RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



St. Peter and St. Paul (29 June), 1357, granted 

 the custody of the hospital, together with the 

 administration of its goods, to John de Shapwick, 

 chaplain, on the understanding that he by him- 

 <;elf or a fit chaplain should celebrate daily in the 

 chapel.^' A document still exists among the 

 town archives entitled — 



Implements of the priory of St. John the Baptist 

 •delivered to Sir John Syltere by Richard Burgh and 

 John Cryps, Bjilifts of Bridport, received from Hugh 

 Prior, late prior there, the 9th October in the 32nd 

 year of King Henry VI, 



tlie possessions and furniture of the inmates are 

 ■set out under the following headings : — In the 

 Chapel, In the Hall, In the Pantry, In the 

 Kitchen, In the Chamber.^' In the deed of 

 1444, to which all the ecclesiastical authorities 

 of the town set their hands pledging themselves 

 to assist in the pious work of repairing the 

 haven, the master or warden here, John Shipper, 

 is styled ' prior of St. John.'^' 



The clear income of the house, according to 

 the Falor of 1535,'" was estimated at ^8 bs. id., 

 the name of the then prior being Robert Chard. 

 The chantry commissioners in the reign of 

 Edward VI stated that it was worth £6 155. 8d., 

 out of which 165. should be deducted in rents 

 resolute;^' the incumbent, William Chard, re- 

 ceived the whole profits for his own use ; ^^ there 

 was found there ' one chalice and one gold ringe 

 of 12 oz.,' two ' lytle ' bells worth 20;., and 

 ' certain ornaments ' worth 20d?^ The last 

 warden, William Shard or Chard, who may be 

 the same as the Robert Chard of 1535, received 

 a pension of £S-^^ 



Wardens or Priors of Bridport Hospital 



William, occurs 127 I ^* 



Roger de Rydeclive, occurs temp. Edward I '* 



" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 21. 



" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. 493. 



" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 16. 



'" Hutchins, in the earlier edition of the Hist, of 

 Dorset, and Tanner after him, has fallen into the 

 mistake of supposing that there were two foundations 

 at Bridport both dedicated to St. John the Baptist, 

 and the error is not entirely explained away by the 

 editors of the last edition of Hutchins ; they give it 

 as their opinion that there was only one foundation, 

 * the chapel of St. John over the bridge a little by 

 west in the town,' described by Leland in his 

 Itinerar-) (iii, 61), and fail to see that one of the 

 foundations valued in 1535 under Bridport belongs 

 to the hospital of Allington ; Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 

 i, 232-4. 



" Chant. Cert. Dorset, 16, No. 49. 



^' These, in a further section of the roll, were reduced 

 to^6 8/. 9i^. Ibid. No. 61. 'M bid. No. 49. 



" B. Willis, Hist, of Mitred Abbeys, ii, 72. 



" Hutchins, Hist of Dorset, ii, 19. 



'^^ In a charter of Richard Hux ; Hist. MSS. Com. 

 Rep. vi, App. 4845. 



William Worgan, occurs temp. Edward I ^^ 

 Richard Castelayn, occurs 1295-6 and 



1316-17 ^* 

 John de Shapwick, appointed 1357,''' resigned 



before 1411^° 

 John Shipper, occurs 1444^' 

 Hugh Prior, occurs in 1453 ^* 'late' prior ^ 

 Robert Chard, occurs 1535^' 

 William Shard or Chard, last incumbent ^* 



24. HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN THE 

 BAPTIST, DORCHESTER 



The hospital here, commonly called ' St. 

 John's House,' was under the royal patronage, 

 and presumably of royal foundation, but we 

 hear nothing of it until the year 1324, when 

 William Marshall of Dorchester obtained a 

 licence from Edward II to endow a chaplain 

 who should celebrate daily in the chapel of the 

 hospital of St. John, Dorchester, for the soul of 

 the said William, for the souls of his ancestors 

 and successors and all the fiithful departed.^* 

 The date, therefore, when the hospital was built 

 cannot be definitely stated. 



The wardenship, like that of many other royal 

 free chapels and hospitals within the gift of the 

 crown, was frequently held with other offices. In 

 June, 1334, Edward III presented his clerk, Mar- 

 tin de Ixnyngge, to the custody of the king's 

 hospital of Dorchester for life, directing the 

 brethren and sisters of the house to be ' inten- 

 dant' to their new head,^* who, in the previous 

 February, had been appointed master of the hos- 

 pital of Maidstone, Kent.*' In 1 45 I William 



^' William Worgan occurs as 'prior' of the hospital 

 in another charter by the same Richard Hux, conceding 

 certain lands to the brethren and sisters of the hospital 

 of St. John the Baptist ; ibid. 



"* He occurs as master in a further charter of 

 Richard Hux, dated 24 Edw. I, and is given as 

 ' keeper of the gate of the hospital of St. John of 

 Bridport ' in a grant of Stephen Crul of Walditch, 

 dated 10 Edw. II. From the archives of Bridport; 

 Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 20. 



'' Ibid. 21. 



'" In that year an inquiry was instituted into the 

 consanguinity of John Shapwick, late prior of the 

 hospital of St. John of Bridport ; Madox, Formukre 

 Angl. 15. 



*' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 16. 



" He is called late prior of the hospital in the 

 inventory of goods of 9 Oa. 1453 ; Hist. MSS. Com. 

 Rep. vi, App. 49;. 



" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 234. 



"Chant. Cert. 16, No. 61 ; B. Willis, Hist, of 

 Mitred Abbeys, ii, 72. 



*^ Pat. 17 Edw. I!, pt. 2, m. 28. 



" Ibid. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 14. 



" Ibid. m. 41 ; see Newcourt, Eccl Rcpert. (i, 748), 

 for a list of the preferments at different times of this 

 clerk. 



lOI 



