18. THE HOSPITAL OF BATHEL
The first mention of this hospital occurs in
the life of St. Godric. (fn. 1) A certain widow had a
daughter who was a leper, and in her distress
she appealed to the priest of their town, Halietune [? = Haughton-le-Skerne], for advice and
help. He procured the admission of the daughter into a hospital at Darlington, which was
scarcely three miles away, and was called
'Badele.' The treatment there, if any were
tried, does not seem to have been successful, for
the sufferer remained for three years in the infirmary, growing steadily worse, and was finally
cured by a miracle. (fn. 2)
For nearly two hundred years there is no
further mention of the hospital, though the
names 'Bathela,' (fn. 3) 'Bathelgate,' (fn. 4) 'Bathley,' (fn. 5) and
'Bathel,' (fn. 6) occur under Blackwell near Darlington
in Boldon Book in 1183, and Hatfield's Survey,
c. 1377. In these entries there is no mention
of any building, but only of land, herbage, and
pasture.
In February, 1340-1, we find the collation of
Hugh de Picton, chaplain, to the chantry of
Bathelspital, near Darlington, vacant by the
death of William de Haltwhistle, and in the
bishop's collation. (fn. 7) In July, 1362, William of
Brantingham was collated to the hospital of
Bathel, vacant by the death of 'Dominus Wade,'
the late priest. (fn. 8)
Then follows another long gap in the history,
but in 1418-19 begins the series of appointments given below:—
John Ukerby, chantry priest of Darlington
manor, master and warden of the hospital of
Bathel, d. 1418 (?) (fn. 9)
Roger Wakerlein, collated 6 January, 1418-19,
p.m. J. Ukerby (fn. 10)
Richard [Gardener], rector of Dinsdale, exchanged with R. Wakerlein, 24 December, 1419 (fn. 11)
Bernard Warde, vicar of Coniscliffe, exchanged
with R. Gardener, 18 March, 1420-1 (fn. 12)
Robert Bett, al. Grissemere, priest, collated
16 May, 1422, p.m. B. Warde. (fn. 13) Resigned
9 September, 1422 (fn. 14)
Stephen Austell, resigned 15 April, 1433 (fn. 15)
William Blomeley, collated 4 October, 1437,
p.r. S. Austell (fn. 16)
After this all trace of the hospital seems lost,
unless it be the house of which Leland speaks as
'a priory not far from Darlington, as I remember about Tees River.' (fn. 17) Bathel appears to have
been situated somewhere between Darlington
and the Tees, but it seems unlikely that it should
be styled a priory.