340 



Ednam Hospital. By James Hardy. 



Documentary evidence fails to elicit the origin of the Hospital 

 of St Leonards of Ednam. Seeing that from the days of king 

 Edgar, with the exceptional, and I think temporary settlement 

 of Thor the Long, the lands of Ednam appertained to the Crown, 

 and the advowson of the hospital was attached to the lands, it is 

 not unreasonable to conclude that it owed its foundation to David 

 L, or his son Henry, Earl of Northumberland. The relation of 

 Prince Henry towards the establishment is to a certain extent 

 apparent from the Countess Ada his widow, granting to it the 

 only endowment on record — a half carucate of land in the terri- 

 tory of Petcorthyn or Pechortyne, " in Scotia," now Pitcorthie 

 in the parish of Kilrenny, Eifeshire, (Eegister de Dryburgh, p. 

 113) ; afterwards transferred by arrangement to the monastery 

 of Dryburgh ; " for the soul of my lord Henry, the earl, and the 

 soul of my son Malcolm the king, and the salvation of my soul, 

 and the salvation of my children, and for the souls of my 

 parents." (Ibid, p. 11.). Tha date of this benefaction is thus 

 fixed for the reign of Malcolm lY., (1153—1165). 



The master and congregation of St Leonard's Hospital had 

 rented from the convent of Dryburgh, for an annual payment of 

 half a mark of silver and one pound of incense, a half carucate 

 of land in the territory of Ednam ; but for convenience, in the 

 reign of King William (1165 — 1214) they exchanged their Eife- 

 shire property for this half-ploughgate nearer home. It is from 

 a small privilege annexed to this bargain that we obtain the only 

 particulars of the domestic economy of the inmates of the hos- 

 pital revealed to us ; and it shews us moreover that scant pro- 

 vision had been made for their maintenance and clothing. The 

 abbot and convent, we are told, by the pressing petition of com- 

 mon friends yielded to the congregation of the hospital power to 

 full each year a quantity of white cloth limited to 24 ells (about 

 74^ yards) at their mill at Dryburgh. In respect of charity this 

 was done at the expense of the abbot and convent, and after the 

 manner in which they were wont to dress the coats of their lay 

 brethren. This is the most favourable interpretation of the 

 grant, in which it is not very clear who were to be at the charge 

 of the cleansing operation. 



The extent of the hospital land as we ascertain by a very 

 modern advertisement afterwards quoted was about 160 acres. 



