29. HOSPITAL OF ST. LEONARD, TARRANT RUSHTON
At what date and by whom this house or
hospital was founded it is impossible now to say.
The first mention of it occurs in the reign of
Edward I, when the advowson and lordship
(dominium) of it were in the hands of the
Deverel family, and they may have been the
founders; at any rate in 1314 they made over
the entire rights to the prior and convent of
Christchurch, Twyneham. (fn. 135) According to an
inquisition post mortem, held as to his possessions
in Milborne Deverel or Cary, in March, 1332, (fn. 136)
Elias de Deverel died in October the previous
year, and on his lands escheating to the crown
by reason of the forfeiture of his son and heir,
John de Deverel, the then prior and convent
petitioned the king to restore to them those
rights in the house of St. Leonard of Rushton
near Palmeresbrugg of which they had been
unjustly disseised by the late donor and his son.
The king ordered an inquiry to be made, and
on 28 November, 1332, the jury found that
the advowson and custody of the house had
been granted to William Quentyn, late prior of
Christchurch, the convent and their successors
by Elias de Deverel on the morrow of St. Nicholas
(6 December), 1304; that then, in accordance
with the terms of the grant and on the cession of
the master, John Curteis, they had presented
Robert de Horton, chaplain, to the custody and
mastership of the house, to which he had been
admitted on the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle
(21 December) the same year; that subsequently,
on 2 May following, they had been unjustly
dispossessed of their rights by the said Elias de
Deverel and John his son, and Robert de Horton, then master, had been removed and Ralph
Lychet, chaplain, admitted to the custody in
his place; and that the same Elias and John
had continued to usurp possession of the house
from that time up to the date of the attainder
of John de Deverel, when it came into the
king's hand. The jury further estimated its
value at 40s. (fn. 137)
These facts having been ascertained, Edward III
did not hesitate to make good the claim of the
monks, his deed of restoration the following
January, 1333, reciting that the original grant
of the premises in the reign of Edward I had
been made to the then prior, William Quentyn,
and the convent without licence of the king, but
that in consideration of a fine of 10 marks he
had consented to pardon the lack of this formality. (fn. 138)
The subsequent history of the house is
unknown, and it is not entered in the
chantry certificate of the county in the reign of
Edward VI.
Masters Of Tarrant Rushton Hospital
John Curteis, resigned in 1304 (fn. 139)
Robert de Horton, appointed 1304, resigned
1305, (fn. 140)
Ralph Lychet, appointed 1305 (fn. 141)