97-102. THE SIX HOSPITALS OF THETFORD
God's House, or Domus Dei
God's House, or Domus Dei, was a house of
early foundation, Blomefield believed that it
dated back to the days when William Rufus
removed the episcopal see from Thetford to
Norwich, (fn. 1) but Martin could find no sufficient
proof of this. (fn. 2) It was situated on the Suffolk
side of the borough; the river washed its walls
on the north, and the east side fronted the
street.
It was at any rate well established before the
reign of Edward II, as it was found, in 1319,
that John de Warenne, earl of Surrey, held
the advowson of the God's House, Thetford. (fn. 3)
In that year a considerable store of cattle and
goods is described as having been acquired by
the prudence and frugality of William de Norton,
the late master, and left under the care of the
bishop; his successor was enjoined not to
dispose by sale or donation of any of the
particulars of the inventory without leaving to
the house an equivalent. (fn. 4)
The new master does not, however, appear
to have followed the good example of William
Norton; for he is soon found to be holding
other preferment, and was probably non-resident.
In 1325 William Harding, master of God's
House, Thetford, and rector of Cerncote,
Salisbury diocese, acknowledged a debt of eleven
marks due to one Stephen de Kettlebergh. (fn. 5)
In the same year he was also warden of the
hospital of St. Julian, Thetford.
In 1335 John de Warenne obtained the
royal licence to transfer the hospital of God's
House with all its revenues and possessions to
the prior provincial of the Friars Preachers; but
speedily changing his mind obtained another
licence for transferring it to the prior and canons
of the Holy Sepulchre, Thetford. (fn. 6) By this
arrangement it was covenanted that the priory
should find two chaplains to sing mass for the
soul of the founder of the hospital, and to find
sustenance and entertainment for three poor
men.
In 1347 Henry duke of Lancaster, as patron,
confirmed to the prior and canons the gift of
the lands, tenements, and rents lately belonging
to the hospital of God's House, but excepted
the actual site of the hospital, which he conferred
upon the Friars Preachers. Two of the canons
were to sing daily mass in the conventual church
for the souls of the founders of the hospital.
The priory was also to find a house yearly for
three poor people from 9 November to 29 April,
giving to each of them nightly a loaf of good
rye bread, and a herring or two eggs. They
were also to provide three beds, and hot water
for washing their feet. This charter received
royal confirmation the following year. (fn. 7)
The Hospital of St. Mary and St. Julian
The hospital of this double invocation was
more usually known as St. Julian's chapel or
St. Julian's hermitage.
This hospital, which stood at the bridge foot
on the Norfolk side, was of early foundation.
According to Tanner, Blomefield, and Martin
it was presumably founded by Henry I; but no
evidence as to this is forthcoming. The advowson of it rested with the earls of Warenne.
It seems to have been of the nature of a hostelry
for poor travellers and pilgrims. Martin names
a number of the specific bequests to this hospital,
which comprised upwards of a hundred acres of
land, in addition to foldcourses and other pasturage rights, chiefly in Thetford and Croxton. (fn. 8)
In 1325 William Harding, who was also
master of God's House, was master or warden
of this hospital. In 1326 Harding resigned,
and was succeeded in the following year by
Robert de Worcester on the presentation of
Edward II. The advowson was in the crown's
hands for that turn, owing to the minority of
the heir of Ralph de Cobham.
The Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen
John earl of Warenne and Surrey built a
hospital for lepers in the reign of Henry III,
endowed it with certain lands in Thetford, and
appropriated to it the church or chapel of
St. Mary Magdalen for the use of the master
and brethren. The church of St. Mary
Magdalen had originally been a parish church;
but when that parish was annexed to St. Cuthbert's, in the first half of the thirteenth century,
it became a chapel. (fn. 9) It stood some distance
outside the town, on the right-hand side of the
road to Norwich. No trace of it remains,
save that the land on which it stood still bears
the name of Maudlin Acre.
In 1232 the crown granted the right to
collect alms to the master and brethren of this
hospital. (fn. 10)
By degrees it became possessed of 260 acres
of land, 604 acres of pasture and heath, together
with four foldcourses in Thetford, Kilverstone,
and Croxton.
In 1360 Henry duke of Lancaster died,
seised of the advowson. When the advowson
in due course came to the crown it was granted
to the mayor and commonalty of Thetford, who
presented the master until its dissolution in the
third year of Edward VI. At that date the
hospital and its possessions, save the bells and
lead of the chapel, were granted to Sir William
Fermpur; but, Sir William Fermour almost
immediately re-leased the premises to Sir Richard
Fulmerston.
When the Valor Ecclesiasticus was drawn up
in 1535, Christopher Braunche, clerk, was
master of the hospital, and the clear annual
value was returned at the mean sum of 33s. 6d.
There must have been some gross alienation
of property by certain of the masters, as it had
at that date lost all its possessions save some
rents in Thetford.
The Hospital of St. John Baptist
The leper hospital of St. John Baptist, founded
in the twelfth century, used to stand, says Blomefield, 'at the corner of Earl's of Alice's lane
against St. Cuthbert's Cross, its church being in
the orchard belonging to that house.' (fn. 11)
Protection, involving authority to collect alms,
was granted by the crown to this hospital in
1229, (fn. 12) and the master had a grant of a fair, in
1232, to be held on the vigil and feast of the
decollation of St. John the Baptist. (fn. 13)
As the town increased in that direction,
the inconvenience of a leper establishment in
the midst of population became obvious; and
on the foundation of Magdalen hospital by
John earl of Warenne it was suppressed, and the
brethren moved there. Subsequently the latter
house was not infrequently named under the
conjoint invocation of St. Mary Magdalen
and St. John Baptist; a gild that pertained to
the earlier hospital, called the gild of St. John
Baptist, was also transferred to St. Mary
Magdalen.
The Hospital of St. John
There was a leper hospital dedicated in honour
of St. John on the Suffolk side of the town.
Martin gives references to it under the reigns
of Edward I, II, and III. In 1387 John of
Gaunt, as already detailed in the account of
the friary, gave the old parochial church of
St. John to the friars, which then became the
chapel of the hospital. At the time of the
dissolution it was demolished as part of the
friars' property, and the site was granted to
Sir Richard Fulmerston. (fn. 14)
The Hospital of St. Margaret (fn. 15)
St. Margaret's was one of the four appendant
churches of Thetford both in the Confessor's
and the Conqueror's days. It stood on the
Suffolk side of the borough. In the fourteenth
century the parish was annexed to that of St.
Mary's, and the church, which was in the gift
of the bishop of Ely, became the chapel of a
leper hospital. In 1304 certain thieves broke
into the house of lepers of St. Margaret and
stole a silver chalice worth 5s., 20s. in money,
and linen and woollen cloths worth 10s., and.
then set fire to the buildings. (fn. 16) On 20 March,
1390, John Fordham, bishop of Ely, granted
an indulgence of forty days to all persons who
would give help and assistance to the poor men
and lepers living in the hospital of St. Margaret's
by Thetford during the next three days. (fn. 17)
The hospital was dissolved in the time of
Edward VI, and the site granted to Sir Richard
Fulmerston.