A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



leadc of the said hospital! and made a newe RofFe for 

 the same and covered ytt with slatte, and that the 

 same leade dyd amounte to iij foders and some what 

 more. Whiche was sold by the Comaundement of the 

 said Henrye Whitinge to Olyver Dande of Mannys 

 feld for ixJi. xvb. v'ujd. and over that he solde the 

 said tyme to dyverse men of Nottingham certj'n other 

 webbes of leade the weights therof nor yet the monye 

 he remembrithe not.'^ 



Under Edward VI came about the final wreck 

 of this once useful and devout establishment, after 

 so many years of shameless pillage by those who 

 ought to have been its genuine wardens. The 

 Certificates of Colleges, Hospitals, (Sec, doomed to 

 dissolution in 1548-9 stat- : — 



The Hospitall of Saint Johannes without the Wall 

 in the parishe of Saint Maries there founded by 

 whome they knowe not for the relief of the poore 

 and worthe in Lands Tenements and other possessions 

 lying and being in Diverse places within the said 

 Towne and Sherc of Nottingham, As by the Survey 

 therof made remayning with the Surveyour of the saide 

 sheire particularly yt doth appere . £6 I 3/. 43'. 

 Whereof in Rente resolute ... 13/. 4a'. 



and so remayneth unto Thomas 

 Webster, clarlce, master of the saide 

 hospitall, of what age or of what 

 Icrningc it is unknowne .... £^ 17/. oJ."" 



From this it is evident that the masters kept 

 up their evil character to the end, for Webster 

 clearly treated this preferment as a sinecure, and 

 was non-resident. 



In February 1551 the property of the hospital, 

 with that of other small religious foundations of 

 the town, was diverted by Edward VI towards 

 the sustentation of Trent Bridge, and conveyed 

 for that purpose to the mayor and burgesses. An 

 inquisition in June of the following year found 

 that for a long time before 1540 the late master 

 and his brother chaplains wholly withdrew and 

 absented themselves from the hospital and had 

 never since returned, whereby divine services, 

 prayers, almsgiving and other works of piety had 

 remained totally unperformed. Meanwhile the 

 corporation were put to no small trouble by the 

 last master, Thomas \Vebster, who had been in- 

 ducted in 1545 by the Archbishop of York. He 

 exhibited a bill in Chancery in 1553, complain- 

 ing that he was seised of the mansion-house of 

 the hospital of St. John, of three other messu- 

 ages, and of 400 acres of land, meadow, and pasture 

 in Nottingham and Stanton on the Wolds, and 

 that the corporation had made an untrue sugges- 

 tion that the property had come into the king's 

 hands by reason of the Act 37 Henry VIII, cap. 

 4, for the suppression of certain chantries and 

 hospitals. The town replied, citing the king's 

 grant of 155 1. Webster rejoined, citing his in- 

 duction on 9 December 1545, and stating that 

 at that time, or shortly afterwards, two poor men 



'" Coll. and Chant. Cert. Notts, xiii, 38. 

 ""Dugdale Mcr:. vi, 680. 



were brethren of the hospital, one named Bacon 

 and the other Fellowe. 



Failing in Chancery, Webster in 1561 ex- 

 hibited a bill of complaint against the mayor and 

 burgesses stating that through being spoilt of the 

 hospital he had suffered loss to the clear annual 

 value of j^ 10. The mayor and burgesses were 

 cited to appear at York Minster on 30 Septem- 

 ber. The archbishop lectured them severely, and 

 threatened to impose a heavy fine, saying that 

 his court was as high as that of Chancery. The 

 town clerk appeared again at York on 3 De- 

 cember on behalf of the corporation, but Webster 

 did not appear to prosecute, and the opposition 

 to the king's grant of 1 55 1 speedily evaporated. 



In 1 60 1 the old hospital buildings were turned 

 into a poor-house, and somewhat later into a 

 house of correction."' 



Priors of St. John's^'" 



Durandus, c. 1230 



Robert Alwin, occurs 1241 



Ralph Wilford, c. 1270 



Malcolm de Harley, 1279 



Robert, vicar of Radford, 1280"' 



Alan de Salopia, 1286 "^ 



Thomas de Cancia, 1289 *'* 



Henry de Calverton,) ''* 



Robert Ker J 



Robert de Sutton, 1304''° 



John Dant, 1307 '^' 



Robert de Elton, occurs 1310"^ 



Roger son of Richard de Whatton, 131 1 ^" 



Matthew de Halifax, 1323 '^^ 



John Lambok, occurs 1332 *^' 



John Brun, 1343 



Ralph Yarwell, 1349 



Robert de Yarwell, 1356 



John de Houdon, 1363 



William Askham, 137 1 



John de Nottingham, died 1 41 8 



Robert Clough, 1418 



John Tamworth, 1424^*^ 



John Mosley, 1427 



William Woodgrave 



Roger Hunt, occurs 1432 '*' 



"' For the post- Reformation history of this founda- 

 tion see Re/ig. Inst, of Old 'Nott. i, 34-8. 



"'^ Ibid. 32. 



■" Harl. MS. 6970, fol. 65. 



'^ Pat. 14 Edw. I, m. 19. 



'"Harl. MS. 6970 fol. 106. 



'" Mentioned in conjunction with Thomas de 

 Cancia as former masters in a document of 1 3 2 5 . Hott. 

 Bor. Rec. i, 92. 



''^ Pat. 32 Edw. I, m. 2. 



"' Town MSS. 



'" Harl. MS. 6970, fol. 236. 



"* Ibid. fol. 238. 



"» Ai//. Bor. Rec.\, 9;. 



"' Pat. 6 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. n. 



'" Pat. 2 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 5. 



'" Sott. Bor. Rec ii. 



172 



