A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



John Byke, presented 1452,'* died 14K6'* 

 Thomas Payn, presented i486," died 1514" 

 John Colyngton, presented 15 14,'* occurs 



28. HOSPITAL OF ST. NICHOLAS, 

 ROYSTON 



The hospital of St. Nicholas, Royston, with 

 a chapel in which mass was to be sa'd three 

 times a week for lepers there, was tounded, 

 according to the statement of the warden in 

 1358-9,^ by a certain Ralph son of Ralph son 

 of Fulk, who afterwards granted the chapel and 

 advowson of the hospital by charter to Giles de 

 Argentein. As, however, the house was cer- 

 tainly in existence in 1213 ^ and Ralph was still 

 living in 1283,^ he appears to have been the 

 founder of the chapel rather than of the hospital. 

 Possibly the patronage of the chantry was given 

 to the Argenteins because they were already 

 connected with the house : for they seem to 

 have been lords of the site,** which there is good 

 reason to beheve was on the Cambridgeshire 

 side of Royston.*'' 



King John received the brothers of the house 

 into his protection in January 1212-13,** and 

 granted them a fair to be held on the vigil and 

 feast of the Translation of St. Nicholas " ; and 

 Henry III in March 1235-6 confirmed to them 

 the fair, extending its duration to three days.*' 



This fair and 30 acres of land in the neigh- 

 bourhood given for the maintenance of the 

 chaplain ** comprised apparently the whole 



~* Clutterbuck, op. cit. iii, 562. 



" Line. Epis. Reg. In^t. Russl-11, fol. 138. 



" Ibid. 



"' Clutterbuck, op. cit. iii, 562. 



'8 Ibid. 



'' Kingston, op. cit. 207. 



*" Chan. Inq. p.m. 33 Edw. Ill (ist nos), no. 44. 

 He was concerned to pmvc that the hospital and 

 chantry were not of royal foundation, and that their 

 lands therefore should not have been taken into the 

 king's hands. Apparently he established his case 

 (Ca/. Close, 13^4-60, p. 587). 



"1 Rot. Lit. Pal. (Rec. Com.), 96. 



^- See Broadfield, F.C.H. Herts, iii, 210. 



^ In 1359 ^'^'^ '^"'^ "'^5 ^^^^ °f ^^^ Earl of Rich- 

 mond and John Argentein by the service of finding a 

 lamp in the church of Wendy, co. Camb. 



'^ The old burial ground found at the north end of 

 the town (Kingston, op. cit. 46—7) was probably the 

 cemetery of this hospital, for the advowson of St. 

 Nicholas Chapel, Royston, figures in the 13th century 

 among the Cambridgeshire possessions of the Alingtons, 

 the descendants of the Argenteins (Chan. Inq. p.m. 

 38 & 39 Hen. \'I, no. 42). 



" Ret. Lit. Pat. (Rec. Com.), 96. 

 8« CaL Rot. Chart. 1 199-12 16 (Rec. Com.), 189^. 

 ^ Inspeximus July 1371 (Pat. 45 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, 

 m. 32). 



*- CaL Chse, 1354-60, p. 587. 



endowment of the hospital, which must have 

 depended largely on alms. 



Poverty, plague or fear of robbers may have 

 brought it to an end. In July 1359 it was 

 reported as long deserted, ' lepers refusing to 

 come or dwell there,' and the services wth the 

 chantry endowment had in consequence been 

 transferred from the chapel of St. Nicholas to 

 that of St. James." No names of masters 

 survive, for although John de Norwich was 

 called Warden of St. Nicholas in 1359, there 

 was then apparently no hospital of that name 

 in Royston. 



29. HOSPITAL OF ST. JULIAN BY 

 ST. ALBANS 



Geoffrey Abbot of St. Albans (11 19-46), with 

 the consent of the convent, built a hospital for- 

 lepers outside St. Albans on a piece of land 

 called Kingesho along Watling Street, and 

 dedicated it to the honour of St. Julian. •" For 

 its maintenance he assigned '^ tithe of rent of 

 the vill of St. Albans, viz., 6oj.°*; rent of 30.?, 

 from Sarratt ; tithe of corn of the lordships of 

 ' Hamstede ' ^ and Kingsbury ; portions of 

 tithes in the parishes of St. Michael and St. 

 Stephen, Aston, Codicote, and in the lordships 

 of St. Albans and of Roger de Limesy in 

 Bradway in St. Paul's Walden, and certain 

 tithes in Streatley, Henlow, Silsoe, Stanford in 

 Southill (co. Beds.), Ralph Perot's lordships of 

 Lindsell and Hawkswell (co. Essex), and a hide 

 which Robert son of Weneling had in Ast- 

 wick (co. Beds.). The endowment of Geoffrey 

 and others was confirmed to the hospital by 

 Henry II," who himself made the lepers a per- 

 petual grant of id. a day,°° and the sum of 

 30J. ^d. was paid to them annually by the 

 Sheriff of Hertfordshire from 1 1 60 onwards."* 



*' Cal. Close, 1354-60, p. 587. 



»«Cott. MS. Nero, D i, fol. 193. Charter of 

 foundation and charter granting the lepers the land 

 on which their houses were built free from all inter- 

 ference. 



"' Abbot Roger in 1287 confirmed to the lepers 

 all that they then held of Geoffrey's endowment 

 (ibid. fol. 193 d.). 



"2 Abbot Richard de Wallingford withdrew this 

 rent for two years, but after inspecting the brothers' 

 charters paid it and confirmed it to them in 1329 

 (ibid.). 



'' Probably ' Henammesteda ' of Domesday, now 

 represented by Park and Tyttenhanger (see y.C.H. 

 Herts, ii, 319). 



^ Cott. MS. Nero, D i, fol. 193. 



9' Ibid. 



»« Pipe R. 6-14 Hen. II (Pipe R. Soc), /.assim ; 

 Hunter, Great Roll of the Pipe 1 Ric. I (Rec. Com.), 

 20; Close, 2 Hen. Ill, m. 13; Rental of St. 

 Julians, 1 506 (Cott. MS. Claud. D i, fol. 169). 



464 



