GAYWOOD CASTLE stood where the farm house, called Gaywood Hall, now stands, as appears from the _moat_ which surrounds it, and which must once have encircled a fortified edifice. That edifice could be no other than the castle or palace of Gaywood, which was long the favourite, or principal mansion and residence of the bishops of Norwich, who were from an early period the temporal as well as spiritual lords of Lynn; on which account the town was then called Bishop’s Lynn, or Lynn Bishop. So high and mighty was the bishop’s lordly sway then at Lynn, that the very Mayor was nominated and appointed by him, and was called _the bishop’s man_, being in fact only his bailiff, or deputy. Afterward, the Mayor’s power becoming more extensive and independent, would sometimes occasion no small disagreement and strife between him and his prelatical master: a very notable instance of which occurred in the reign of Richard II. and the time of the famous bishop _Spencer_, of persecuting, fighting, and crusading memory. This prelate, being one day in the town with his retinue, quarrelled with the Mayor (who was supported by the townsmen) on a point of frivolous etiquette. From words, the parties came to blows; and a very serious battle ensued, which terminated in the total defeat of the haughty prelate and his company, who were all driven out of town, many of them much bruised and wounded. This bishop Spencer was sometime after appointed generalissimo of Pope _Urban’s_ forces, in the war he then waged against the antipope _Clement_ of Avignon; as is related by Fox. It was he also who afterward prosecuted for heresy William Sawtre, then minister of St. Margaret’s, and the first who suffered under the Act _De hæretico comburendo_. Of these matters a more particular account shall be given in relating the history of the town, at that period.