RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



left izd. to every bed of the hospital then 

 occupied. 17 * 



By a singular choice, this chapel was used in 

 January 1408-9 for the marriage of Sir Edward 

 Pierrepont to Margaret Rempston ; a licence for 

 this purpose was issued by the archbishop to 

 Thomas Tawburne, the warden. 174 



An enrolment of enfeoffment, at the local 

 court, of John de Plumtree of the possessions of 

 his hospital, dated 20 May 1414, is extant 

 among the town muniments. From this docu- 

 ment it appears that there were two chapels 

 within the precincts, evidently distinct build- 

 ings, one of St. Thomas the Martyr and the 

 other of St. Mary ; probably the former was a 

 small oratory pertaining to the masters. 178 Both 

 chapels were to the rear or to the east of the 

 dwelling portions ; that of St. Thomas on the 

 north or Fishergate side, and that of St. Mary 

 on the south. 



The founder in 1415, probably disappointed 

 of the help of others in this foundation, and 

 recognizing that there was not a sufficiency to 

 support thirteen widows, executed an amending 

 instrument, by which he confirmed the appoint- 

 ment of two priests, raising the stipend of the 

 warden to 6, and limiting the number of poor 

 widows to seven. At the same time he 

 augmented the chantry by giving it his dwelling- 

 house in Cuckstool Road, after his death and 

 after the death of Thomas Plumtree, chaplain, 

 his kinsman. Shortly after this the founder died, 

 leaving 2Os. to each of the widows. 176 



Save for the record of the institution of suc- 

 cessive chaplains, nothing more is known of this 

 hospital until 1503, when in a taxation of lands 

 and tenements of Nottingham the brief entry is 

 made : ' The Chaunterie of John Plomtreat ye 

 Briggend, ^i8.' 177 



The Vakr Ecclesiastical of 1534 gives the full 

 annual value of the hospital property as 13 IQS. 

 William Baker was warden, and he and his fellow 

 chaplain would absorb 11 ; jCi IQS. was all 

 that went to the poor (the widows seem to have 

 quite disappeared), whilst the remaining 201. 

 went in various small dues to the burgesses of 

 Nottingham, Lenton Priory, Newstead Priory, 

 and the manor of Sutton Passeys. 178 



The commissioners for the survey of chantries, 

 hospitals, &c., preparatory to their dissolution in 

 15456, certified that there were no poor widows 

 left in this house, but that the revenue was em- 

 ployed in the living of the two chantry priests, 

 Peter Bursall and William Browne. 179 It was 

 then described as the Hospital and Chantry of 



lr * Deering, Nott. 146. 



m Test. Ebor. (Surtees Soc.), iii, 319. 



m Nott. Bar. Rec. ii, 96. 



178 Stapleton, Relig. Inst. of Old Nott. 8o-l. 



177 Nott. Bar. Rec. iii. 



178 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 137. 



179 Deering, Nott. 147-8. 



Our Lady at the Bridge End, and the revenues 

 were estimated at i i n. 180 



During the next three years the secondary 

 chaplain disappears, for when the commissioners 

 of 1548-9 arrived to carry out under Edward VI 

 the designs of his father, they found that there 

 were no poor supported, but that the lands were 

 wholly employed for the benefit of Peter 

 Bursall, the surviving senior chantry priest, or 

 master. 181 



The hospital at this date became vested in the 

 Crown, and various masters or wardens obtained 

 successive patents to enjoy the revenues, without 

 fulfilling any of the former functions of the 

 office. At last, in 1644, one Huntingdon Plum- 

 tree, of the founder's kin, obtained the patent 

 and made allowances of 5*. a month to certain 

 poor, with an additional 6d. on New Year's Day. 

 In 1650 he pulled down the old ruinous build- 

 ings and erected a new hospital, a brick building 

 of some distinction, of which Thoroton gives a 

 plate. 182 Eventually, in 1751, the building was 

 made capable of accommodating thirteen widows 

 according to the founder's original intention, 

 through the action of John Plumtree, grandson 

 of Huntingdon Plumtree. The present hospital 

 was built in 1823-4 by John Plumtree of 

 Fredville, Kent. The endowments then brought 

 in ;68o a year, out of which the thirteen 

 resident almswomen received ^i los. a month, 

 as well as an annual ton of coals and a gown ; 

 in addition thirty out-pensioners received jlO a 

 year. 183 



At the present time the income of the hospital 

 is 1,100 a year, and each of the thirteen in- 

 mates receives ^13 IOJ., a ton of coals, and a 

 gown yearly ; there are also forty out-pensioners, 

 each of whom receives ^13 a year. 



WARDENS OF PLUMTREE'S HOSPITAL 183a 



Thomas Tawburne, 1400 



John Edward 



Richard Knolles, 1488 



John Bradley, 1500 



Robert Braidill, 1502 



Edward Ersden, 1527 



William Baker (or Barker), 1534 



Peter Burdesall (or Bursall), 1540 



35. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY 

 MAGDALEN, SOUTHWELL 



As to the hospital of St. Mary Magdalen 

 without Southwell, hardly anything is known 

 save that the mastership was in the patronage of 

 the Archbishop of York. Several collations by 



180 Coll. and Chant. Cert. Notts, xiii. 



181 Ibid, xxxvii. 181 Thoroton, Nottt. ii, 78. 



183 There is a good summary of the post- Reforma- 

 tion history of this revived foundation in Stapleton, 

 ReRg. Inst. of Old Nott. 83-7. 18ta Ibid. 81-2. 



'75 



