A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



28. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. EDMUND, 

 KING AND MARTYR, GATESHEAD 



The origin of the hospital of St. Edmund the 

 King is unknown. 1 The earliest mention of it * 

 occurs in 1315, when the bishop of Durham 

 collated Hugh de Lokington to the wardenship, 

 and directed the bailiff of Gateshead to put him 

 in seisin of the hospital. 3 There is no contem- 

 porary record of the endowment, but in a report 

 of the house issued by the Royal Commissioners, 

 in 1594, it is stated that its possessions consisted 

 of 'a demesne lying at the hospital and a parcel 

 of ground called Shotley Bridge,' the total value 

 of which is given as jio. 4 In October, 1378, 

 Bishop Hatfield, who had earlier in the year 

 ordered a visitation of the house, 5 granted to it 

 in free alms three cottages 'all lying within the 

 soil of the said hospital ' ; 6 and in Hatfield's Survey 

 c. 1382) it is stated that the master of the 

 hospital of St. Edmund the King holds ' placeam 

 pro quodam chamino ' from the hospital as far 

 as Friar's Goose (le Frergos) by the park of the 

 lord of the same, for which a rent of 4^. was 

 paid. 7 



Bishop Neville granted to the master a licence 

 to work coals in the hospital lands and lead 

 them to the Tyne, over the bishop's soil, pay- 

 ing to him and his successors ^5 per annum ; 8 

 and Bishop Booth (1467-8) gave permission for 

 the coals to be carried to the bishop's staithes on 

 the river. 9 



The hospital was founded for poor persons 

 of both sexes. 10 In Bishop Hatfield's grant 

 its inmates are described as 'brethren, sisters, 

 and paupers.' The report of 1594 states 

 that a sum of 131. per annum was assigned 

 for the relief of each poor brother and sister, 

 and the rest of the revenue of the house, ex- 

 cepting what was spent on repairs, was at the 

 disposal of the master. The inmates were ad- 

 mitted, removed, and corrected at the master's 

 discretion. 11 



Beyond occasional notices of the appointment 



1 It has generally been supposed to be identical with 

 the hospital of St. Edmund the Bishop, a mistake 

 which probably arose from a confusion of names in 

 James I's charter of re-foundation. Hutchinson sug- 

 gests that there were two separate establishments (Hist. 

 Dur. ii, 460), and the information now at our disposal 

 clearly proves him to be right. 



' Unless this is the ' Hospital of Gateshead ' men- 

 tioned in the Taxatio of 1292, of which the value is 

 given as 18. (Brand, Hist. Newcastle, i, 469 n.) 



* Reg. Pa/at. Dun. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 706-7. 

 4 Arch. Aeliana (New Ser.), vi, 43-4. 



' Dur. Epis. Reg. Hatfield, fol. 140^. 



* Rot. B. Hatfield, m. 1 1 d. 



' Half. Surv. (Surt. Soc.), 88. 



* Arch. Aeliana (New Ser.), vi, 44, note 7. 

 9 Rot. 3 ; Booth, m. 9 d. 



10 Arch. Aeliana (New Ser.), vi, 43-4. 



11 Ibid. 



of masters there is scarcely any mention of the 

 house until 1546, when the following account 

 of it is given by the commissioners appointed by 

 Henry VIII : 



The hospital of St. Edmund in the parish of Gates- 

 head was founded by the predecessors of the bishops 

 (sic) of Durham by report, but to what intent or 

 purpose we know not, for we have not yet seen the 

 foundation thereof. Yearly value, 109.1. \d. value 

 according to this survey 8 as appeareth by rental ; 

 whereof is paid out for the King's Majesty's tenths 

 I zs. id. and remaineth clearly j "js. qd., which Dr. 

 Bellasis, now Master of the same, hath towards his 

 living, and giveth out of the same four marks by the 

 year to a priest to say Mass there twice in the week 

 for the commodity and easement of the parishioners 

 that do dwell far from the Parish Church." It stands 

 about half a mile distant from the Parish Church of 

 Gateshead aforesaid. Value of ornaments, etc., nil, 

 for there be neither goods ne ornaments pertaining to 

 the same to our knowledge. There were no other 

 lands nor yearly profits, etc. 1 * 



Though, in 1594, the inmates had dwindled to 

 three two old men and one woman the hospital 

 continued to exist after the dissolution, and was 

 re-founded by James I in January, 1610-11. 

 Unfortunately all the documents relating to the 

 house from the time of its foundation had been 

 entrusted, in 1587, to John Woodfall, the then 

 master. He died almost immediately afterwards 

 at his home in London, the evidences were lost, 

 and no trace has been found of them since. 14 

 James ordained that the establishment should 

 consist of a master and three poor men, and 

 should be called ' King James' Hospital ' ; and 

 he endowed it with the house and lands ' which 

 the master and brethren had uninterruptedly 

 held and enjoyed for the last sixty years.' 16 Since 

 the date of King James' foundation the rectors of 

 Gateshead have successively occupied the position 

 of master of the hospital. 



" Cf. A Picture of Newcastle, pub. 1807, pp. 94-5. 

 In the report of 1594 the hospital is described as 

 standing 'at the upper end of Gateshead.' In the 

 chantry certificate of 1 548 there is an entry (under 

 Gateshead) as follows : 'The service of one priest 

 within the hospital of St. Edmund for the term 01 

 ninety-nine years, by an indenture,' dated temp. 

 Hen. VIII, ' incumbent, Robert Lynsey. Yearly 

 revenue, 4 1 3/. \d. Stock, none.' This probably 

 refers to the hospital of St. Edmund the King. In 

 the list of hospitals in the bishop's collation in Bishop 

 Tunstall's Epis. Reg. 1530, the value of 'Gateshead 

 Hospital ' is given as $. 



" Chantry Cert, printed, Brand, Hist. Newcastle, i, 



473- 



14 Com. Rep. Arch. Aeliana (New Ser.), vi, 44. 

 Hence the vague and confused wording of King James' 

 charter. 



16 Found. Chart, printed, Hutchinson, Hist. Dur. 

 ii, 458 n. Hutchinson thinks that the wording of the 

 charter suggests that the hospital had perhaps been re- 

 founded or re-endowed after the dissolution. 



I2 4 



