"Sir Geoffrey de Favenches, or Faverches, her son, confirmed the
endowments, made an additional foundation of a priory for Augustine
canons, and erected a conventual church. The numerous gifts and grants
to this famous religious house form one of those extensive and dull
mazes of ecclesiastical record, through which the historic topographer
is constrained to wade. At the Dissolution, the annual revenues of the
monastery were valued, according to Speed, at 446_l._ 14_s._ 4_d_.
That its wealth should have been immensely great is not surprising,
when the fame of the image of the _Lady of Walsingham_ is taken into
the account; for it was as much frequented, if not more than the
shrine of St. Thomas à Becket, at Canterbury. Foreigners of all
nations came hither on pilgrimage; many kings and queens of England
also paid devoirs to it: so that the number and quality of her
devotees appeared to equal those of the Lady Loretto, in Italy.
Spelman observes, that it is said King Henry the Eighth, in the second
year of his reign, walked _barefooted_ from the village of Basham to
this place, and then presented a valuable necklace to the image. Of
this costly present, as well as the other saleable appendages,
Cromwell doubtless took good care, when, by his master's orders, he
seized the image, and burnt it at Chelsea.

"Erasmus, who visited this place, says, that the chapel, then
rebuilding, was distinct from the church, and inside of it was a small
chapel of wood, on each side of which was a little, narrow door,
where those who were admitted came with their offerings, and paid
their devotions; that it was lighted up with wax torches, and that the
glitter of gold, silver, and jewels would lead you to suppose it to be
the seat of the gods.

"In one of his colloquies, entitled, _Peregrinatio_, is a very