A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



a rent of 40*. charged upon the manor of Bed- 

 dingham at least as early as 1 1 go, 182 and still paid 

 in I278, 183 if not later. In 1368 the archbishop 

 of Canterbury granted an indulgence to all who 

 assisted the brethren and sisters of the hospital of 

 St. Leonard of Seaford, which had been ruined 

 by the incursions of the sea, 184 but it may be 

 doubted whether the hospital ever recovered, as 

 no later mention of it appears to be known. 



47. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JAMES, 

 SHOREHAM 



Practically nothing is known of this hospital 

 beyond the fact that it was in existence in 1249, 

 when an action was brought against the master, 186 

 and that its site and buildings were granted to 

 John and William Mersh of London in I574- 186 

 The space between these dates is only bridged by 

 occasional small bequests in the wills of local 

 testators. Whether this is the hospital mentioned 

 in the Valor 187 of 1535 as worth i 6s. 8d., or 

 whether the reference is to that of St. Katherine 

 is doubtful. 



48. THE HOSPITAL OF 

 ST. KATHERINE, SHOREHAM 



This hospital is only known for its occurrence 

 in mediaeval wills. Thus Margaret Covert left 

 2s. to the poor of the hospital of St. Katherine of 

 Shoreham in I366, 188 and John Borle, rector of 

 West Tarring, left 6s. 8d. to ' the house of St. 

 Kathtrine by Shoreham ' in I373- 189 It would 

 seem to have survived the religious changes of 

 the Reformation by abandoning its patroness, 

 and becoming ' the hospital of Our Saviour Jesus 

 Christ,' if we may judge from the promi- 

 nence given to St. Katherine's emblem on the 

 sixteenth-century seal, by which alone the exist- 

 ence of this hospital of the Saviour is known. 

 If this conjecture is correct the reconstituted hos- 

 pital was no doubt ' the spytyll at Shoreham ' to 

 which Henry Marshall, vicar of Wilmington, 

 left 20 pence in I55O. 190 



The seal just referred to is a pointed oval : 

 Our Lord on the cross on a mount between two 

 trees of peculiar form. In base, a Catherine 

 wheel. 191 Legend : 



-f-THE . *ELE . OF O* . SAVIOVR . 



IESVS . CHRIST . OF . THE . OSP1TAL . OF . 



SHORAM . IN . SVSSEX . 



181 Pipe R. 2 Ric. I. " Assize R. 921, m. 7 d. 

 84 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Langham, fol. 63. 

 184 Assize R. 909, m. 7 d. 

 184 Memo. R., L.T.R. 17 Eliz. Trin. 4. 

 87 falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 322. 



188 Cartwright, Hist, of Rape of Bramber, 120. 



189 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Whittlesey, fol. 127^. 



190 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxiii, 52. 

 '"B.M. laii, no. 



49. THE HOSPITAL OF SOMPTING, 

 OR COKEHAM 



William Bernehus founded the hospital of the 

 Blessed Virgin and St. Anthony at Cokeham in 

 Sompting in the thirteenth century. 192 It appears 

 to have been for women (and probably also for 

 men), as in 1288 Agnes, daughter of Michael de 

 Launcing, brought an action against Aumary 

 the chaplain, warden of the hospital, for disseis- 

 ing her of the substance which she was wont to 

 receive in the said hospital. 193 The advowson of 

 the hospital passed with the manor of Cokeham 

 to Ralph de Camoys in 1 324, 194 and was granted in 

 1351 to the priory of Hardham, 195 after which 

 time it is not again heard of. 



50. THE HOSPITAL OF WESTHAM 



The particulars of this hospital, which lay in 

 the parish of Westham, and in the lowey, 

 ' league,' or liberty of Pevensey, can best be 

 given in the words of the sixteenth century 

 English version of the Pevensey Custumal : ' 96 



The Men of the Burgage of the Towne of Peven- 

 sey have an Hospital of Saynte John Baptiste, in the 

 whiche been brothers or sisters, havynge londes 

 and possessions within the Leege aforesaide, and the 

 same Receyvour and the Men of the saide Burgage 

 have the disposicion of the saide Hospitall, to graunte 

 Corodye, as well to men as to women, as they 

 may consente. And they have to visit and chaste 

 after the quantitie. And one of the Men of the 

 Burgage alway shalbe Overseer and Superior of that 

 Hospitall, to oversee the expense, and the accompte 

 of the Master of the saide Hospitall. Also the saide 

 Receyvour and the Men may, yf there be to be hadde 

 a Man or Woman of the saide Burgage, the whiche 

 is come into povertie and have not whereof to lyve, 

 and have borne him or her well by all his or herlyffe, 

 that same Man or Woman in the forsaide Hospitall 

 ther sustenances in the same shall take, nothing paying 

 for the same. 



Of its early history nothing is known, but 

 casual references 197 to ' the hospital ' show that 

 some such house was in existence before the end 

 of the thirteenth century. A Pevensey rental 

 of I292 198 mentions ' the master of the hospital of 

 the Holy Cross,' but no other reference to this 

 establishment is known ; it may have been the 

 predecessor of the hospital of St. John the 

 Baptist, of which ' the brethren ' are mentioned 

 in a rental of I354. 199 About the middle of the 

 fifteenth century William Slyhand left 40*. to 



IM Cartwright, Hist, of the Rape of Bramber, 103. 

 193 Assize R. 929, m. igJ. 194 Cartwright, loc. cit. 



195 Pat. 25 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 15. 



196 Susi. Arch. Coll. xviii, 50. 



197 In Mins. Accts. passim. 



198 Rentals and Surv. (P.R.O.), No. 663. 

 '" Ibid. No. 667. 



106 



