THE HOSPITAL OF ST. ANDREW, DENHALL
In the early 1230s Alexander Stavensby, bishop of
Coventry and Lichfield, built a hospital at Denhall on
the marshes of the Dee estuary to help the poor and the
shipwrecked and annexed to it the neighbouring
church of Burton in Wirral which had been ab antiquo
a prebend of Lichfield cathedral. The dean and chapter
of Lichfield, who were given Tarvin church as a
prebend in compensation, confirmed the annexation
and Stavensby's appropriation of Burton church to his
new hospital in 1238. Gregory IX again confirmed the
appropriation in 1241. (fn. 1) The hospital, which was
dedicated to St. Andrew, (fn. 2) was known in the 13th
century as a secular priory. In 1251 the pope confirmed the liberties and privileges of the prior and
brethren but the community was evidently mixed at
that period as the prior made a land grant in Burton
'by the wish and consent of the brethren and sisters
there serving God'. (fn. 3) That is the only surviving reference to women living in the hospital and after it there
are no further indications, apart from the name of
priory, that in its early days the inmates lived under a
religious rule.
On the appointment of a new warden in 1320
Bishop Walter Langton reiterated the 'traditional'
constitution of the hospital: the new warden was to
associate with himself two resident priests and all three
were to wear the customary decent dress with a cross
and were to celebrate masses and other services regularly. The warden was to act as hospitaller in admitting poor men, travellers arriving from Ireland, and
others. (fn. 4) Even in the early days of the hospital the
wardens were unlikely, however, to have resided permanently at Denhall. In the 1260s the prior was
appointed one of the deputies of the bishop's official
and also acted as the warden of the nuns of Chester. (fn. 5)
From c. 1300 the wardenship or mastership of the
hospital, which was valued at £10 a year, was usually
held in plurality by secular clerks and several of the
masters were prebendaries of Lichfield cathedral or of
St. John's, Chester. (fn. 6) In the mid 15th century the
compatibility of the two benefices of the mastership of
the hospital and the rectorship of Burton was questioned but the bishop ruled in 1447 that both could be
held by a secular clerk and in 1452 papal dispensation
was obtained for the combination of the offices. (fn. 7)
Apart from the names of the masters little is known
of the history of the hospital in the later Middle Ages.
William de Newhagh who resigned the mastership in
1400 on the grounds of age and ill-health was said to
have improved the buildings and increased the income
of the poor inmates; he was granted an annual pension
of 10 marks from the revenues. (fn. 8) In 1499, after the
hospital had ceased to have an independent existence,
extensive privileges were claimed by the master on
behalf of the inmates which may have dated from the
foundation. Among them were free fishing in the Dee
within the hospital bounds, the right of wreck, and
free warren of rabbits on the lands of the hospital. No
boats were to anchor there without the master's
permission and tolls were claimed on merchandise
landed there for transport to Chester by land or sea.
The masters had the right to make voyages in the small
boat belonging to the hospital carrying corn and other
necessities without licence and to buy victuals in
Chester free of toll. Sheriffs and other officials could
not enter the lands or waters of the hospital to exercise
their offices and the master claimed to be under the
special protection of the earl of Chester. (fn. 9) There is no
record of further endowments after Stavensby's grant
of the church of Burton though the hospital held
property in St. John's Lane, Chester in the later 14th
century. (fn. 10)
In January 1496 the hospital was united by the
bishop with St. John's Hospital, Lichfield on the
grounds that it was too impoverished to continue
independently. (fn. 11) It is possible that some connexion
with Cheshire was maintained after the union of the
two hospitals as one of the almsmen in 1539 bore the
Cheshire surname of Capenhurst. (fn. 12) The site of the
Denhall hospital, which came to form the most valuable estate of St. John's Hospital, was leased after the
union to Sir Thomas Smith of Hough and the buildings
seem then to have been used as the parsonage house of
Burton church. (fn. 13) In the 17th century the masters of St.
John's tended to treat the former hospital as their
personal property and in 1675 Francis Ashenhurst
settled the site of the Denhall hospital and the glebe
and tithes of Burton on his future wife. (fn. 14) It remained in
the hands of the Ashenhurst family and in 1738 part of
the hospital buildings were demolished with the permission of the bishop and the master of St. John's and
a new parsonage house built in a less remote position.
In 1751 the remains of the hospital buildings, then in a
ruinous state, were demolished, apart from one outlying building which had been converted into a barn. (fn. 15)
Some remains were still visible in 1897 and stone from
the buildings was used in the wall skirting the field in
which the hospital had stood. (fn. 16)
Priors, Masters, or Wardens
William, occurs about 1268-9. (fn. 17)
Auynger, occurs before 1293. (fn. 18)
Thomas of Denton, occurs 1293. (fn. 19)
Simon de Schirele, collated 1302, occurs 1310. (fn. 20)
William de Steping, occurs 1318. (fn. 21)
William de Chaveley, collated 1320. (fn. 22)
Nicholas de Hethe, occurs 1343-9, resigned by
1352. (fn. 23)
John de Charnes, or Charnele, provided 1352, died
1374. (fn. 24)
William de Newhagh, collated 1375, resigned
1400. (fn. 25)
John Luggor, or Loghere, collated 1400. (fn. 26)
William Piers, resigned 1404. (fn. 27)
William de Newhagh, collated 1404. (fn. 28)
Robert Dykes, occurs 1427. (fn. 29)
Thomas Wykersley, died 1434. (fn. 30)
Roger Wall, collated 1434, resigned 1440. (fn. 31)
Edmund Tebbet, collated 1440, died 1445. (fn. 32)
Roger Wall, collated 1445, resigned 1449. (fn. 33)
John Bothe, collated 1449. (fn. 34)
No seal is known.