North Creake nr. Burnham Westgate No. 3 / Creic / Creich / Creke / Creyk / Kreichten / North Creak

Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "In the year 1206, there was a church founded in a place called Lingerscroft, containing about 400 acres of ling, or heath, lying between Creak and Burnham, in the meadows, and called from thence St. Mary de Pratis". Later on, informs Blomefield (ibid.) a chapel and a hospital were added nearby, and the first chaplain "took upon him a canonical habit, with his brethren, and was called prior of St. Mary de Pratis by Creke [...] and the said chapel and hospital were dedicated, 1221 [...] After this the Lady Alice settled the advowson of this priory on King Henry III. and his heirs for ever; who made it an abbey, and confirmed his liberties, October 26, in his 15th year" [i.e., 1231].. Blomefield (ibid.) names "Thomas de Sutcreyk" recorded as "admitted abbot" in 1303; "The abbot and canons were of the order of St. Augustin." Compton (1890) writes: " Compton (1890) quotes Blomefield [cf. supra] on the existence of St. Michael's church and adds: "This church has disappeared. By Chancery proceedings instituted by Richard Corbet, Bishop of Norwich, during the incumbency of Richard Vowell, the Rector of St Michael, who died in 1550, it appears that William Vowell, the Rector's brother, who lived in the Abbey by Creake, and farmer of it, did, by the allowance of his brother Richard, the parson, pull off and carry away the lead of the said church, and defaced the church, whereby the next farmer of the same, viz., Francis Brampton, gent., entitled himself to the said ruins, and as lord of the Abbey granted to Thomas White the Chapel of St Michael, to hold by the rod, as a copyhold tenement, to the disinherison of the Bishop, patron of the same, at least alterius vicibus. At Docking, about six miles from South Creake, there is an old font in the possession of a farmer's wife, named Burgis, who before her marriage lived with her father, a farmer, at North Creake. My nephew, Mr. Arthur Compton, lately saw this font, at Docking, and has given me the following description of it: "It is octagonal, every other face being plain, the alternate ones having a sculptured device. It has no stem or base, but it is cemented to a stone figure from the waist upwards, It has a canopy over it. Until a few years ago this font was used as a drinking-trough in a farmyard at North Creake, and the image, thrown down on its face, served as a door-step. Mrs. Burgis has set up the font and figure as an ornamental flower-pot in her garden, and she refuses to part with them for love or money. It is supposed in the neighbourhood to have come from Creake Abbey." May it not be the font of the Church of St. Michael in the Mount, which it is stated was parochial, and had a right of baptism? [NB: we have not been able to locate the font reported in Compton, or determine where it originated -- cf. Index entry for North Creake No.2]