RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



valle scholarium or Vaux College, in the latter 

 part of the reign of Henry VI. ^ 



Other records show us, however, that the 

 house had at that time been in existence for con- 

 siderably over two hundred years, and may 

 claim to be one of the earliest foundations of its 

 kind within the county. In 1232 Henry III 

 granted letters of protection without limit to the 

 lepers of St. Mary Magdalen of Bridport,* as 

 from its proximity to the town it was in- 

 differently termed, and by her will dated St. 

 Gregory's Day, 1268, Christine de Stikelane left 

 among other bequests to the religious esta- 

 blishments of the town and neighbourhood 

 ' vi^. to the Magdalene house of Adlington.' ' 

 The hospital appears to owe its original endow- 

 ment — if not foundation — to the de Lega or de 

 Legh family, for by a document, previous to the 

 year 1265, and still preserved at Bridport, Wil- 

 liam de Legh the son of Philip de Legh* granted 

 to the house of St. Mary Magdalen of Allington 

 called ' The Hospital of the Lepers of Mary 

 Magdalen of Bridport ' for the good of his soul 

 and for the soul of his wife Dame Nicola de 

 Legh 50 acres of arable land in ' Alingtone ' with 

 pasture for one steer, six oxen, three cows, and 

 fifty sheep, a sufficiency of marl for marling 

 their lands, of turf to be taken from his 

 moor, and liberty to be ' sterefry ' and toll-free 

 in his mill. In return for these benefactions 

 two chaplains at least should be appointed by 

 the house ' of laudable life and honest conversa- 

 t'on,' one of whom should say a mass of the 

 Blessed Virgin Mary with a special collect for 

 his soul and for the souls of Dame Nicola his 

 wife, Geoffrey de Auk' and Isota his wife, 

 Master John de Bridport, physician, and Robert 

 the Serjeant of ' Alingtone ' ; the other chaplain, 

 on days not feast days, should pray in his first 

 prayer especially for the souls of the same.' 



Further, a covenant dated at Leghe, 1265, 

 between William de Legh, knight and lord of 

 Allington, and William de Stikelane and Hugh 

 Rodhum, provosts of Bridport, and other good 

 and lawful men, sets forth that whereas the said 

 William had given to the said provosts &c. full 

 power to administer his grant of lands to the 

 two chaplains, brethren, and lepers of St. Mary 

 Magdalen of * Alingtone ' aforesaid, they were 

 empowered to compel the said chaplains, brethren, 

 and lepers to observe the terms of the grant, and 

 directed to hold an inquisition yearly at Easter 



' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 206. 



• Pat. 16 Hen. Ill, m. 3. 



' From the corporation archives quoted by Hutchins 

 under 'Bridport,' ii, 19, note a. 



* In the reign of King John, lzo6, Richard 

 Wallensis quitclaimed to Philip de Lega and Clarice 

 his mother all his rights in half a knight's fee in 

 Allington ; Hunter, Pedes Fin. ii, 95. 



' Rec. of Corp. of Bridport (Hist. MSS. Com.), Rep. 

 vi, App. 486. 



and Michaelmas to ascertain whether the chap- 

 lains were living honestly, and whether the 

 brethren and lepers were treated in a due and 

 humane manner, together with other conditions 

 of the grant. ^ 



The later grant of John Holtby in 31 Henry VI 

 aforementioned was of the nature of a re-foun- 

 dation, the terms of which were carefully planned 

 with a view to safeguard the interests of the 

 parochial chapel of St. Swithun, within whose 

 limits the hospital lay, and to prevent the possi- 

 bility of any dispute between the two. Drawn 

 up with the consent of the dean and chapter of 

 Salisbury, here given as patrons of the house, it 

 gave permission to the brethren and sisters of 

 the hospital to have two chaplains to celebrate 

 daily in their chapel, 'saving the rights of the 

 chapel of St. Swithun.' They might receive 

 all obventions and oblations of the said chapel, 

 but none from the parishioners of Adelington 

 or Allington. Certain tithes were assigned or 

 rather confirmed to them from their first founda- 

 tion and their present benefactor quitclaimed to 

 them I mark of silver which they were accus- 

 tomed to pay annually to the chapel of St. Swithun 

 for their ' chantry.' The brethren and sisters 

 were expected to provide for the chaplains.' 



As time went on and Allington became 

 practically merged into Bridport, we find the 

 hospital more usually entered under the name of 

 the latter ; in the confusion thence arising, many 

 writers have supposed that there were two religious 

 foundations at Bridport, both of which, according 

 to the early edition of Hutchins and Tanner, 

 were dedicated to the honour of St. John the 

 Baptist, while the explanation offered by the 

 editors of the late and amended edition of 

 Hutchins hardly accounts for the fact of two 

 entries appearing under Bridport in the Valor 

 Ecclesiasticus of 1535, one of which we can now 

 see belongs to Allington.^" All the ecclesiastical 

 authorities of the town in 1444 joined together 

 in aid of the work of repairing the haven, promis- 

 ing for themselves and their successors that all 

 benefactors of the port should be remembered 

 in the prayers and masses they were bound to 

 offer daily for their founders ; the list of clerical 

 persons thus associated includes the names of 

 John Hasard, chaplain of the ' chantry ' of the 

 Blessed Mary Magdalen, and John Brode, chap- 

 lain and stipendiary there.^^ 



' Ibid. 4.85-6. 



' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 206. 



'° They hazard the conjecture that these two houses 

 were one and the same without accounting for the 

 fact of the separate entries. Leland's description 

 by its ambiguity has furthered the error. Proceeding 

 from Chideock to Bridport he says ' there was in Sight 

 or ever I came over the river into Bridport a lazar 

 house and not far off a chapel of St. Magdalen in 

 the which is a chantry founded. And over the bridge 

 a little by west in the town is a chapel of St. John ' ; 

 Leiand, I tin. iii, 61. " Ibid, ii, 16. 



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