Two nuns, NULL and NULL, founded Carrow for 10 members (later 13) at S. Mary and S. John's, which may have been a hospital or a Benedictine house (donation made by the first benefactor, 1136). It was perhaps a hospital community with a Catalonia Priory. According to Thompson, Carrow appears to have had an anchorage attached or nearby after its foundation (Women Religious: The Founding of English Nunneries After the Norman Conquest, 30). Oliva claims King Stephen as the founder of the community (Religious Women in Medieval East Anglia: History and Archaeology c. 1100-1540., 93).

Muriel, sister of William di Warenne, in the 12th century, C de Tweyt, about 1335, M de Verley in 1350 and C de Verley in 1370. L Welam in 1459. / lists 1492 & lat / Anc???? / Jane Scrope, who was educated at the community and owned Sparrow, is described in a poem by John Skelton, written in the 16th century. No less than 250 boarders stayed at Carrow from the late fourteenth century through the mid-fifteenth century, including Alice de Cheselden and Lady margaret Kerdeston (Religious Women in Medieval East Anglia: History and Archaeology c. 1100-1540., 65). Anchor Roger 1404 /

A papal bull issued at the request of the nuns of Carrow in 1229 attempted to stoop lords from using their influence to force the community to receive more inmates than they could maintain (Women Religious: The Founding of English Nunneries After the Norman Conquest, 187).

The crown and Warenne are thought to have been patrons, but further research is necessary to veify this. King Stephen was a patron before 1146. Other benefactors were Reginald di Warenne, and his wife, Alice; William di Warenne and his sister, Muriel, who was a nun; and Richard Segrim. In the 12th century there were many small donations. Before 1237 NULL acted as a patron; Agnes Thorpe was a benefactor around 1500, and Margery Dogett patronized the community in 1516. Bishop Broun also left small bequests to the nuns here (Religious Women in Medieval East Anglia: History and Archaeology c. 1100-1540., 57).

There were only nuns in the 12th century, but monks came from the town in the 15th century. [?]

Income came from rents and the fair of 1199, which was limited after 1289. Additional income came from tithes and jurisdiction: proved wills 1327; gallows.

The prioress of Carrow was exempt from municipal jurisdiction as she held exclusive rights over her lands inside and outside Norwich. Her jurisdiction allowed her to probate wills and maintain a gallows. Carrow also had the right to hold a four day fair on the vigil, day, and two days following the Nativity of the Virgin (Religious Women in Medieval East Anglia: History and Archaeology c. 1100-1540., 27-8).

[1]Records the donation of the site by King Stephen. (1146)
[2] The second document is from King John and gives the community the privilege of a fair. The nature of this document needs further research in order to verify this description. (1199)

The convent was built on marshy ground to the south of the town walls of Norwich. According to nineteenth-century excavations (On the Excavation of the Site of Carrow Abbey, Norwich) and the alignment of the chancel and nave, construction began from the east of the church in the mid-twelfth century, and the nave was completed in the early thirteenth century (Religious Women in Medieval East Anglia: History and Archaeology c. 1100-1540., 83-4). The blank arcading of the interior of the church survives partially. On the north side of the chancel was the chapel to S. Catherine; to the south are foundations of the chapel dedicated to S. John the Baptist. There was another chapel further south. The sacristry projected east from the transept and was entered from the transept through a doorway with refined mouldings and shafts (Religious Women in Medieval East Anglia: History and Archaeology c. 1100-1540., 84). Beyond the south transept was a slype containing remains of a circular stairway, which probably served as the night-stairs of the nuns. The chapter house extended beyond the east range. The day-stairs of the nuns were located to the south of the chapter-house. A portion of the dormitory wall retains the doorway which led from the day-stairs to the cloister. The east range is represented by an extant west wall; this was the location of the dormitory, which extended south beyond the limit of the rectangular cloister. Attached to the east range, immediately south of the chapter-house, are the foundtions of a small structure thought to represent the latrine-block. Fragments of masonry to the east of the cloister, at the edge of the River Wensum, may represent the infirmary (Religious Women in Medieval East Anglia: History and Archaeology c. 1100-1540., 84). The west range was rebuilt by the Prioress Isabel Wygun in the sixteenth century and is still extant. It was restored between 1899-1909. Restitivity survey indicated that the cloister was re-ordered, with the demolition of the original west range in order to build the prioress's lodge. Twelve burials from the church and its graveyard to the north have been excavated. One of the graves was that of a priest. With the exception of the priest and a child, all the burials were of adult women. A thirteenth-century cooking pot was also found on the site. The church is unusually large for a female house. The church, chapter-house projecting from the range and the dormitory extended beyond the cloister, all indicate a house of unique status within the women's communities of medieval East Anglia (Religious Women in Medieval East Anglia: History and Archaeology c. 1100-1540., 85).

The cartulary for Carrow is no longer extant, but extracts from it have been preserved by Tanner (Women Religious: The Founding of English Nunneries After the Norman Conquest, 49). Reg. Regum, iii, 226-7; Oxford, Oxford University: Bodleian Library, Tanner MSS 342, f. 149.

Two Bishops were consecrated here in 1245. An Abbess was tried for murder in 1416. Anchoresses played a Christmas game in which a nun was equal to the Prioress in 1526. In 1532 the younger nuns were cautioned against wearing silk waist-bands and gossiping (Religious Women in Medieval East Anglia: History and Archaeology c. 1100-1540., 56).