A HISTORY OF DORSET 



in Milborne Deverel or Gary, in March, 1332,'"^ 

 Elias de Deverel died in October the previous 

 year, and on his lands escheating to the crown 

 by reason of the forfeiture of his son and heir, 

 John de Deverel, the then prior and convent 

 petitioned the king to restore to them those 

 rights in the house of St. Leonard of Rushton 

 near Palmeresbrugg of which they had been 

 unjustly disseised by the late donor and his son. 

 The king ordered an inquiry to be made, and 

 on 28 November, 1332, the jury found that 

 the advowson and custody of the house had 

 been granted to William Quentyn, late prior of 

 Christchurch, the convent and their successors 

 by Elias de Deverel on the morrow of St. Nicholas 

 (6 December), 1304; that then, in accordance 

 with the terms of the grant and on the cession of 

 the master, John Curteis, they had presented 

 Robert de Horton, chaplain, to the custody and 

 mastership of the house, to which he had been 

 admitted on the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle 

 (21 December) the same year ; that subsequently, 

 on 2 May following, they had been unjustly 

 dispossessed of their rights by the said Elias de 

 Deverel and John his son, and Robert de Hor- 

 ton, then master, had been removed and Ralph 

 Lychet, chaplain, admitted to the custody in 

 his place ; and that the same Elias and John 

 had continued to usurp possession of the house 

 from that time up to the date of the attainder 

 of John de Deverel, when it came into the 

 king's hand. The jury further estimated its 

 value at 40J."' 



These facts having been ascertained, Edward III 

 did not hesitate to make good the claim of the 

 monks, his deed of restoration the following 

 January, 1333, reciting that the original grant 

 of the premises in the reign of Edward I had 

 been made to the then prior, William Quentyn, 

 and the convent without licence of the king, but 

 that in consideration of a fine of 10 marks he 

 had consented to pardon the lack of this for- 

 mality."' 



The subsequent history of the house is 

 unknown, and it is not entered in the 

 chantry certificate of the county in the reign of 

 Edward VI. 



Masters of Tarrant Rushton Hos- 

 pital 



John Curteis, resigned in 1304'" 



Robert de Horton, appointed 1304, resigned 



1 305,"° 

 Ralph Lychet, appointed 1305"' 



"^ Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. Ill (2nd Nos.), 59. 



"' Ibid. (2nd Nos.), 97. 



"* Pat. 7 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 13, 15. 



"' The names of these three wardens are all given 

 In the inquisition of 28 Nov. 1332 ; Inq. p.m. (2nd 

 Nos.), 97. 



'«» Ibid. '*' Ibid. 



30. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MAR- 

 GARET AND ST. ANTHONY, WIM- 

 BORNE 



The date of the foundation of this ancient 

 hospital, commonly called St. Margaret's of 

 Wimborne, is unknown. Tradition has re- 

 ported that it was founded by John of Gaunt, 

 but, as evidence has been found of its exist- 

 ence long before the reign of Edward III, the 

 conjecture was probably based on the fact that 

 the house was situated within the manor or 

 Kingston Lacy, which formed part of the duchy 

 of Lancaster ; it may at some time or another 

 have been rebuilt or re-established by John of 

 Gaunt or one of his descendants. '*- 



From certain deeds found in a chest in the 

 chapel the house appears to have existed as a 

 house for lepers as far back as the reign of King 

 John, and to have depended for its support al- 

 most entirely on the alms of the town and 

 neighbourhood ; a grant dated 1245 recited that 

 for the encouragement of such charitably-dis- 

 posed Christians as should contribute towards its 

 relief Pope Innocent IV by 



an indulgans or bulle did assoyl them of all syns 

 forgotten and offcncis done against fader and moder 

 and of all swerj-nges neglygently made 



This ' indulgans ' granted of Peter and ' Powle ' 

 and of the said pope should hold good for fifty-one 

 years and 260 days, provided a certain number 

 of Paternosters and Ave Marias were repeated 

 daily.'« 



In the absence of a sufficient endowment 

 licence to beg must have been almost a necessity, 

 and for that purpose Edward I in 1275 granted 

 letters of protection for a year to the brethren and 

 sisters of the hospital of St. Margaret and St. An- 

 thony, Wimborne,^*' and renewed the grant on 

 the expiration of the term the following year,*^' 

 and again in 1286."^ 



The Chantry Commissioners of Edward VI 

 valued the house at 291. 8^., and found it was 

 ordained for the relief of poor men, and that 

 there were then eight who 'not only live by the 

 profit of the said house but by the devotion of 

 the people and inhabitants of the town of Wim- 

 borne.' "' 



In the chapel of the hospital there was estab- 

 lished in early days a chantry founded by John 

 Redcottes and named after him ; it was annexed 



'" In the beginning of an account book of the hos- 

 pital of the sixteenth centurj' the house is said to 

 have been erected by the sometime duke of Aquitaine 

 and Leicester, which shows that its early origin had 

 been lost as far back as the reign of Elizabeth ; Hut- 

 chins, op. cit. iii, 247. 



'" Ibid. '" Pat. 3 Edw. I, m. 23. 



>" Ibid. 4 Edw. I, m. 19. 



'" Ibid. 14 Edw. I, m. 24. 



"' Chant. C ert. 16, No. 112. 



106 



