Hospitals: Crayke - Hedon

A History of the County of York: Volume 3. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1974.

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'Hospitals: Crayke - Hedon', in A History of the County of York: Volume 3, (London, 1974) pp. 306-310. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/vol3/pp306-310 [accessed 23 April 2024]

In this section

119. THE HOSPITAL OF CRAYKE

An indulgence was issued in 1228 on behalf of the hospital of the Blessed Mary ' in the meadows of Crak,' (fn. 1) but no other reference to this institution is known.

120-1. THE HOSPITALS OF DONCASTER

The Hospital of St. James at Doncaster is alluded to in 1222-3 as a leper-house, or at least partly so. (fn. 2) At the time of the suppression (fn. 3) it had become a free chapel only. Its freehold land was 60s. a year; of copyhold it had none. Roger Clarkson was the incumbent, and it was half a mile from the parish church.

Archbishop Rotherham granted forty days' indulgence in 1490 (fn. 4) to benefactors of Me spitil extra australem portam ville de Doncaster.'

William, master of the House of Lepers at Doncaster in 1287-8, impleaded Robert de Gaste of Guseworth in a plea of novel disseisin. (fn. 5)

The little circular 15th-century seal (fn. 6) has a figure of the patron saint with his pilgrim's staff and wallet. Of the legend in the field, no more than the word SAINCT is visible. The seal is only 11/16 in. in diameter.

The Hospital of St. Nicholas.— This hospital was founded by Robert de Turnham in the reign of Richard I. (fn. 7) The founder made it to some extent dependent upon his abbey of Bayham in Sussex, (fn. 8) and bestowed upon it land in Beverley which he had bought from the Abbot of Meaux, (fn. 9) and also land in Braneham. For this latter estate his daughter Isabel and her husband Peter de Mauley gave to the brothers and sisters of the hospital of St. Nicholas 51 acres in Balby in exchange, (fn. 10) and their son, another Peter de Mauley, recovered land in ' Briddeshall' against the master of the hospital of St. Nicholas in 1250. (fn. 11)

The only recorded master seems to be Henry, who occurs in 1247. (fn. 12)

122. THE HOSPITAL OF HERFORD

The only mention of this hospital that has been met with is the institution by Archbishop Arundel of Ralph de Luceby, on 30 July 1389, to the hospital of Herford in the diocese of York, on the nomination of Thomas Barry, esq., the patron. (fn. 13) Its situation is unknown, unless it was at Hartforth, in the parish of Gilling, or possibly it may have been the hospital of Flixton, which is close to the River Hertford, and is described in 1448 as 'in Hertforthlith.' (fn. 14)

123. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JAMES, HESSLE

In the latter part of the 12th century Henry de Traneby granted to God and the hospital of St. James of Hessle 1 acre of land with common pasturage in the field of Hessle, near the mill, between the land of Robert of Hessle and that of Warren de Vescy, stretching towards the shore of the Humber. (fn. 15)

124. HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE, KILLINGWOLDGRAVES

This hospital, which was situated about two miles from Beverley, in the parish of Bishop Burton, may have been founded by one of the Archbishops of York, who had a manor-house in the parish and were the patrons of the hospital. In 1169 Archbishop Roger, considering the calamity and misery of the poor sisters of ' Kynewaldgrave,' confirmed to them his gift of the tithes of his assart of 'Bimannesconge.' (fn. 16) From a charter of Edward III, (fn. 17) 22 June 1327, which recites this with many other subsequent gifts, it is evident that the hospital had in the mean time become well endowed by the liberality of a number of persons whose donations the king confirmed. Until 1301 the sisters of the hospital alone are mentioned in the grants, as if the hospital had been a foundation for women only; but in a later grant (the date of which is not recorded) by Roger the son of Hervey of Molescroft the brothers as well as the sisters of the hospital are named, (fn. 18) and although the sisters are more frequently mentioned, the foundation comprised brothers up to the time of its dissolution; for Isabella Swales, one of the sisters, on 21 May 1536 bequeathed a maser as an heirloom to the house, directing that it was to be in the keeping of the eldest brother or else of the eldest sister. (fn. 19)

In 1352 Pope Clement VI granted a relaxation of a hundred days of enjoined penance to penitents visiting the church of the poor hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, Killingwoldgraves, on the feast of the patron saint; and at the same time he issued a mandate to the archbishop to cause Maud de Beverlaco to be received as a sister, if she was found to be fit. (fn. 20)

In 1355 Edward III granted licence to the sisters to hold certain messuages in Beverley and Walkington with rents given them by William and Nicholas de Spaigne. In 1399 Alice de Burton, Alice de Ferriby, and Maud Rydell, sisters of the hospital of Killingwoldgraves, came before the twelve governors of Beverley and sought leave to have one bull, twelve sheep, and twenty swine in the Westwood of Beverley, a portion of land comprising 400 acres which was leased to the commonalty of Beverley by the archbishop. (fn. 21) In 1530 we find the chapter of Beverley paying £1 4s. to the sisters of the hospital, (fn. 22) and two years later a similar annuity was being paid to the brothers and sisters.

There was a chaplain, whose stipend was reckoned in 1527 at 5 marks, besides the master, whose stipend was 26s. 7d. (fn. 23) The mastership was usually held by clergymen of distinction in the diocese, and in several instances by the suffragan bishop.

Masters

Willelmus ' Pharen' episcopus,' (fn. 24) admitted 1399

William de Scardeburgh, (fn. 25) occurs 1411

Richard Bowett, (fn. 26) occurs 1414

Thomas Bryan, (fn. 27) occurs 1423

Thomas Tanfield, (fn. 28) admitted 1449

John Cromwell, died 1486 (fn. 29)

William, Bishop of Dromore, (fn. 30) admitted 1486

John Riplingham, died 1507 (fn. 31)

John Hatton, Bishop of Negropont, (fn. 32) admitted 1507

Christopher Wilson, occurs 1527 (fn. 33)

William, ' Dariens episcopus,' resigned 1543 (fn. 34)

Robert Warde, S.T.B., (fn. 35) 1543

125. HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY AND ST. ANDREW, FLIXTON

(Otherwise Carman-Spitle)

According to the Letters Patent of Henry VI in 1448, (fn. 36) confirming the original foundation, the deeds concerning which had, it is stated, been burnt, the hospital was founded in the reign of King Athelstan by a certain knight named Acehorne, formerly lord of Flixton, and was to consist of an alderman and fourteen brothers and sisters, and the object of the foundation was the preservation of travellers from the wolves and wild beasts then infesting those parts. For this end Acehorne endowed the hospital with a toft and croft, and two selions of moor and pasture land in Flixton, and also gave the alderman, brothers, and sisters common of pasturage for twenty cows and a bull in Flixton. From time out of mind the alderman, brothers, and sisters of the hospital had possessed 30 other acres of arable land in Flixton, the gifts of various persons. Some doubt is, perhaps, cast on the date assigned to the foundation of the hospital by the entries made under the head of Flixton in the Lay Subsidy Roll, 25 Edward I (1297), printed by Mr. William Brown, (fn. 37) where the entry ' De Acone Horn' xijd' has a curious resemblance to the name of the reputed founder of the days of King Athelstan. It may be added that of the sum of 14s. collected in Flixton, the hospital of St. Andrew paid 2s. 6d., the largest sum of any in Flixton.

The Letters Patent record that the vicar of the parish church of Folkton, in which parish Flixton is situated, was accustomed, time out of mind, to come to a certain chapel within the hospital dedicated to God, the undefiled virgin Mary, mother of Christ, and St. Andrew, and there to celebrate solemnly the mass cum benedictione calicis, and after mass to bless bread and water, and to divide the bread and sprinkle the water among those who had heard the mass. Many of the popes, it is added, had granted great indulgences and remission of sins to each person who heard the mass and received the aforesaid sanctified bread and water.

The evidences of the hospital concerning all these matters having been lost, and danger arising to the king's lieges who in the winter or at night sought hospitality there, the king confirmed all the rights of the hospital, and incorporated it under the name of the alderman, brothers, and sisters of Carman-Spitle. It is not mentioned in the Valor Ecclesiasticus, and probably was not a religious foundation in the stricter meaning of the term, as there is nothing to indicate that the alderman was a clergyman, nor is there any mention of a chaplain, nor in such lists as exist of the clergy of the East Riding before the Reformation is there any record of the name of a priest connected with the hospital. There is no mention of it in any of the wills connected with Folkton or Flixton extant at York, unless there is an indirect reference to the hospital in a bequest by John Fishburn, rector of Folkton, in 1437, of 20s. to each of the two fraternities existing in his parish. (fn. 38) There is, moreover, no reason assigned for the name of Carman-Spitle, (fn. 39) under which the hospital was incorporated by Henry VI. The site is now occupied by a farmhouse. Only one name of an alderman is known, that of Richard Perron, whose name occurs in the Letters Patent of 1448 as then in office.

126. FANGFOSS HOSPITAL

When Ralph Lutton, esquire, of Knapton, was giving in his genealogy, (fn. 40) he showed two Latin deeds wherein Sir Thomas Lutton of West Lutton had bequeathed in 1300 to Robert of Fangfoss, son of ' James de Hospitali juxta Fangfoss,' 4 tofts and crofts with 8 bovates and 8½ a. of land in West Lutton. (fn. 41) The hospital was clearly in existence in 1267, when Philip le Waleys, 'of the hospital of Wangefosse,' was accused of assaulting Alan son of Agnes in Pocklington, (fn. 42) and is again mentioned in 1352, when Nicholas Marchaunt, ' staying in Fangfosse spitell,' murdered Thomas de Mikelfield. (fn. 43)

127. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE, NEWTON GARTH, HEDON

This hospital was founded by William le Gros, Earl of Albemarle, prior to 1179, in which year he died. The foundation charter is not extant, but in the grant to the hospital by Henry II of a yearly fair on the feast of St. Mary Magdalene and seven following days, the inmates of the hospital are said to have been placed there by William, Earl of Albemarle, and in a deed by which the confratres leprosi of the hospital granted their chapel of St. Mary Magdalene at Hedon to William de Ederwic, they refer to William, Earl of Albemarle, as their founder. (fn. 44)

Newton Garth, where the hospital stood, is a little distance from Hedon itself, but was anciently within the territory of the borough, and the inmates were called the infirmi de Hedona and leprosi de Hedona. (fn. 45)

On 5 April 1301 Edward I granted the master and brethren of the hospital of St. Mary Magdalene of Newton juxta Overpaghele (now High Paull, adjoining Hedon), in Holderness, free warren in their demesne lands of Newton.

In 1334-5 (fn. 46) Richard Choldel and Alice his wife recovered seisin in the king's court held at Hedon against Richard de Potesgrave, master of the hospital of Newton, near Hedon, and Adam de Brunne, chaplain, of a corrody which consisted of a chamber in the hospital close; also soup and two loaves of good bread daily, 28 lagenae of the better ale of the hospital each fortnight, and other food and pittances, as a superior brother of the hospital, besides 3,000 turves yearly, with thatch and straw for the chamber, a stone of fat at Martinmas, 5s. 6d. yearly, and pasturage for six ewes and their lambs.

The mastership was evidently a piece of preferment of consideration, and sought after. On 29 April 1427 (fn. 47) Pope Martin V granted a dispensation to Thomas Bourchier, master of the hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, Newton Garth, who was in his sixteenth year only and of a race of great nobles and held the mastership, which was without cure (of souls) and wont to be assigned to secular clerks as a perpetual benefice, not exceeding £20 a year, that after he had attained his twentieth year he might hold any two benefices for life with or without a cure. This young master was the Thomas Bourchier who from the see of Ely was translated to Canterbury in 1454, became Lord High Chancellor in 1455, and a cardinal in 1464. He died in 1486.

In 1485 (fn. 48) the mastership was claimed by Edmund Lichfeld and Edmund Percy. Archbishop Rotherham confirmed Mr. Edmund Percy in the mastership, and assigned Mr. Edmund Lichfeld an annual pension of 100s. The archbishop's adjudication was confirmed by Robert, the Dean, and the Chapter of York, and accepted by Edmund, custos sive magister of the hospital, with the confratres and sisters of the same, in the hospital on 14 January 1485-6.

In 1526 (fn. 49) the mastership was valued at £21 2s. 8d., and the chaplaincy or office of cantarist in the chapel at 100s, a year. At the time of the Valor Ecclesiasticus the annual value of lands and rents of the hospital was estimated at £40. Alms to the amount of 3s. 4d. were given at the obit of the founder, and five eleemorinarii each received 34s. 8d. They were John Holme and his wife, Christopher Armerour, William Mase, and John Newby, all appointed by Royal Letters Patent. (fn. 50)

In 1552-3 (fn. 51) it was reported under ' Newton Garth in Holdernes' as follows: ' Johan Nanby one of the systers of the lait hospital of Newton Garthe in holdernes of thage of liiijti yeres havyng to her pen con xxxiiijs. by yere and none arrereges of her seid pencon at michelmas last and haith not alyned ne sold the same. Alice Thornton obijt in October anno quinto Regis nunc, with lyke pencon and not paid for oone half yere endyd at martymes anno predicto and the seid pencon not sold.'

About the middle of the 19th century a vesica-shaped seal was dug up at Hedon 1½in. by 1 in. in measurement. In the upper part are two demi-figures with nimbed heads, apparently SS. Peter and Paul. Below is the kneeling figure of an ecclesiastic. The whole is very rudely executed. Mr. Boyle deciphered the legend ' S. mag'ri Simon is domus b'te marie.' (fn. 52)

The assumption made both by Poulson and Mr. Boyle that the seal is that of a former master of Newton Garth Hospital needs proof.

Masters

Simon ? (fn. 53)

William de Sancto Oswaldo, occurs 1310 (fn. 54)

John de Rolleston, occurs 1315 (fn. 55)

Walter de Assherugge, appointed 1316 (fn. 56)

Richard de Potesgrave, occurs 1334-5, (fn. 57) 1342 (fn. 58)

Richard de Retford, occurs 1354 (fn. 59)

Alan Boole, before 1371 (fn. 60)

Robert de Muskham, occurs 1378 (fn. 61)

John Frankyssh, occurs 1388 (fn. 62)

Thomas Bourchier, occurs 1427 (fn. 63)

Edmund Percy, 1485 (fn. 64)

Mr. Robert Gilbert, 1526 (fn. 65)

—Woodhall, 1535 (fn. 66)

128-30. OTHER HOSPITALS OF HEDON

The Hospital of St. Sepulchre.—This hospital, which stood on the north of the town, west of the road to Preston, was founded by Alan Fitz Hubert, who granted to the lepers of St. Sepulchre of Hedon 7 acres, being the site on which the buildings were erected, and adjacent lands. Another gift, by Peter Hog, burgess of Hedon, was to the master, brothers, and sisters of the hospital. Elsewhere the master and brothers are generally spoken of, or the latter only. In a fine, the prior of the sick people of Hedon is mentioned, and this is believed to refer to the head of St. Sepulchre's Church.

' The founder and his descendants retained the right of presenting a man or woman, whole or infirm, to be provided for in the hospital. If the person chosen was a priest, or below that order, he was, nevertheless, to dine at the common table, and sleep in the dormitory of the lay brethren, and to wear the same apparel . . . In addition to this, the hospital was held bound to receive any afflicted person, allied to the founder or his heirs within the fourth degree of blood, and sufficiently to provide for him.' (fn. 67)

In an inquisition of 1276 the commissioners reported that the brethren of the hospital of St. Sepulchre had inclosed a place which used to be common. (fn. 68)

On 27 February 1468 Joan de Twyer directed in her will that she was to be buried in the chapel of the hospital of St. Sepulchre juxta Hedon, and bequeathed to the master of the hospital a ewer and basin, and a brazen mortar. (fn. 69)

On 15 August 1490 Robert Twyer directed in his will that he was to be buried in the church of St. Sepulchre beside Hedon, near the tomb of Sir William Twyer, kt., his ancestor. (fn. 70) In the Valor Ecclesiasticus the yearly revenue of the hospital is set down as £11 18s.4d. In 1526 the mastership was reckoned at £4 a year.

Masters

Ralph, occurs 1210-11 (fn. 71)

Peter, occurs 1256 (fn. 72)

Robert, occurs 1282 (fn. 73)

Alan Grass, occurs 1388 (fn. 74)

Richard Sprotlay, occurs 1468 (fn. 75)

Mr. William Wight, occurs 1526 (fn. 76)

Silvanus Clifton, occurs 1535, (fn. 77) 1538 (fn. 78)

Edmund St. Quintin (last master) (fn. 79)

The Hospital of St. Leonard.—Among the town records of Hedon there are several allusions to this hospital, (fn. 80) and in a defective Sheriff Tourn roll of the time of Henry IV there is a statement that ' Lenardgote ' was defective, and that it ought to be repaired ' per magistrum hospitalis Sancti Leonardi' and a certain William Alnewick. (fn. 81) The hospital stood on the west of a road called Wood market Gate.

The Hospital of the Gild of the Holy Cross.—Licence was granted by Richard II, 5 July 1392, to John de Burton and Henry Maupas, to convey a toft in Hedon to the masters and brothers of the hospital of the gild of the Holy Cross of Hedon to find a candle to burn every feast day in the church of St. Augustine of Hedon before the high cross. (fn. 82)

The gild of the Holy Cross at Hedon maintained a chaplain who said morning mass at one of the altars in St. Augustine's Church for the souls of departed members of the fraternity. (fn. 83) It possessed considerable property in the town, and some of its work seems to have been that of a benevolent society. In an inquisition held in York Castle in 1613 two messuages called God's Love Houses, on the south side of the church of St. Augustine, are named as having belonged to the gild. Possibly these represented the old hospital. (fn. 84)

Footnotes

  • 1. York Fabric Rolls (Surt. Soc.), 235.
  • 2. Protection for the sick and lepers; Pat. 12 Hen. III, m. 7.
  • 3. Yorks. Chant. Surv. (Surt. Soc.), ii, 393.
  • 4. York Archiepis. Reg. Rotherham, fol. 237 [altered to fol. 247].
  • 5. Baildon, op. cit. i, 37.
  • 6. Cat. of Seals, B.M. 3058, xlvii, 1789.
  • 7. Add. MS. 6037 (Chartul. of Bayham Abbey), no. 358, 334.
  • 8. The master and brothers held 12 acres and a toft in Loversall which they could not alienate without licence of the Abbot of Bayham; Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, 781 n.
  • 9. Add. MS. 6057, no. 334.
  • 10. Ibid. no. 358.
  • 11. Assize R. 1046, m. 28.
  • 12. Ibid. 1045, m. 18.
  • 13. York Archiepis. Reg. Arundel, fol. 60b.
  • 14. Cal. Pat. 1446-52, p. 69.
  • 15. Guisborough Chartul, ii, 263.
  • 16. Dugdale, Mon. vi, 650.
  • 17. Pat. 1 Edw. III, pt. ii, m. 9.
  • 18. Dugdale, Mon. vi, 650.
  • 19. Test. Ebor. (Surt..Soc.), vi, 53.
  • 20. Cal. of Papal Letters, iii, 464.
  • 21. Beverley MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), 63.
  • 22. Poulson, Beverlac, 621.
  • 23. S.P. Dom. Ret. by Brian Higdon.
  • 24. Dugdale, Mon. vi, 650.
  • 25. Ibid.
  • 26. Ibid.
  • 27. Baildon, op. cit. i, 99.
  • 28. Test. Ebor. (Surt. Soc.), iii, 214 n.
  • 29. York Archiepis. Reg. Rotherham, fol. 5b.
  • 30. Ibid.
  • 31. York Archiepis. Reg. Savage, fol. 31.
  • 32. Ibid.
  • 33. S.P. Dom. Ret. by Brian Higdon.
  • 34. York Archiepis. Reg. Lee, fol. 74b.
  • 35. Ibid,
  • 36. Pat. 25 Hen. VI, pt. ii, m. 17, printed in Dugdale, Mon. vi, 613. See also Anct. Pet. 9795.
  • 37. Yorks. Arch. Soc. Publ. xvi, 138.
  • 38. York Reg. of Wills, iii, fol. 492b.
  • 39. The hospital stood on the edge of lands called ' the Carrs.'
  • 40. Glover, Visit. of Yorks. (ed. J. J. Foster), 172.
  • 41. From information given in the Yorkshire Weekly Post (25 Jan. 1908) by Mr. George Beedham of Stamford Bridge, in reply to a question asked.
  • 42. Assize R. 1051, m. 40.
  • 43. Gaol Delivery R. 215, m. 11.
  • 44. For those documents see Boyle, Early Hist, of Hedon, App. EE, pp. clxxxvii-cxc. The fair granted by Henry II was held on Maudlin Hill, and Mr. Boyle points out (p. 160) that the chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, to which William de Ederwic was appointed, was not the chapel of the hospital, but a chapel built by the hospital near Maudlin Hill for the people who attended the fair.
  • 45. In the Monasticon (vi [2] 730) the hospital of St. Mary Magdalene is first called the ' Hospital of Newton in Yorkshire,' and the judgement by Archbishop Rotherham in regard to the dispute as to the mastership is quoted from his Register. On p. 747 of the same volume the hospital is again entered as the ' Hospital of Newton in the Deanery of Holderness,' but it is said that it was a different hospital, although the same valuations are given, and the same quotation made from Rotherham's Register! To make things still worse, St. Sepulchre's Hospital at Hedon is entitled (p. 654) in the account given of it, ' The Hospital of Hedon or Newton St. Sepulchre,' whereas St. Sepulchre's Hospital was on the north of the town, and altogether remote from Newton.
  • 46. Boyle, Early Hist, and Inst. of Hedon, &c. 163.
  • 47. Cal. of Papal Letters, vii, 563-4.
  • 48. York Archiepis. Reg. Rotherham, fol. 60b.
  • 49. S.P. Dom. 1526 (Return by Brian Higdon).
  • 50. Boyle, op. cit. 164.
  • 51. Exch. K.R. Accts. bdle. 76, no. 23.
  • 52. Boyle, op. cit. 165; a photograph of an impression is given on a plate facing p. 48, and there is a woodcut in Poulson's Holderness, ii, 196.
  • 53. See Boyle, op. cit. 165.
  • 54. Memo.R. (K.R.), 3 Edw. II, m. 25 d.
  • 55. Cal. Pat. 1313-17, p. 339.
  • 56. Ibid. 552.
  • 57. Boyle, op. cit. 163.
  • 58. Baildon, op. cit. i, 149.
  • 59. Assize R. 1129, m. 4 d.
  • 60. Baildon, op. cit. i, 149.
  • 61. Ibid.
  • 62. Ibid.
  • 63. Cal. of Papal Letters, vii, 563-4.
  • 64. York Archiepis. Reg. Rotherham, fol. 60b
  • 65. S.P. Dom. 1526 (Return by Brian Higdon).
  • 66. Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 113.
  • 67. Boyle, op. cit. 168, citing Poulson's Holderness, ii, 195. Mr. Boyle notes that Poulson's authorities for his statements are erroneously described, and says, ' I am convinced that Poulson quoted from some volume, probably in the Burton Constable Library, which contained transcripts from the Hull Records.'
  • 68. Boyle, op. cit. 26.
  • 69. York Reg. of Wills, iv, fol. 130.
  • 70. Test. Ebor. (Surt. Soc.), iii, 242 n
  • 71. Poulson, Holderness, ii, 196.
  • 72. Ibid.
  • 73. Baildon, op. cit. i, 88.
  • 74. Poulson, Holderness, ii, 196.
  • 75. York Reg. of Wills, iv, fol. 130.
  • 76. S.P. Dom. 1526 (Return by Brian Higdon).
  • 77. Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v,113.
  • 78. Poulson, Holderness, ii, 196.
  • 79. Ibid.
  • 80. Boyle, op. cit. 208 n., 209 n., 211 n., pp. xlviii, xlix, lxi, clxvii.
  • 81. Ibid, quoting Hedon Corp. Rec. ii, 484.
  • 82. Yorks. Chant Surv. (Surt. Soc.), ii, 558, citing Pat. 16 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 29.
  • 83. Boyle, op. cit. 174.
  • 84. Ibid. App. i.