A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



leade of the said hospitall and made a newe RoiFe for 

 the same and covered ytt with slatte, and that the 

 same leade dyd amounte to iij foders and some what 

 more. Whiche was sold by the Comaundement of the 

 said Henrye Whitinge to Olyver Dande of Mannys 

 feld for ix/f. xvi/. viij<^. and over that he solde the 

 said tyme to dyverse men of Nottingham certyn other 

 webbes of leade the weights therof nor yet the monye 

 he remembrithe not. 119 



Under Edward VI came about the final wreck 

 of this once useful and devout establishment, after 

 so many years of shameless pillage by those who 

 ought to have been its genuine wardens. The 

 Certificates of Colleges, Hospitals, &c., doomed to 

 dissolution in 1548-9 stat^ : 



The Hospitall of Saint Johannes without the Wall 

 in the parishe of Saint Maries there founded by 

 whome they knowe not for the relief of the poore 

 and worthe in Lands Tenements and other possessions 

 lying and being in Diverse places within the said 

 Towne and Shere of Nottingham, As by the Survey 

 therof made remayning with the Surveyour of the saide 

 sheire particularly yt doth appere . 6 1 3*. ^d. 

 Whereof in Rente resolute ... I 3/. 4</. 



and so remayneth unto Thomas 

 Webster, clarke, master of the saide 

 hospitall, of what age or of what 

 lerninge it is unknowne .... 5 I js. od. lx 



From this it is evident that the masters kept 

 up their evil character to the end, for Webster 

 clearly treated this preferment as a sinecure, and 

 was non-resident. 



In February 1551 the property of the hospital, 

 with that of other small religious foundations of 

 the town, was diverted by Ed ward VI towards 

 the sustentation of Trent Bridge, and conveyed 

 for that purpose to the mayor and burgesses. An 

 inquisition in June of the following year found 

 that for a long time before 1 540 the late master 

 and his brother chaplains wholly withdrew and 

 absented themselves from the hospital and had 

 never since returned, whereby divine services, 

 prayers, almsgiving and other works of piety had 

 remained totally unperformed. Meanwhile the 

 corporation were put to no small trouble by the 

 last master, Thomas Webster, who had been in- 

 ducted in 1545 by the Archbishop of York. He 

 exhibited a bill in Chancery in 1553, complain- 

 ing that he was seised of the mansion-house of 

 the hospital of St. John, of three other messu- 

 ages, and of 400 acres of land, meadow, and pasture 

 in Nottingham and Stanton on the Wolds, and 

 that the corporation had made an untrue sugges- 

 tion that the property had come into the king's 

 hands by reason of the Act 37 Henry VIII, cap. 

 4, for the suppression of certain chantries and 

 hospitals. The town replied, citing the king's 

 grant of 1551. Webster rejoined, citing his in- 

 duction on 9 December 1545, and stating that 

 at that time, or shortly afterwards, two poor men 



'" Coll. and Chant. Cert. Notts, xiii, 38. 

 130 Dugdale, Man. vi, 680. 



were brethren of the hospital, one named Bacon 

 and the other Fellowe. 



Failing in Chancery, Webster in 1561 ex- 

 hibited a bill of complaint against the mayor and 

 burgesses stating that through being spoilt of the 

 hospital he had suffered loss to the clear annual 

 value of ^ i o. The mayor and burgesses were 

 cited to appear at York Minster on 30 Septem- 

 ber. The archbishop lectured them severely, and 

 threatened to impose a heavy fine, saying that 

 his court was as high as that of Chancery. The 

 town clerk appeared again at York on 3 De- 

 cember on behalf of the corporation, but Webster 

 did not appear to prosecute, and the opposition 

 to the king's grant of 1551 speedily evaporated. 



In 1 60 1 the old hospital buildings were turned 

 into a poor-house, and somewhat later into a 

 house of correction. 131 



PRIORS OF ST. JOHN'S 1311 



Durandus, c. 1230 



Robert Alwin, occurs 1241 



Ralph Wilford, c. 1270 



Malcolm de Harley, 1279 



Robert, vicar of Radford, 1280"* 



Alan deSalopia, I286 133 



Thomas de Cancia, 1289 134 



Henry de Calverton, j 135 



Robert Ker j 



Robert de Sutton, 1 304 138 



John Dant, 1307 137 



Robert de Elton, occurs I3io 138 



Roger son of Richard de Whatton, 1311 m 



Matthew de Halifax, 1323 14 



John Lambok, occurs I332 141 



John Brun, 1343 



Ralph Yarwell, 1349 



Robert de Yarwell, 1356 



John de Houdon, 1363 



William Askham, 1371 



John de Nottingham, died 1418 



Robert Clough, 1418 



John Tam worth, I424 148 



John Mosley, 1427 



William Woodgrave 



Roger Hunt, occurs 1432 143 



131 For the post-Reformation history of this founda- 

 tion see Re fig. last, of Old Nott. i, 34-8. 

 " u Ibid. 32. 

 131 Harl. MS. 6970, fol. 65. 



133 Pat. 14 Edw. I, m. 19. 



134 Harl. MS. 6970 fol. 106. 



135 Mentioned in conjunction with Thomas de 

 Cancia as former masters in a document of 1 325. Nott. 

 Bar. Rec. i, 92. 



136 Pat. 32 Edw. I, m. 2. 



137 Town MSS. 



118 Harl. MS. 6970, fol. 236. 

 I3 'Ibid. fol. 238. 



140 Nott. Bar. Rec. i, 95. 



141 Pat. 6 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 1 1. 

 141 Pat. 2 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 5. 



143 Nott. Bor. Rec. ii. 





172 



