Hospitals: Gardiner's Hospital, Lancaster

19. GARDINER'S HOSPITAL, LANCASTER

The small hospital or almshouse at Lancaster known as Gardiner's Hospital was established in 1485 by the executors of John Gardiner of Bailrigg in accordance with the provisions of his will made in 1472 and proved eleven years later. The headship of the hospital, for which Gardiner seems to have erected a building in his life-time, was combined with the incumbency of a chantry in the adjacent parish church. Out of the issues of the manor of Bailrigg, which in 1547 amounted to £11 6s. 10d., the chantry priest was required to pay 1d. a day to each of four poor people in the almshouse and 2d. a week to a serving-maid, retaining the residue for his own maintenance. The nomination of the priest or chaplain after the first vacancy was vested in the mayor and twelve burgesses of Lancaster. (fn. 1) In the first year of Edward VI the chantry was dissolved, but the hospital survived and is still in existence with an income brought up by some small legacies to £15 a year. (fn. 2)

Chantry Priests of the Hospital

Nicholas Green, (fn. 3) appointed by Gardiner's feoffees, 1485
Edward Baines, (fn. 4) incumbent in 1547