A History of the County of Kent: Volume 2. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1926.
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'Hospitals: Sittingbourne', in A History of the County of Kent: Volume 2, (London, 1926) pp. 227-228. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/kent/vol2/pp227-228 [accessed 23 April 2024]
63. THE HOSPITALS OF SITTINGBOURNE
It was found by an inquisition (fn. 1) taken in 1288 that one Samuel, a clerk, by the grant of King John built a little chapel and hospital at 'Schamele' in the parish of Sittingbourne for the lodging of poor people, and after his death they fell to the ground. Afterwards another chapel in honour of St. Thomas the Martyr was built by the alms of the passers by and other men of the hundred of Milton, and Henry III granted (fn. 2) it to a chaplain named Silvester, who lived there for sixteen years. On his death the vicar of Sittingbourne seized the chapel and carried off the marble altar, and one of its bells was carried off into the county of Essex and the other to the church of Sittingbourne.
In 1225 the master of the hospital of St. Cross, ' Sweynestre,' had a grant of a fair yearly on the vigil and the day of the Invention of the Cross at his chapel during the king's minority. (fn. 3)
In 1232 the lepers of the hospital of St. Leonard of ' Sweynestre ' by Sittingbourne had a grant of protection. (fn. 4)
The chantry certificates mention a free chapel in Sittingbourne called Thomas Becket's chapel, (fn. 5) which was dissolved in 34 Henry VIII.