Addenda: Hospitals

A History of the County of Kent: Volume 2. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1926.

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'Addenda: Hospitals', in A History of the County of Kent: Volume 2, (London, 1926) pp. 241. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/kent/vol2/p241 [accessed 18 March 2024]

In this section

ADDENDA

75. HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY, CANTERBURY

In his list of hospitals in Kent, Mr. Arthur Hussey mentions the hospital of St. Mary at Canterbury, founded in 1317 by John Maynard or Mayner, called the Rich, for three brothers and four sisters. He endowed it with £3 7s. in rents in Canterbury and with six acres of wood in F.ordwich. The hospital survives as almshouses. (fn. 1)

76. HOSPITAL OF ST. KATHERINE, ROCHESTER

The hospital of St. Katherine in the suburb of Eastgate was established under the will of Simon Potyn, living in the inn called the Crown, in the parish of St. Clement, dated Christmas, 1316. It was founded for men and women of Rochester suffering from leprosy or other disease that caused impotency and poverty. It was under the rule of the vicar of St. Nicholas, the heirs of Simon Potyn and, John St. Denys, and the Bishop of Rochester, who were to appoint the prior. (fn. 2)

77. HOSPITAL OF ST. ANTHONY, SANDWICH

The leper hospital of St. Anthony upon Eche Wall is mentioned occasionally in wills from 1472 to 1496. (fn. 3)

78. HOSPITAL OF HOLY CROSS, SWAINESTREY, IN MURSTON

This hospital was probably founded in the 12th century by a member of the Murston family, lords of the manor of Murston. The earliest dated reference to it is in 1225, when the master received royal licence to hold a fair at the chapel of the Holy Cross of Swainestrey, on the vigil and day of the feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross. The hospital was endowed with several small parcels of land in Murston, Rodmersham, Sheppey, and elsewhere in the neighbourhood. The head of the house was the master or proctor, and the inmates are described as ministers or servants of the hospital. The chapel of Holy Cross seems to have been connected with the hospital but had a separate endowment. Master Simon de Wenge, described as proctor of the hospital, is the only head of the house whose name has survived. The lands of the hospital were apparently acquired by William of Wykeham for the endowment of New College, Oxford. (fn. 4)

79. HOSPITAL OF ST. LEONARD, SWAINESTREY, IN MURSTON

Of this small hospital for lepers very little is known. It was endowed with a few acres of land in Bapchild, Swainestrey, and Murston, but must always have been very poor. In 1232 it received letters of protection and in the same year the king confirmed the various small grants previously made to it. This is the last reference to the hospital which has been found. It would seem probable that poverty overtook the house, and its possessions were apparently handed over to the hospital of Holy Cross (q.v.), when its use as a leper hospital diminished. In this way its lands eventually went to New College.

80. HOSPITAL OF ST. NICHOLAS BY THE WHITE DITCH, STROOD

Little is known of this leper hospital. It was in existence in 1253 when the lepers of St. Nicholas de albo fossato had a grant of protection. (fn. 5) In 1432 the wardenship was granted to Thomas Hikkes in place of George Berchwode. (fn. 6) Ten years later, Arnald Knight, falconer, a leper, and Gerardine his wife, had a grant for life of the hospital, he having built a house on the site of the hospital, which had been burnt. (fn. 7) Bequests were made to the hospital of White Ditch in 1493 and 1523. (fn. 8)

Footnotes

  • 1. Arch. Cant., 'Hospitals in Kent,' by Arthur Hussey, xxix, 260.
  • 2. Ibid. citing S. Fisher, Hist, of Rochester (1772), 211-13, and Testamenta Cant., West Kent, 61-4.
  • 3. Testamenta Cant., East Kent, 294.
  • 4. The accounts of this and the following hospital are taken from a paper by Mr. Ralph Griffin, F.S.A. (Arch. Cant., xxxiv, 63-78). Mr. Griffin suggests that the two formed one establishment, and that the hospital was dedicated to St. Leonard and was attached to the chapel of Holy Cross, but the deeds he quotes do not bear this out, for in them the hospital of Holy Cross is repeatedly referred to both before and after the date of the references to the hospital of St. Leonard.
  • 5. Pat. 37 Hen. III, m. 10.
  • 6. Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks., xviii, fol. 12d.
  • 7. Pat. 21 Hen. VI, pt. ii, m. 16.
  • 8. Testamenta Cant., 12, 64. Mr. Arthur Hussey gives a short history of a leper hospital of St. Katherine of Strood (Arch. Cant., xxix, 266) at White Ditch which had a chapel dedicated to St. Bartholomew. It is possible there may be some confusion between this house and that of St. Nicholas.