These  two  priories  stood  in  very  different  relations  to  the  mother
church.  The  prior  of  Great  Malvern  was  elected  by  his  brethren  on
the  spot,  and  was  then  sent  up  to  Westminster  to  receive  the  abbot's
confirmation;  and  the  loyalty  of  the  priory  to  the  abbey  was  largely
due  to  a  desire  to  escape  the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishop  of  Worcester.
The  priory  of  Hurley  was  a  smaller  foundation,  and  much  nearer  home :
its  prior  was  chosen  from  among  the  senior  monks  of  Westminster:
sometimes  he  returned  after  a  period  of  service,  in  one  instance  he
came  back  to  be  abbot.
One  other  priory  belonged  to  Westminster,  that  of  St  Bartholomew
at  Sudbury.  This  was  founded  by  Wulfric,  the  king's  moneyer  at
Norwich,  who  would  seem  to  have  died  as  a  monk  of  Westminster.  As
the  king's  charter  is  attested  at  Westminster  by  Archbishop  Ralph,  it
cannot  be  earlier  than  Easter  1114;  nor  can  it  be  later  than  Easter
1116,  for  it  is  addressed  to  Herbert  Losinga,  the  bp  of  Norwich,  who
died  before  the  king's  return  from  Normandy1.  Perhaps  the  most
probable  date  is  the  council  held  at  Westminster  in  Sept.  1115,  just
before  Bernard's  consecration  to  the  see  of  St  David's.
Another  cell  of  Westminster  may  perhaps  have  been  contemplated
in  Gilbert's  time,  though  it  was  actually  founded  under  his  successor,
Abbot  Herbert :  for  in  the  first  endowment  of  the  canonesses  of  Kilburn,
who  were  superintended  by  a  senior  monk  of  Westminster,  we  find
mention  of  a  corrody  of  Abbot  Gilbert,  and  they  were  under  special
obligation  to  pray  for  this  abbot's  soul2.
terrae  in  Martuna  quam  Landricus  de  Clifford  reddidit  Gisliberto  abbati,  quam  Gislebertus
dedit  monacbis  de  Malvernia,  sicut  ipse  Gislebertus  abbas  consensu  communis  capituli
earn  eis  dedit  et  concessit '  Monasticon,  in  448.
