42. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JAMES, LEWES
The hospital of St. James, outside the gates of
the priory of Lewes, appears to have been founded
by one of the Warennes as a kind of almshouse
supplementary to the priory. In it thirteen poor
persons, of either sex, were supported by the
priory at a yearly cost of £16 10s., in return for
which support they were bound to pray for the
souls of the founder and his heirs. (fn. 1) Occasional
mention of this house occurs in mediaeval wills,
Agnes Thetcher in 1512 leaving a pair of linen
sheets to 'the most needy person in the hospital
of St. James. (fn. 2) With the fall of the priory the
hospital lost its revenues, and Peter Tomson and
other poor bedesmen of the hospital of St. James
were driven to petition Cromwell for assistance. (fn. 3)
Thus, though not actually suppressed, the hospital must have fallen into disuse soon after the
dissolution of Lewes priory.
Footnotes
| 1 |
Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 331. |
| 2 |
P.C.C. Fetiplace, 17. |
| 3 |
L. and P. Hen. VIII, xiii (1), 383. |