WALTON PRIORY was founded by Roger le Bigot, a son of Robert le Bigot, a not very important French knight in the service of the Count de Mortain and holding small lands in Normandy under Bishop Odo of Bayeux.

In 1066, Roger le Bigot distinguished himself at the Battle of Hastings, and was recorded in the Battle Abbey Roll as one of the Conqueror's Companions, a high honor. He was rewarded with 117 of the 629 Manors in Suffolk, which made him as a landowner second only to William Mallet, Lord of Eye in Suffolk. He also received an additional 6 Manors in Essex. Walton was his largest Manor in Suffolk, and covered a large part of the Colneis Peninsular.

In 1075, Ralph de Guadar, Earl of Norfolk, rebelled against the Conqueror, who had become King William I, and had to flee from the country. His 187 Manors in Norfolk were then given to Roger, who became the most powerful Baron in Suffolk and Norfolk.

He married Alice, the 4th daughter of Sir Hugh Grandmesnel, and founded the English line of Bigods (the Anglicised spelling of Bigot) with his two sons William and Hugh. Their Christian names were obviously chosen in deference to the Conqueror and the father-in-law. Roger Bigod became Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk and Steward of the Royal Household. He was involved in the power struggles between King William II (Rufus) and the Barons, during which time he supported the King.

In 1096, Roger and several other Barons established a Cathedral Priory in Norwich for Benedictine Monks, who were known from their dress as the Black Monks.

The land which Roger gave to his Priory was situated near the mouth of the River Deben, in a walled enclosure containing in the N.E. corner a Roman Fort, which became the I)rjory's first home. This fort may have been the so far not finally identified Portus Adernie, but Porchester on the south coast probably has a stronger claim.

In 1100, King William II (Rufus) shortly before his death confirmed Roger's endowment of Walton Priory.

In 1104, Roger and his wife Alice established another priory at Thetford in Norfolk. This time it was for Cluniac monks, a reformed Order of Benedictine monks. He made it clear his own burial was eventually to be there, and that he intended Thetford Priory to become, as it did, the family's future burial place.

Several writers have mistakenly stated Walton Priory was founded in 1105, which is incorrect, as that date refers only to the change in ownership.

Felix was a Burgundian missionary brought to England by the exiled Sigebert, who on his brother's death returned to claim the Kingship of East Anglia. Bishop Honorius of Canterbury then sent Felix to the eastern counties to convert the pagan inhabitants to Christianity. He had considerable success, and in 631 was installed as Bishop of Dunwich with his See in that Suffolk town. He died there in 648 and was buried at Sonham near Eye in Suffolk, with a shrine in Ramsey Abbey. Many years later his bones were transferred to Ramsey.

The Rochester monks always referred to Walton Priory as situated at Fyithestow, the Saxon name for "a place where hay grows" or "a place of felled trees". Either interpretation indicates a clearing in a wooded area, and had no connection whatever with the name Felix, in spite of what some writers have said. Fyithestow had very few inhabitants and so far as is known Felix never visited it nor was in the area.

When the monks obtained a License to hold an Annual Fair, they described it for the benefit of visitors as "at the stow of St. Felix Priory", the word "stow" being Saxon for Place.

As time went on, the spelling of Fylthestow took several forms, sometimes the first part was Fyl and sometimes Felix. The few inhabitants were seemingly confused, and with little knowledge of history the actual presence of the Priory undoubtedly became the deciding factor. By the latter part of the 18th century, the name had become Felixstow without a final "e", the omission preserving the Saxon connection. Towards the end of the 19th century a final "e" was added, perhaps for appearance's sake by the developers creating the new seaside resort of Felixstowe.

In 1107, Roger Bigod died in Norwich. After much argument the Bishop there over-ruled the Prior at Thetford and retained Roger's body for burial in the Cathedral Priory. The argument centred largely over the substantial revenue which would come from Masses and the sales of memento’s and other income events customary at the burials of persons of note.

In 1146, Walton Priory gave back to Hugh Bigod part of the land his father had given them in the Roman Fort enclosure, so that Hugh could there build Walton Castle, which he commenced in that year. In exchange Hugh gave the Priory an area of land known as Bredinge near Walton Church, which at that time was known as the Chapel of Burgh. The meaning of Bredinge is obscure. It later became Breathings, and may describe land reserved for some particular kind of cultivation.

In 1199, the crowning of King John caused the life of the second Roger Bigod to be in danger, as the King and the Barons were continually in conflict with each other. The Bigods were now on the side of the Barons.

In 1213, Roger found himself in prison, and whilst he was in there King John took the opportunity of sending soldiers to destroy Roger's properties, and so reduce his power. He released him immediately afterwards, probably to appease the other Barons. Records show the Priory buildings were at the same time seriously damaged.

In 1215, the situation had changed again, and Roger was one of the 25 Barons who forced King John to sign Magna Carta. King John died the fofl6wing year.

In 1270, a fourth Roger inherited an earldom and property from an Uncle Hugh, and became the 5th Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk and Lord of the Manor of Walton. It was he who built a palatial new Walton Manor House in 1292, which is described by the writer in a separate booklet. His arms were a plain Red Cross on a gold background, and not as shown on the Walton village sign.

In the 1290's the encroachment of the sea over the Priory's properties had become very serious. It seriously affected its daily work, the buildings being flooded at every high tide. Much the same was happening northwards, with Dunwich suffering similarly. It is reasonable to assume Roger was very worried, and may have offered his old Manor House to the monks as a new home, hut nothing is recorded. All that is known is that about 1307 the Priory moved out to its land called Bredinge, with no mention of any buildings there. Roger had died the previous year. We now know from the 1971 Excavation (to be described later) that Roger's old Manor House was on that land and became the Priory's second home.

The encroachment of the sea continued, and the site of its first home is now about a mile offshore. A very active diving group has discovered much of the submerged Dunwich of the past, and it may be that one-day the foundations of Walton's two castles may be found.

The Rochester Prior took strong action, and seized the opportunity of the move to Bredinge to reduce Walton to a non-conventual Cell, with four monks only, and a Warden in charge instead of a Prior. It was a serious punishment, and their duties became much reduced. A list of the Wardens from 1352 onwards survives and shows they were in office for quite. long periods.

In 1381, the Priory was severely damaged during the Peasants Revolt. Several of its buildings were destroyed or badly damaged. The local revolt was led by John Battisford,

the Parson at nearby Bucklesham, who burnt the Priory's Court Rolls and various other documents. This has deprived our local history enthusiasts of a great deal of information, which we would have liked to have today.

In 1389, the Walton monks were sent to Canterbury to vote on the appointment of a new Prior for Rochester Priory.

In the 1400's the Priory seems to have carried on in a normal limited way with no major troubles.

In the early 1500's, when the Duke of Norfolk heard of Cardinal Wolsey's intention to suppress all Priories and take over their revenues to finance a new College in Ipswich, the Duke of Norfolk wrote to him and asked that Walton Priory be returned to his family. He quoted its original connections, but was ignored.

The inventory of the contents of the building taken at the same time shows the monks had been living in a very primitive and austere way, which was of course their accepted way of life. The Cardinal duly received the meagre revenues. He soon afterwards fell from power and died in 1530.

In 1532, the Priory lands were granted to Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, who 3 years later passed them over to the Cluniac Priory at Thetford in Norfolk.

In 1540, it then became the fate of Thetford Priory to be suppressed by Henry VIII. He seized its lands and revenues for himself, and these included those derived from Walton Priory.

In 1570, Queen Elizabeth I sold the original Walton Priory lands to Thomas Seckford of Woodbridge, a wealthy lawyer at her Court, and that seems to be as far as we need to go for this booklet.

The older sketch appears on Joshua Kirby's Plan of Felix-stow and Walton dated 1740, and is in the Suffolk Record Office. It is reproduced on page 10. It has the following historical note underneath, interesting to read with the letter ''f'' for "S", a custom in those days.

"Roger Bigod ye flrft before the Death of King Wil^m Rufits gave ye church of St. Felix here to the Monaftory of Rochefter who quickly fettled hereon a Cell of their Benedictine Monks which continued till Sept 10th 1528 when it was fupprefted and in December folio wing given to Cardinal Wolfey toward the better Endowment of his Colleges, 23 Hen 8 it was granted to the Duke of Norfolk. 26 Hen 8 to the Prior of Thetford and 19 Eliz to Thos. Seckford."

This sketch shows a two storied building of about 60 feet in length, which is not easy to date. It has a thatched roof and the outside wall is covered with plaster. At the two corners are substantial stone buttresses obviously part of an earlier larger stone-built house. The entrance doorway may be 14th century, but the windows could be either Tudor or Elizabethan, and the chimneys possibly of about the same times.

In other words, this building is a reconstruction, created sometime after the damage caused by the Peasants Revolt of 1381. It was probably the work of the monks themselves. The long pole to the eaves seems to indicate a weakness in the wall supporting the roof. The same sketch was reproduced in W.G. Arnott's "Suffolk Estuary" published in 1950, with a date given as "c.1800".

The second sketch is in Ipswich Public Library, and is reproduced on page 11. It is undated and by a different artist, whose signature appears to be Murray Hare. It shows the same building from a slightly different angle which exposes the north end of the house. All the above comments about the earlier-sketch also apply to this one, except the pole is not there. This sketch appeared in Leonard P. Thompson's "Old Felixstowe" published in 1945, but was not included in his Revised Edition of the following year.

Both sketches include a ruined church tower close to the house. Its foundations were not found in the 1971 excavations.

It was customary for manor houses to be built close to the local church, and many such examples still exist today. The presence of that tower was a pointer that the original stone house was most likely Roger Bigod's Old Klanor House, in use until he built his new one in 1292. The Excavation of 1971 confirmed this was the case.

The Priory House was demolished in 1 810. The site was ploughed over and used for agricultural purposes. It's position became lost until discovered in 1968, as noted later.

In 1968, in advance of a proposed new road development, Miss Elizabeth Owles, the Archaeologist at Ipswich Museum searched with the writer's assistance, for the position of any underground remains of the Priory House. The area tackled was that marked on the Ordnance Survey Map. It was in the middle of a large field.

In spite of lengthy trenching and wide probing nothing was found. I continued the search during the following week, and when she came at the Weekend I had to report no success.

The Priory House in 1740

She then said the Map must be wrong, but the site could not be far away, so we must "walk the field". I had heard the expression before, hut had no experience of it. So I became the interested amateur following a professional in action.

For a couple of hours or so we systematically walked up and down that field: She kept looking to left and right, ahead, and around her feet, stopping every now and again for a general look around. No word was spoken. When we had finished she then crossed to the far side, where she took my spade and marked out an area 4 or 5 feet square, and told me to dig it out.

So far as I could see, the spot was no different from the rest of the field. She sat down and started writing up some notes. At about a foot down my spade struck something hard. She heard it and said "now go along carefully at the same level." I uncovered some rough looking stonework. She took the spade again and increased the marking to about 8 or 9 feet square. I dug it all out and exposed a continuous area of similar stonework. She examined it very closely and then said '6This is it. We have found the site".

The Priory House in 1800

She took a few compass hearings, photographed the hole, and then a close-up picture of the stone-work. I was then told to put all the earth back. I suppose I must have looked surprised, as she than said, "Do not be concerned. It will not run away." I could still see no reason why she had chosen that particular spot, but did not like to ask for an explanation, I assumed she must have had an extra sense for that type of exploration.

I have purposely described this search in some detail, as its thoroughness impressed me. l feel her effort should therefore be so recorded, as later on it provided Mr. West with the opportunity to excavate the whole site.

In 1971, three years after Miss Owles had pin-pointed the position of the Priory House, the Department of the Environment decided to excavate the area as it had been designated for early housing development.

It appointed Mr. Stanley E. West, the County Archaeologist for Suffolk, in charge, with Miss Elizabeth Owles, the Archaeologist at Ipswich Museum, assisting.

Mr. West came to the conclusion there were slight signs of a possible very early burnt-out timber framed building, which the writer feels might he associated with King John's devastation of 1213. Mr. West also discovered there had been two major re-builds, too complicated to be dated, but which the writer again feels may be connected with the troubles of 1213 and 1381. So far as is known, they were the only occasions when the premises were seriously attacked and damaged.

The most important of his discoveries was however that the exposed foundations were not those of a claustral pattern favoured for monastic buildings, but definitely those of a typical secular stone-built manor house!

This meant to the writer that the extensive foundations being exposed could only be those of Roger Bigod's old Manor House, in use up to the time he built his new one in 1292. As he owned the land for miles around, there would be no other manor house in the area.

It was therefore into this building that the monks came in about 1307 to escape from the sea's destruction of their first home.

It could not be expected that after several hundred years there would today be anything left to indicate the monk's occupation which had ended in 1528. There was however plenty of debris, including broken clay tobacco pipes to be associated with the workmen demolishing the Priory House in 1810.

On completion of the excavation the site was covered again with its own spoil, and there is nothing to be seen today of the old foundations. The site can however be viewed at the end of Ataka Road and over to the right. Several bungalows have now been built there, but a grassed strip has been created and preserved to indicate part of the original site. This has been "scheduled as an ancient and historical site", which should protect the area from any further building operation.

Rather surprisingly, nothing was found of the foundations of the church tower shown on the two old sketches. At the bottom of the drawing of the house foundations reproduced on page 19, there is however the word "slab", which may indicate its probable position.

There was a suggestion the outline of the Old Manor House should be permanently indicated by some form of marking, but it has not been done, probably because it would be too difficult to maintain.

Tile Suffolk Coastal District Council, which owns the site, should however, in the writer's opinion, erect a Notice Board briefly stating it contained Roger Bigod's old Manor House which had become the second and final home of Walton Priory.

Otherwise, the site will be lost again!

THE OLD MANOR HOUSE The drawing  of the excavated Old Manor House is reproduced from the 1974 proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology. It shows the original building was about 90 feet in length and about 70 feet in depth. A very substantial house in keeping with the owner's status. Its main frontage appears to have been on its eastern side, where several bays are indicated. The use to which the various ground floor and second floor rooms were put has to a certain extent to be surmised, although most Manor Houses usually followed much the same pattern. In this case the Main Hall can easily be recognised. In Mr. West's Report, Mr. Gilyard-Beer has supplied the following comment. His reference to two phases refers to the situation before and after the 1381 episode. He says, It is as well to remind the reader that the Priory House was a reconstructed part only of the Manor House, and would seem likely to have been the rooms marked C and D on the drawing. It follows that the entrance doorway shown in the two sketches was earlier an inside feature and seems not to have been moved. This means the outside wall was previously an inner wall.

"In its first phase it seems to have had a small hall (A) on a north-south alignment, with a chamber block (B) overlapping its south end to the east, and a second chamber block (C) projecting from its north-east angle. In the second phase the hall may have been demolished and replaced by a new hall (D) on more massive foundations immediately to the east, the east wall of the old hall being adapted to serve as the west wall of the new one. The east wall of the new hall was on a line with the east wall of the old northern chamber block, and the southern chamber block was extended east-wards (E) to the same line, giving the house a symmetrical east front of four bays. Additional structures, probably garderobes serving the southern chambers (F), were built on the south side. In both its phases, therefore, the house had a hall with chamber blocks, a common type of secular plan from which it can be seen that both chamber blocks were of two store ys, one containing the parlour with a chamber above it, and the other having service rooms with another chamber above. The lesser foundations to the south and west probably represent the stables, barns and 'long house; bordering a court or farmyard, the whole arrangement being typical of a small medieval manor house."

A WALTON CONUNDRUM