Hospitals: St Leonard, Tarrant Rushton

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. 1) According to an inquisition post mortem, held as to his possessions in Milborne Deverel or Cary, in March, 1332, (fn. 2) 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. 3)

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. 4)

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. 5)

Robert de Horton, appointed 1304, resigned 1305, (fn. 6)

Ralph Lychet, appointed 1305 (fn. 7)