27. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST AND ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, OSWESTRY
Reiner, Bishop of St. Asaph (1186-1224), who
founded this hospital on lands acquired from Shrewsbury Abbey in the first decade of the 13th century, (fn. 1)
endowed it on an unusually lavish scale. Apart
from adjoining property his original grant included
23 a. to the west of the town and 9 a. given by the
clergy of Oswestry. (fn. 2) Before 1210 he added the township of Wilcott in Great Ness, bought for 70 marks
from John Lestrange. (fn. 3) His apparent intention was
that Wilcott should be held by Haughmond Abbey,
which was to provide a chantry service at the
hospital; it is uncertain whether this scheme
replaced or was replaced by another whereby the
township was granted to the hospital but was to
revert to Haughmond should the hospital cease to
exist. (fn. 4) By 1215 Reiner had bought six shops and
26s. rent in Shrewsbury for the hospital (fn. 5) and had
procured for it annual pensions of £3 6s. 8d. from
Llansilin (Denb.) and three other churches in
Wales. (fn. 6) William FitzAlan, lord of Oswestry, gave
the hospital pasture rights at Cynynion (fn. 7) and confirmed a gift by the burgesses of Oswestry of a
handful of corn, flour, and salt from every horseload sold in the market, a gallon of ale from every
brewing, and a loaf from every baking. (fn. 8) In 1211 the
hospital was taken under papal protection. (fn. 9)
While reserving the right to administer the
hospital during his lifetime, Reiner entrusted it
thereafter to the Hospitallers, c. 1217-18, requiring
them to maintain seven poor persons there. (fn. 10) This
arrangement was immediately disputed by Haughmond and it was shortly afterwards ruled by the
archbishop that Haughmond should hold the
hospital of the Hospitallers, paying 20s. a year to the
preceptory of Halston. (fn. 11) Reiner evidently continued to take an interest in his foundation until his
death, for he was still buying Shrewsbury property
on its behalf in 1222. (fn. 12)
Small properties in Oswestry (fn. 13) and its townships
of Aston, (fn. 14) Wootton, (fn. 15) and Weston (fn. 16) were acquired
by the hospital in the later 13th century and the
terms under which Haughmond held it were confirmed in 1273, (fn. 17) but it is unlikely that it housed any
poor persons after 1300. Haughmond Abbey appears
to have regarded the Wilcott charters as evidence
that its obligations were restricted to the provision of
a chantry priest. Such a priest, appointed in 1338,
was given a life-lease of the hospital and adjoining
crofts. He was required to provide daily services, to
repair the house, chapel, and dovecot, and provide
quarters for visiting canons of Haughmond. (fn. 18) A
papal licence (1414) for the Dean of St. Asaph to
hold the wardenship of the hospital (fn. 19) is probably
without significance.
The Hospitallers of Halston continued to receive
their annual fee of 20s. from Haughmond until the
Dissolution (fn. 20) when the hospital site was not recorded
among the estates of either of these houses. By the
1550s, however, when it was described as the chapel
of St. John the Baptist, the hospital was regarded as
a former dependency of Halston (fn. 21) and as such was
granted by the Crown to George Lee in 1560. (fn. 22) The
chapel, which stood in Church Street, is last
recorded in 1577, when it was held by Thomas
Smallman. (fn. 23)
No names of wardens of this hospital have been
found, nor is there any evidence that it possessed a
common seal.