart, who was born at Monks-Illegh in Suffolk; was a great friend and acquaintance of Bishop Goldwell, whom he much assisted in building and adorning the quire; being a right good man, of great learning and wisdom ”

“ The 4l. per annum pension before mentioned was always paid till Bishop Goldwell subtracted it all his time, but his executors were forced to pay it by Bishop Nix's arbitration in 1508, and it was constantly paid till Michaelmas 1642; and then the Bishop came to the dean and prebends assembled in chapter, and said, That he conceived the chapel of the palace, which ought anciently to pay 4l. per annum, was the dean and chapter's, and that they might take it into their hands, for he would pay it no longer ”

“ On the top sits an effigies of a secular priest with a book in his hand, teaching a youth standing by him; and opposite, on the southern pillar, sits a monk with a book in his hand also, surveying those that pass by; designed, I presume, by the founder to signify, that the secular clergy not only laboured themselves in the word, but diligently taught the growing youth, to the benefit of the world; when the idle regular, who by his books also pretends to learning, did neither instruct any, nor improve himself ”

“ In 1499, all the lands and gardens, with the cellerer's dove-house, within the Precinct, paid their tithes and offerings to this church; it being, from Herbert's time, the parish church of the Precinct: the prior, and since that, the dean and chapter, paid the rector a pension of 3l. 6s. 8d. a year; and the cellerer for the tithe of his gardens, offerings of the servants at Christmas, Easter, &c. paid 53s. 4d. per annum. ”

“ In the midst of it stands Sir Thomas Windham's tomb, of which before; and on the north side of the now demolished altar, is a brass plate fixed, which was brought out of the ruinated chapel of St. Mary, as appears by the will of Ralf Pulvertoft, custos or master of the charnel chapel, at the west part of the cathedral, who ordered his body to be buried in St. Mary's chapel aforesaid. He was rector of Hevingham, and died about the latter end of Henry VII. His arms are, Six wheat ears in a bordure of cinquefoils. ”

“ The shaft or spire commonly called the pinnacle, is a most handsome and well proportioned fabrick, and the highest in England, except that of Salisbury, which being raised upon a very high tower, is higher from the ground ”

“ In 1421, John Wodehouse, Esq. that great warriour, obtained license of his sovereign, King Henry V. to found a chantry priest, to sing for the King, Queen, and his beloved Esquire John Wodehouse, and his wife, their ancestors and posterity, in the lower charnel chapel, where he was buried in 1430 ”

“ The cock is three quarters of a yard high, and one yard and 2 inches long, as is also the cross bar and top stone of the spire, which is not flat, but consists of a half globe, and channel about it, and from thence are eight leaves of stone spreading outward, under which begin the 8 rows of crockets, which go down the spire at five feet distance. ”

“ Whether the bones were piled in good order, the sculls, arms, and leg bones in their distinct rows and courses, as in many charnel-houses, I can not say; nor how they were disposed of when removed after the Reformation, I do not find; though it is with probability conjectured, they were buried in the Upper-Close, which was to that time the burialplace belonging to the charnel: the foundation deed of which, is dated at the Bishop's palace at North-Elmham, IVth of the nones of Oct. 1316; by which it appears, that the founder had purchased the advowson of the church of Westhale St. ”

“ At the Reformation, a multitude of cheats and counterfeits were discovered in this matter of relicks, and it is probable, this might be something like the blood of Christ, showed in those days at Hales in Gloucestershire, which proved to be the blood of a duck, weekly renewed, to their no small gain. ”

“ All their stones are removed into the south isle.
And now having passsed through the whole church, except the presbitery or choir, we must enter there, and for regularity shall begin at the east end, at letter (b) , which is the ancient Bishop's throne, ascended by three steps, and raised so high, that originally, when there was no division between that and the altar, and before the present rood-loft was built, the old loft being placed very high, at the pillars marked (12) , the Bishop could see directly in line through the whole church, unto Tombland ”

“ After these four chaplains were settled, there were two more added by the founder himself, whose stipends were paid by the cellerer of the monastery, out of certain lands in Cressingham, Hopeton, and Ashele, which were purchased of Sir Walter de Norwich, Knt. and settled on the prior and convent for that purpose; so that the cellerer paid the said priests 22 marks and an half, and 10l. to the chamberlain of the convent for winter gowns, out of Westhale, as they did before. ”

“ George, England and France quartered, the see of Norwich, and his own.
Figure (20) is the burial place of Bishop Corbet, see Pt. I. p. 568.
Figure (19) is Bishop Spencer's grave, see Ibid. p. 515.
Figure (15) is the founder's tomb, for which see Ibid. p. 465,
Figure (16 is the grave of Bishop Turb and Bishop Montague, see Ibid. p. 474, 571.
Figure (18) is the grave of Bishop John of Oxford, at the head of which stood a cross, and a box to receive the offerings of such people as prayed at his grave, he being of great reputation both in his time, and after his death. ”

“ And it appears by the annual accounts of the sacrists of this church, that the offerings at the altar of St. Mary, or the high-altar of this chapel, marked by the pricks in the plan, above figure (2) , together with those at his shrine or tomb, with the money taken annually out of the box, placed at the head of the shrine, were very considerable; daily service was said at the high-altar here, for the founder's soul in particular, his friends, relations, benefactors, and the dead in general, according to his foundation for that purpose, mentioned in Pt. ”

“ In this walk, at figure (47) in the plan, is a void space in the wall where formerly was the effigies of a person in a praying posture, said to be Bigot's monument; the description of which, answers to that I find of the monument of Roger Bigot, sewer to King Henry I. the co-founder, as it were, with Bishop Herbert; who, by his means, obtained the very land the church stands upon, of that King: that this Roger was interred here, contrary to the account of those historians who say he was buried at Thetford, I think I have sufficiently proved in the first volume of my Norfolk History, at p. ”

“ The pillars and arch are adorned with many well carved images, and the word pena often under them: they are the effigies of divers saints, martyrs, kings, and confessors; those on the north side being most, if not all, men; and those on the south side most, if not all, women; by which we may learn, that his last wife was concerned in this penance, as being a Lollard, or follower of Wickliff, as well as himself ”

“ After the insurrection was appeased, the citizens, in part of recompense for the injury done to the convent, built the present gate, in the same place where the old one stood, that they had destroyed; and over it a large handsome chapel, which was dedicated to St. Ethelbert or Albert; in which, the rector of St. Mary in the Marsh at first officiated, to such parishioners of St. ”

“ The offerings at the altar here were yearly accounted for by the sacrist.
In 1379, Walter de Berney, citizen of London and Norwich, was buried in the cloister, to which he had been a great benefactor. See p. 3. He gave the prior 40s. and every monk half a mark.
Figure (23) is the burial place of that famous knight Sir Thomas Erpingham, and his two wives; Joan Walton, his first wife, died in 1404, as appears by the probate of her will; and Joan, daughter of Sir William Clopton of Wickham-Brook in Suffolk, Knt. ”

“ Thomas Gournay hoc posuit Anno 1662.
Returning back in the same isle, we come to the ancient confessionary, marked in the plan with letter (f) it is an arched stone vault, through which we pass, in going from the quire to Jesus chapel, but was formerly very dark; here the people stood when they confessed to the priest, who stood within the altar rails, between the 18th and 19th north pillars, at the letter (e) in the plan, the voice coming through a hole made in the wall for that purpose, which still remains ”

“ On Lyhert's death, Bishop Goldwell, his successour, beautified the tower, made the roof of the quire, of the same work as the nave, with stone carvings of most of the principal passages of the New Testament, and fitted up the choir and chapels about it, in the same manner as they now appear; and covered the vaulted or arched stone work, with lead; placing on the walls and in the windows, the arms of those worthy benefactors that contributed to that work, viz. ”

“ It is 105 yards, and two feet, from the top of the pinnacle, to the pavement of the quire under it; it is built strongly of freestone on the outside, and brick within; the upper window is the highest ascent inwardly. ”