30. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. LEONARD, FOREBRIDGE, STAFFORD
The hospital of St. Leonard, Forebridge, was in
existence by 1386-7; it was then in the patronage of
the Stafford family. (fn. 1) In the 16th century it was
believed that the hospital had been founded by
Ralph, Earl of Stafford (d. 1372), for the maintenance of a priest and certain poor people. (fn. 2) It is
possible that St. Leonard's Hospital was in fact a
refoundation, for ordinary eleemosynary purposes,
of the leper hospital at Radford. The hospital at
Radford had been in the patronage of the Stafford
family, but nothing is known of its history after the
early years of the 14th century. (fn. 3)
The patronage of the hospital remained with the
Stafford family until the attainder in 1521 of
Edward, Duke of Buckingham, when it passed with
the rest of the duke's possessions to the Crown. (fn. 4)
Buckingham's son and heir, Henry, Lord Stafford,
evidently recovered the patronage in 1531, (fn. 5) and he
retained it until the hospital was suppressed in 1548.
In 1393 the hospital was said to be worth 10s. a
year; (fn. 6) in 1521 it was mentioned in a survey of
Buckingham's forfeited property as 'a donative
called the Spitell' worth £5 a year. (fn. 7) The annual
income of the master of the hospital in 1535 was
£4 13s. 4d. (fn. 8) This income came from arable, meadow,
and pasture held of the manor of Forebridge, (fn. 9) but
it did not represent the true value of the rents
deriving from these lands. The hospital and its
property seem to have been leased out by 1538 for
the lifetime of the master, to whom an annual income
of £4 13s. 4d. was reserved. (fn. 10) In 1548 the chantry
commissioners gave the gross value of the hospital's
lands as £7 2s. a year, the net value being £6 19s.
10d.; it is evident, however, that the master's
income was still only £4 13s. 4d. and that this was
further reduced to £4 1s. 11d. a year by his assessment for the Crown's tenth and by rents due to the
lord of Forebridge manor and the master of St.
John's Hospital. The hospital possessed one bell at
the end of the chapel but no plate or other goods in
1548. (fn. 11)
Nothing was paid to the poor in 1548, and the
chantry commissioners reported that no poor had
been relieved there 'these 20 years past'. (fn. 12) Although
the commissioners considered that Stafford was one
of the four towns in the county 'where most need is
to have hospitals for relief of the poor', (fn. 13) the
hospital was suppressed in 1548; the master, William
Stafforton, was granted a pension of £4 1s. 11d. a
year. (fn. 14) In 1550 the hospital lands were granted by
the Crown to the burgesses of Stafford as part of the
endowment of the grammar school. (fn. 15)
The hospital was situated one mile from Castle
Church parish church, according to the chantry
commissioners of 1548. (fn. 16) The site has not been
precisely identified but is probably to the east
of Lichfield Road between St. Leonard's Avenue
and the railway. (fn. 17)
Masters or Wardens
Richard Caus, presented 1386-7, occurs 1398,
died by 1422. (fn. 18)
Henry Blounte, appointed 1528. (fn. 19)
William Stafforton, occurs 1533, master at the
dissolution in 1548. (fn. 20)
No seal is known.