108 



others, it was set forth that there then was in the suburbs of the 

 city of Bath a certain miasiou house, called "The Hospitall of 

 Marye Mawdelyn,"* in which house certain poor lepers resided, and 

 poor lepers had from time immemorial been used to reside there, 

 and that the said house belonged to and was at the disposition of 

 the last Prior of Bath and his predecessors, and at the time of such 

 inquisition one Simon Shepparde, clerk, was called " the Master of 

 the Hospitall of the Mawdelyns," and took the issues and profits 

 and applied the same to his own use, but ^by what right he held 

 such lands the said Jury were ignorant, as also they were ignorant 

 what right he had to take all the lead from the roof of the chapel 

 and replace it with tiles. Simon Shepparde, however, pleaded in 

 reply that King Henry VIII. had appointed him Master in the 

 twenty-eighth year of his reign, to hold the said Hospital or House 

 to him, the said Simon, during his life, with all its rights, rents, 

 revenues, &c. The value of the lands and tenements being then 

 £5 per annum. He laid the blame of the taking the lead on 

 certain robbers, or some unknown, evil-disposed persons. 



It is remarkable that the twenty-eighth year of King Henry, 

 when he is said to have granted the Mastership of the Hospital by 

 letters patent to Simon Shephard, would apparently be two years 

 before the dissolution. If so was it yielded by Prior HoUewaye as 

 a judicious surrender in order to obtain favour in the impending 

 storm as he did in the matter of the Manor of Ford ? t 



In the account rendered to the Commissioners of Henry VIII. 

 the rents of demesne land belonging to the Hospital are said to be 

 worth £3 : 6s. Sd.t 



From 1560 till 1760 little can be told of the Chapel or Hospital. 

 In 1662, however, occurs the oldest monument connected with the 

 Chapel, put up to the memory of Anne, the wife of Nath. Biggs, of 

 this parish, who after his decease marryed Tho. Nicholas, citizen of 

 Bath. Shee dyed Aprill the 6th, 1662, setatis suae (63). (See 

 Illustration X.) It is interesting on two accounts. First, that it 

 is considered by Mr. Irvine good of its kind, and that it appears 



• Commissioners' Report, p. 555 ; and App., C, p. 743. 



t "Warner, p. 130. 



+ "Wamor, p. 127. App. Ixxiv. 



