A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



43. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. NICHOLAS, 



LEWES 



The hospital of St. Nicholas in Westout appears 

 to have been established by William de Warenne 

 as an infirmary for the poor under control of the 

 priory of Lewes. The six principal officers of 

 the monastery among them contributed 36*. to 

 its support, and a further 15*. was charged upon 

 the manors of Langney, Falmer, and Swan- 

 borough; 127 at the time of the dissolution the total 

 payment to the support of the thirteen inmates was 

 5 lo*. 128 The brethren and sisters at the time 

 of the suppression of the priory put their charters 

 and evidences into the hands of Ralph Crom- 

 well, Mr. Pollerd, and Mr. Mylsent, who pro- 

 mised that they should have their charitable 

 alms as of old, and gave them 15*. to go on 

 with ; 129 but nothing more was done, and the 

 hospital appears to have become an irregularly 

 constituted almshouse for the parish of St. Anne, 

 vacancies being filled, at one period, by the 

 simple entry of the first comer. 180 



44. THE HOSPITAL OF PLAYDEN 



The hospital of St. Bartholomew in the parish 

 of Playden, but more often called ' outside Rye,' 

 seems to have been founded either by or under 

 the auspices of the abbey of Fe'camp. The 

 earliest notice of it appears to be a notification by 

 Simon the priest, and the brethren and sisters of 

 the hospital that they had received from Ralf, 

 abbot of Fecamp (1189-1219), the chapel, 

 buildings, and lands of the hospital in perpetual 

 alms, saving an annual payment of 2s. to the 

 abbot and convent, who are to have the appoint- 

 ment of future priests upon the nomination of the 

 officers of the town of Rye. 131 Further stipula- 

 tions were made as to the abbey's share of the 

 profits if Simon should succeed in obtaining 

 a grant of a fair from the king, as he appears 

 subsequently to have done ; for, although no re- 

 cord of the grant is known a fair was long held 

 on St. Bartholomew's Day at a spot outside 

 Rye, in the immediate neighbourhood of the 

 hospital. 132 



The Custumal of Rye (Sections 59, 60) gives 

 some details of the administration of the hospital. 133 

 From it we learn that the nomination of the 

 chaplain or warden lay with the mayor and 

 jurats, who submitted his name to the abbot of 

 Fe'camp in time of peace, or to the lord chan- 

 cellor if there was war with France, and they 



117 Cal. Papal Let. v, 417. 



38 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 331. 



" L. and P. Hen. Vll I, xiii (2), 1251. 



30 Lee, Hist, of Lewes, 369. 



" Cal. Doc. France, 52. 



133 Holloway, Hist, of Rye, 607. 



133 Ibid. 156-7. 



in turn presented him to the bishop of Chiches- 

 ter. The house was for both brothers and sisters, 

 and the number of inmates was not fixed, but 

 none might be received without the assent of the 

 mayor and commonalty who, moreover, had the 

 right of admitting thereto any 



man or woman which had competently borne charges 

 in their time for the welfare of the town, if they be 

 now impoverished and impotent, decayed of their 

 goods and chattels, and little goods have to live with. 



The seal of the hospital was to be kept by the 

 mayor and jurats so that the inmates should not 

 alienate any property without their consent. 

 This last clause seems to date from 1249, when 

 the barons of Rye issued a charter to that effect. 134 

 From this charter of 1249 we l earn that there 

 were then twelve brethren and sisters resident, 

 of whom some were lepers. 



The warden in 1262 appears to have been 

 hardly a suitable person to have the spiritual 

 charge of the inmates, as he employed one Sybil 

 of Yarmouth to set fire to the buildings and ricks 

 of Mathew de Knoll at Beckley, and when she 

 was arrested assisted her to escape, first to the 

 hospital, where he kept her for a day and a 

 night, and then to Playden church, where she 

 abjured the realm. 136 Nor were some of his 

 successors altogether satisfactory. As a result of 

 a commission of inquiry issued in 1380 to William 

 Home and William de Battesford, 136 it was found 

 that the master, Robert de Burton, had cut down 

 timber to the value of 20 at Brookland, had 

 wasted and appropriated to his own use grain to 

 the value of 10, and had allowed the hospital 

 lands to go out of cultivation. He had further 

 carried off muniments, bills, and indulgences 

 which brought in 40*. a year in oblations, and 

 had given nothing to the inmates, so that they 

 had to beg daily in the streets ; and worst of 

 all, the brazen vessels of the poor brethren had been 

 seized for arrears of rent, so that they had no 

 vessels in which to prepare their dinners. 137 Some 

 sixty years later, in January, 1442, Bishop 

 Praty visited the hospital and found that the 

 master, William Parker, had been absent for six 

 or seven years, the chapel and other buildings had 

 fallen to ruins, and no paupers were maintained 

 there. 138 Parker was deprived, 139 but how far the 

 hospital recovered from its grievous state is not 

 known. It was bestowed with the other lands of 

 Fecamp Abbey upon the abbey of Syon in I46i, 140 

 and subsequently, in 1502, upon Westminster 

 Abbey, soon after which date it had become 



134 Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 69. 

 : " Assize R. 912, m. 4. 

 1M Pat. 3 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 313. 

 '" Suss. Arch. Coll. xvii, 134-5, from Inq. 3 Ric. II, 

 No. 1 08. 



138 Chich. Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 80. 



138 Ibid. fol. 102. 



140 Pat. i Edw. IV, pt. v, m. 14 



104 



