19. GARDINER'S HOSPITAL, LANCASTER
The small hospital or almshouse at Lancaster
known as Gardiner's Hospital was established in
1485 by the executors of John Gardiner of
Bailrigg in accordance with the provisions of his
will made in 1472 and proved eleven years
later. The headship of the hospital, for which
Gardiner seems to have erected a building in his
life-time, was combined with the incumbency of
a chantry in the adjacent parish church. Out
of the issues of the manor of Bailrigg, which in
1547 amounted to £11 6s. 10d., the chantry
priest was required to pay 1d. a day to each of
four poor people in the almshouse and 2d.
a week to a serving-maid, retaining the residue
for his own maintenance. The nomination of
the priest or chaplain after the first vacancy was
vested in the mayor and twelve burgesses of
Lancaster. (fn. 50) In the first year of Edward VI
the chantry was dissolved, but the hospital
survived and is still in existence with an income
brought up by some small legacies to £15
a year. (fn. 51)
Chantry Priests of the Hospital
Nicholas Green, (fn. 52) appointed by Gardiner's feoffees, 1485
Edward Baines, (fn. 53) incumbent in 1547
Footnotes
| 50 |
Lancs. Chant. (Chet. Soc.), 221-2. |
| 51 |
Baines, Hist. of Lancs. (ed. Croston), v, 475. |
| 52 |
Lancs. Chant. 222. |
| 53 |
Ibid. 221. The Robert Mackerall, 'Chantry
Priest of Lancaster Hospital,' mentioned in the
footnote ibid. p. 223, as in receipt of a pension in
1553 can no doubt be identified with the priest of
the same name who had a chantry in the Franciscan
Friary until 1539; ibid. 225. If he is not incorrectly described above we must assume that he was
appointed to Gardiner's chantry under Mary. |