Of the seven monks who successively held the office of sacrist in the period 1215–57, only the second, Richard of Newport, appears among those benefactors whose acts and merits were recorded in the (now lost) martyrology and in the kitchener's register. He must have been a monk of some seniority already in 1213, since at that time he was subsacrist and took a leading part in opposition to the election of Hugh of Northwold to the abbacy. He was appointed sacrist in 1220 when his predecessor in that office, Richard of the Isle, became prior, and remained sacrist for about fifteen years, until sometime before 1234.

The entry for Richard of Newport in the kitchener's register is in the section for benefactors whose anniversaries were celebrated with ‘simple ringing of bells’ (‘simplici sonitu’). It reads as follows:

However, a marginal note apparently by the scribe of the text adds that the 40s rent acquired for ‘recreation’ comprised ‘20s annual rent in Manhall and 20s annual rent in Icklingham’. It concludes with the eulogy.

Richard of Newport seems to have inherited the zeal for the sacrist's office characteristic of Samson himself and of the sacrists during his rule. The information cited above shows that he combined concern for the buildings within the abbey precincts with care for those on its estates. There is more evidence about the new chapter-house. It replaced the early twelfth-century chapter-house constructed by Godfrey, sacrist under Abbot Robert II (1102–7), which was a short building with either an apsidal or a polygonal east end. It was probably too small for the community which by the thirteenth century had grown to seventy-five or so monks.