37. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. GILES AND ST. ANTHONY, (fn. 1) WILTON
The tradition that this hospital was founded for
lepers about 1135 by Adela of Louvain, second
wife of Henry I, may be accepted; the stories that
she was a leper and was buried in the hospital
chapel are, however, baseless. (fn. 2) Her gift of a tenth
of the revenues of Wilton, with all other gifts to
the church of St. Giles for the sustenance of the
infirm, was confirmed by Henry II, and in 1206
by John; (fn. 3) and at Michaelmas 1207 and 1208 the
lepers outside Wilton received £4 in established
alms. (fn. 4) There are references to the master, brethren,
and sisters on many occasions between 1252 and
1626, (fn. 5) though mention of the master and brethren
alone is more frequent; a gift in the mid-13th
century was said to be made for the sustentation
of the grantor's mother in the hospital. (fn. 6)
William Longespée, Earl of Salisbury, bequeathed 5 cows to the hospital by his will dated
in 1229. (fn. 7) In 1270 Henry III gave an oak for the
repair of the church. (fn. 8) About 1275 the hospital
granted 2 acres of arable in Washern field for a
cash payment of £1 16s. 8d. and the yearly service
of a rose in June. (fn. 9) A series of grants to the hospital, from the mid-13th century to 1328, includes small parcels of arable land in the local
fields, and two hedges. (fn. 10)
By inquisitions held in 1300 and 1301 it was
found that the hospital held a tenement in Wilton
at 3d. a year, (fn. 11) and that it received £4 a year
of the king's gift from the revenues of the borough
(which amounted to £6 12s. 11¼d. in all) to find
a chaplain who should celebrate daily in the hospital for the souls of the kings of England. (fn. 12) The
payment fell into arrears four times in 1301-37, (fn. 13)
and again in 1544. (fn. 14)
Edward III granted to his clerk, John of
Tamworth, St. Giles's Hospital in April 1344,
and St. John's Hospital, Wilton (see below) in the
following May; he revoked the earlier grant in
July, finding that St. Giles's had been founded by
a former mayor and commonalty for lepers and
other poor sick persons, and had always been
governed by their successors. (fn. 15) In 1385 Richard II
sent an aged servant to be one of the king's thirteen poor bedesmen (oratorum) of St. Giles's
Hospital; (fn. 16) it is possible that his clerks confused
this hospital with St. Mary Magdalene's, Wilton
(see below).
Iseult, widow of John Irish, granted to the hospital in 1381, for 100 years, ½ acre of arable in
Quidhampton field. (fn. 17) John Butterley, citizen of
Salisbury, left 6s. 8d. to it in 1395, and Maud
Daleway 3s. 4d. to the brethren in 1397; Ivo
FitzWarin, by his will dated in 1412, left £1 to
the master and £2 to the poor inmates for beds,
clothing, and other necessaries; (fn. 18) in 1414 a widow
from Salisbury left 6s. 8d. to the poor of the hospital. In 1396 Bishop Metford published an indulgence in favour of the hospital. (fn. 19) In 1403
William Chitterne of Wilton had licence to grant
12½ acres in Fugglestone, Chilhampton, and South
Newton, to find a lamp to burn daily at high mass
in the hospital church; (fn. 20) the grant is dated in
1407. (fn. 21)
The question of the patronage was not yet entirely closed. The king presented Richard Bolteford, chaplain, in 1379 to the chantry at St. Giles's
altar in the hospital; the presentation was repeated
in 1380, with a mandate in pursuance to the
Mayor of Wilton. (fn. 22) Richard Holdych had letters
patent in 1465 ratifying his estate as prior or
warden; (fn. 23) he was elected one of the borough
public arbitrators in 1464, and burgess in 1465; (fn. 24)
he remained prior until his death in 1477, and the
burgesses were convoked on 1 April 1478 to present a successor. (fn. 25) There was no later claim by
the Crown.
In 1535 the prior returned the income from
tenths, oblations, pensions, and other sources as
£5 13s. 4d., and the outgoings as nil; (fn. 26) the entry
of lepers had probably long since failed. The
chantry commissioners of 1546 found that the
income of £5 13s. 4d. was drawn from the farm
of house, garden, and demesne (arable and pasture
in the fields surrounding Wilton and small parcels
of land in Fugglestone, Wilton, and Fonthill
Bishop), all in the tenure of the master and worth
£1 13s. 4d. a year, from a pension of £2 out of the
Earl of Derby's property in Barford St. Martin,
and from £2 rents in Wilton town; the ornaments
were worth £1 6s. 7d.; only the master was sustained. (fn. 27) The commissioners of 1548 disclaimed
jurisdiction, but they found a chapel with a leadcovered roof, a clear income of £6, and four poor
persons relieved. (fn. 28) The hospital continued in
being, but it was stated about 1613 that the
revenues were appropriated by the master. (fn. 29) The
house was rebuilt by the corporation in 1624, (fn. 30)
and in 1626 the 'master prior and custos' and
brethren and sisters agreed to farm it to the mayor
and burgesses for £2 a year. (fn. 31)
The Rector of Wilton was elected prior in
1635, in 1687, (fn. 32) and in 1768. The election of
1658 was ignored in 1660. (fn. 33)
The accounts are preserved from 1641. (fn. 34) In
that year £1 14s. 9d. was brought forward, and
£2 0s. 8d. received of the portreeve; £1 8s. 4d.
was paid to the steward, a fee of 3s. 4d. to the
portreeve, £1 6s. in cloth for the poor, 2s. for
writing the portreeve's roll and 8s. to the mayor
for the poor of the hospital; 7s. 9d. was carried
forward. In 1653 the poor received £6 8s.; in
1666 10s.; in 1672 £4 10s.; the payment was
£4 10s. every year from 1722 to 1725. There were
serious deficits in 1769-81; it was agreed in 1775
that the estates should be surveyed and valued by
William Wapshare, and that all tenants should
have notice to quit at Old Michaelmas. (fn. 35) By
1787 there was £70 in hand, and by 1811 £133;
the poor received £8 a quarter in 1796, and £10
in 1798. (fn. 36)
The hospital was in great decay in 1821; (fn. 37) in
1826 the payments were for insurance, coal, and
a pair of leather breeches; (fn. 38) about 1830, under a
series of exchanges agreed in 1826 with the mayor
and burgesses, the house which was in Fugglestone, beside the old Quidhampton road, (fn. 39) was
demolished, and the site taken into Wilton Park. (fn. 40)
It was rebuilt in the Warminster road, facing the
recreation ground, and restored in 1940 and again
in 1950. The Charity Commissioners found in
1903 that the hospital had always been managed
by the corporation; that two poor men and two
poor women had been maintained until 1796,
and an additional poor man since then. (fn. 41) It was
included in the United Charities by schemes
dated in 1907 and 1910; the income was then
£85 2s. 6d. in rents and £19 10s. 4d. in dividends.
Masters, Wardens, or Priors
William, occurs c. 1250. (fn. 42)
John, occurs c. 1275. (fn. 43)
Robert of Purbeck, occurs 1280. (fn. 44)
John of Tamworth, appointed 1344. (fn. 45)
John, occurs 1391. (fn. 46)
Richard Holdych, occurs 1465 and 1477. (fn. 47)
George Modell, elected 1508. (fn. 48)
William Burbancke, elected 1526 or 1527. (fn. 49)
William Thorpe, occurs 1535. (fn. 50)
John Dowse, occurs 1548. (fn. 51)
Gervase Babington, presented 1581. (fn. 52)
John Hayes, elected 1622, occurs 1626. (fn. 53)
Richard Chandler, occurs 1635 and 1656. (fn. 54)
Stephen Twogood, occurs 1658, resigned
1660. (fn. 55)
Richard Kent, elected 1660, resigned 1687. (fn. 56)
Richard Barford, elected 1687, resigned 1736. (fn. 57)
Ralph Button, elected 1736, resigned 1740. (fn. 58)
Samuel Rolleston, elected 1740, died 1766. (fn. 59)
John Hawes, elected 1768, occurs to 1776. (fn. 60)
William Coxe, died 1828. (fn. 61)
Henry Hetley, elected 1830, (fn. 62) died 1832.
J. S. Stockwell, died 1869. (fn. 63)
Dacres Olivier, elected 1869, resigned 1912. (fn. 64)
Guy Ronald Campbell, elected 1927, resigned
1943. (fn. 65)
The mutilated seal attached to the agreement
of about 1275 with John Goldrun shows a cloaked
figure with a staff in its right hand. (fn. 66) A pointed
oval 15th-century seal, measuring 3¼ by 17/8 in.,
used in modern times, shows the wounded hart
taking refuge with St. Giles, and bears the inscription:
S' * DOMUS * ELIMOSINARE * SBĪI * EGEDI *
IUXTA * WILTON * (fn. 67)