A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



destruction at the hands of Edward VI. This 

 hospital of St. Leonard, usually called the Spittal, 

 was leased to Sir Robert Constable, and hence 

 passed to William Cecil, Earl of Exeter, who 

 built there a goodly house ; after his death this 

 house with the surroundings was exchanged by 

 Act of Parliament, 17 Charles I, with the hos- 

 pital for lands of better \alue, and settled on his 

 widow the Countess Dowager of Exeter and her 

 heirs. The Act provided that the countess was, 

 within three years, to build a house of brick or 

 stone, roofed with tile or slate, consisting of eight 

 rooms, viz. four low rooms and four chambers 

 over them to receive the master, chaplain, and 

 two poor men from in or near Newark, and to 

 inclose an acre of ground with a brick or stone 

 wall to serve as an orchard and garden.^ 



The St. Leonard's Hospital charity is now 

 endowed with valuable property in Newark, 

 Girton, Balderton, Claypole, and Elston, mostly 

 let on unexpired leases. There are six alms- 

 houses in Northgate, erected in 1890, which 

 accommodate four single men and two married 

 couples ; each inmate receives ioj. a week. 



Masters of the Hospital of St. Leonard 



William de Northwell, 1323^ 

 John le Chaumbre, 1347 *' 

 William de Askebi, occurs 1349" 

 William de Scoter, 1358'" 

 Christopher Massingbred, 1534 " 



30. THE HOSPITAL OF THE HOLY 

 SEPULCHRE, NOTTINGHAM 



Very little is known of this ancient foundation. 

 Bishop Tanner was the first to call attention to 

 its existence in his Notitia Monaitica, by referring 

 to a Patent Roll entry of 1267, where mention 

 is made of the brethren of the Holy Sepulchre of 

 Nottingham.'^ 



In 1283 Edward I granted protection for a 

 year to the master and brethren of St. Sepulchre's, 

 Nottingham, for the collection of alms."' 



A boundary reference among the town docu- 

 ments of the year 1307 makes mention of the 

 ' land beyond the ditch of the town next the 

 cemetery of Saint Sepulchre."^ The fact of 

 this house possessing a cemetery of its own is 

 suflScient to show that it was at one time a 



" Thoroton, Notts, i, 390-1. 

 ^ Pat. 16 Edwr. II, pt. i, m. 2. 

 ^ Pat. 21 Edvir. Ill, pt. i, m. 21. 

 "^ Cal. of Papal Letters, iii, 357, 387. 

 " Pat. 24 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 35. 

 " I'ntr EccL V, 1 90. 



" Pat. 5 I Hen. Ill, m. 24 ; Fratres S. Sepulchri de 

 'Sott'ingkam. 



^ Pat. 1 1 Edw. I, m. 21. 

 " Vott. Bor. Rec. i, 438. 



foundation of importance ; there are, however, 

 no later references to it. 



An undated confirmation by Henry II of tl e 

 foundation of a hospital at Nottingham, c. 11 70, 

 though no name is given, may be taken with 

 virtual certainty to refer to that of the Holy Sepul- 

 chre. By this charter confirmation was given to 

 a grant of 3^ acres of land to the palmers of Not- 

 tingham, which Robert de Saint Remy had given 

 them to establish a hospital for poor men, for the 

 soul of his brother Richard de Saint Remy." 



The bull of Pope Lucius III (11 82-5) to 

 the master and brethren of the almshouse of 

 Nottingham probably refers to this foundation. 

 By this bull the pope placed the house under the 

 protection of St. Peter and himself, ordering that 

 no one should dare to exact tithes from them of 

 their gardens, trees, or fodder of their animals. 



There was an early-founded order of canons 

 regular of the Holy Sepulchre, which had several 

 small houses in the British Isles, the first of 

 them being established at Warwick. °° This order 

 was specially connected with the pilgrims of 

 Jerusalem, and it can hardly be doubted that 

 the ' palmers ' referred to above were the canons 

 of this house of the Holy Sepulchre. After the 

 fall of Jerusalem in 1188, this special order 

 began to decay, and most of their lands and 

 revenues were transferred, in the time of Henry III, 

 to the friars of the Holy Trinity for the redemp- 

 tion of captives. The house at Warwick con- 

 tinued as an ordinary Austin priory. At Stam- 

 ford a house or hospital of St. Sepulchre is defi- 

 nitely mentioned both in the 12th and 13th 

 centuries ; but, as at Nottingham, it afterwards 

 dropped out of notice."' Possibly in both cases 

 it became absorbed into some other hospital. It 

 is clear, however, that at Nottingham, after the 

 order of canons of the Holy Sepulchre had ceased 

 to exist, the inmates were termed brethren, and 

 continued for some little time to carry on hospital 

 functions. 



31. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN 

 BAPTIST, NOTTINGHAM 



The hospital of St. John Baptist, commonly 

 known as St. John's, was an early foundation, 

 outside the walls on the north side of the town. 

 Until recently local historians, following the 

 lead given by the usually accurate Thoroton, 

 connected the house with the Knights Hospital- 

 lers, with which order this hospital had no con- 

 nexion of any kind."* 



" Stapleton, Relig. Inst. ofOldNott. iq6. 



'^ V.C.H. Warm, ii, 97. 



^ V.C.H. NortUnts,\\, 195. 



** The mistake may have been due to confusion with 

 the canons of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and 

 their connexion with the hospital of that name in 

 Nottingham. 



168 



