Relhan Collection : 299 Swaffham Bulbeck. Benedictine Nunnery

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>1801</p><p>The Priory was founded by Isobel de Bolebec, who later married the 3rd Earl of Oxford, in late C12. Many gifts of land, rentals and precious artefacts were given to it. It is sited at the end of Commercial End with access to Swaffham Lode, an artificial waterway that joined up waterways to provide navigation to the North Sea from Cambridge and importation of exotic goods. Such trade continued into C19, by which time barges brought goods that were unloaded from sea-going ships. Despite commercial possibilities the nunnery always struggled for money and its building remained humble and often in poor repair. In 1352 the Bishop’s complaints inspired improvements to its church so it could be rededicated, but in 1368 a candle was left alight while a servant slept, and most of the building including the gatehouse burned down. The Bishop helped the nuns’ finances by granting an income from indulgences. In 1279 the poll tax returns showed that there were titled ladies among the nuns who would have brought an income, as may children who were boarded and educated. Now, the ground floor of one building survives within Abbey House, there is a vaulted undercroft, probably a storeroom, and medieval walls that still exist are clunch and knapped flint with limestone dressings. The room above was replaced in brick in C18. The building is now (2020) a private house.</p><p>Haigh 1988; RCHME 1972; VCH 1948</p></p>