RELIGIOUS GUILD
41. THE PALMERS' GUILD OF
LUDLOW
It was said in 1388 that this guild had been founded
in 1284 by a group of Ludlow burgesses, who
assigned rent-charges on their property to endow
three guild chaplains, severally to pray daily for the
living, for the dead, and in honour of the Cross. (fn. 1)
All brethren and sisters of the guild were to attend the
funerals of guild members on pain of a fine. Nocturnal wakes were permitted but no women other than
kin were to attend and participants were forbidden to wear 'hideous masks', to jest about the
deceased, or indulge in unseemly sports. In intention
at least the guild was also to be a mutual benefit
society. Relief was to be given, according to the
merit and quality of the person concerned and only
on the first three occasions, to members reduced to
poverty by theft, fire, shipwreck, or other mishap.
In addition to assistance during temporary sickness,
particular care was to be given to lepers and the
blind, and to mutilated or incurable brethren. Should
a guildsman be wrongfully imprisoned anywhere in
England the guild officers were to secure his release,
either from his own or from guild resources, and a
dowry was to be provided for sisters of the guild on
their marriage or entry into religion. Authority was
vested in a warden (or rector) and two stewards,
who were to be appointed annually by a small
committee of guildsmen. The guild was incorporated
in 1329. (fn. 2)
The guild had existed for some years before the
promulgation of the statutes of 1284. The tradition,
current in Leland's time, (fn. 3) that it had been founded
in the time of Edward the Confessor arose from the
identification of the Ludlow palmers with the three
palmers who, according to legend, had brought back
a ring from St. John the Evangelist to this king. (fn. 4)
The legend is depicted in glass, said to date from the
mid 15th century, in St. John's chapel in Ludlow
church (fn. 5) and Leland presumably saw it repeated on
the reredos of this chapel's altar, carved in 1525. (fn. 6)
The statutes indicate no special devotion to St.
John the Evangelist. According to them the guild
was dedicated to the Virgin (fn. 7) but the dedication to
the Virgin and St. John jointly, first recorded in
1329, (fn. 8) became the common form soon after and
suggests that both legend and legendary founder
had been adopted early in the 14th century.
More reliable evidence for the origins of the guild
is provided by its muniments of title, the earliest of
which is an undated register (fn. 9) briefly listing donors of
rent-charges on properties in Ludlow. The first part
of the register, which is arranged topographically and
records some 113 grants, appears to have been
drawn up in the 1270s. (fn. 10) A further 41 grants of rentcharges were later added to the register as they were
made. The comparatively large number of grants
recorded in the original part of this register need not
necessarily imply that the guild had been in existence
for many years before its compilation. Of the 113
original grants 91 were of rent-charges of 6d. a year or
less and the total income thus secured was little more
than adequate to support its chaplains, at least two
of whom were employed at the time the register was
compiled. (fn. 11) It is more likely that most of these early
grants were the result of a sudden outburst of
enthusiasm in the middle years of the 13th century.
The initiator may have been Geoffrey Andrew (fl.
1255-75), who is the first known warden of the guild
and whose name heads the list of grants in the
undated register. (fn. 12)
Although annual election of officers had been
stipulated in 1284 (fn. 13) wardens of the guild seem
always to have held office for life and the two stewards for periods of four or five years. The latter were
presumably at first responsible for all aspects of
guild finances but, as guild property increased, one
of the guild chaplains was employed as rent collector.
By 1344 the rent collector, though still subordinate
to the stewards, was accounting separately. (fn. 14) By the
early 15th century the functions of the stewards
and the rent collector had been fully differentiated:
the stewards collected entry fines from members and
repaired guild property while the rent collector
applied the rents to pay the guild chaplains. (fn. 15)
Routine business was handled by a clerk, the earliest
known being Walter of Heyton, writer and witness
of a dozen grants to the guild, 1293-1308. (fn. 16) A guildhall in Mill Street had been acquired before 1283 (fn. 17)
and was the meeting-place for the guild's annual
feast at Pentecost. (fn. 18) There is no evidence for any
other general assemblies of the brethren, the guild's
affairs being conducted by a council, The latter can
presumably be identified with the 'five or seven'
brethren who, according to the statutes, were to
appoint the guild officers, (fn. 19) though from the 14th
century onwards it appears normally to have
consisted of twelve persons. (fn. 20) These were prominent
Ludlow burgesses, drawn from the same class as the
members of the Twelve and Twenty Five (the
governing body of Ludlow borough). About half of
the persons appearing in lists of the Twelve and
Twenty Five, 1308 and 1317-19, (fn. 21) figure as officers,
donors, or frequent witnesses in grants to the guild
at this period. The bailiffs of the borough witnessed
many of the earliest surviving grants to the guild,
while borough and guild both made use of the same
guildhall. By the later 15th century the guild had, by
means of admissions in confraternity, established
links with all parts of Wales and southern England,
but the close connexion between guild and borough
was maintained throughout the guild's history. In
1470 for instance, eight of the twelve members of
the guild council had been members of the Twelve
and Twenty Five, (fn. 22) while nearly all the known
wardens and stewards after 1400 served at some stage
as bailiffs of the town. (fn. 23)
Although the statutes of 1284 referred to only
three chaplains, (fn. 24) a guild rental of the same year
makes it clear that four chaplains were being maintained. (fn. 25) Payments to five chaplains are recorded in
1344 (fn. 26) and a will of 1349 speaks of 'the seven priests
of the palmers', (fn. 27) but there were only four of them
in 1364 (fn. 28) and 1377, (fn. 29) though their salaries had by
then been raised. The function of the guild chaplains
in the 14th century, and more particularly their
relationship to other chantry priests in the parish
church, is somewhat obscure. An early grant to the
guild states that its chaplains served before the High
Cross (fn. 30) and this was the function of at least one of
the three chaplains in 1284. (fn. 31) The original dedication
of the guild to the Virgin, which occurs in the formula normally employed in grants to the guild of the
later 13th century, (fn. 32) suggests that another chaplain
had always served in the Lady Chapel. If this was so
he served alongside a chantry priest maintained by
the borough. (fn. 33) William of Tugford, the chantry priest
of Our Lady, c. 1362-93, was not maintained by the
guild, though frequently a witness or feoffee in guild
transactions. (fn. 34) A similar dual service may have been
maintained in the chantry of St. Andrew. This had
been founded in 1275 by Geoffrey Andrew's nephew
William, who vested the patronage in the commonalty of Ludlow borough (fn. 35) but, since the guild
could be described in 1377 as 'the guild of Palmers
of St. Andrew' (fn. 36) it seems likely that one of its
chaplains was also concerned with this service. The
guild's rent collector collected the revenues of both
these chantries in the 15th century, (fn. 37) when they
were presumably being served solely by guild
chaplains, but their endowments were still being
listed separately from other revenues of the guild in
1439. (fn. 38)
Small annual rent-charges, which were the guild's
sole type of endowment in its early years, still
made up the bulk of its income of some £10 a year
in 1284, when this was derived from about 160 rentcharges and the rents of not more than 20 town
properties owned by the guild. (fn. 39) Although they
continued to be made until 1349, grants of rentcharges rapidly went out of fashion after 1300 and it
seems clear that the guild was, in the 14th century,
deliberately accumulating extensive house property
in Ludlow. Much of this was given to the guild in
return for spiritual benefits but, since a consideration is specified in a number of the grants, it can be
assumed that in these cases at least the property
acquired represented the investment of surplus
income. Licences to acquire property in mortmain
were obtained in 1291, (fn. 40) 1329, (fn. 41) 1344, (fn. 42) 1357, (fn. 43) and
1392, (fn. 44) but the provisions of the Statute of Mortmain were evaded by the regular employment of
feoffees to uses, the licences were used to cover
properties acquired many years before, and a proportion of the guild's estate was not recorded in the
licences at all. By 1351 the guild possessed 38 tenements and 14 shops, in addition to 112 rent-charges
and a fulling mill in Linney. (fn. 45) The net income from
rents was £24 in 1345 (fn. 46) and about £31 in 1365,
when a little over £2 a year was received from properties outside the town. (fn. 47)
As the practice of granting rent-charges fell into
disuse the grant of rights of confraternity in return
for a fixed sum, paid in full or by instalments,
became the normal method of admission to the guild.
The only surviving 14th-century list of brethren
admitted by this means, 1377-8, (fn. 48) shows that income from this source was already nearly as large
as that derived from guild property. A total of 63
persons was admitted for fines ranging from 2s. to
20s. a head and the gross receipts of £27 10s. 8d.
exceeded the amount collected in rents that year.
Most of these new members seem to have come
from Ludlow but the list includes two persons
from elsewhere in Shropshire and one from Bristol,
the latter foreshadowing a special relationship
between the guild and Bristol which is apparent in
lists of guild members of the later 15th century.
New features, which first appeared in the 1390s,
were to transform the character of the guild during
the last 150 years of its existence. One of these was
the endowment of chantries or annual obits for the
benefit of individual members which, besides adding
significantly to the guild's property, increased the
number of its chaplains and so involved it more
closely in the service of the parish church. Other
new developments were the extension of membership far beyond the confines of the town and the
cultivation of nobility and gentry with interests in
the region.
In 1397 a group of feoffees in a guild transaction, (fn. 49)
all of them presumably members of the guild council at this time, included Sir Hugh Cheney, knight
of the shire between 1378 and 1400, (fn. 50) and John
Burley (probably John Burley of Broncroft, knight
of the shire 1399-1411). (fn. 51) There is little other
evidence for direct participation in the running of
the guild on the part of the local nobility and gentry,
but this class figures prominently enough in lists of
guild members in the 15th and early 16th centuries.
A register of the time of Henry IV includes members
of the Burley and Malehurst families, Fulk Pembridge of Tong, Sir Roger Acton, and Sir Hugh
Mortimer. (fn. 52) As might be expected, the earls of
March, lords of the manor of Ludlow, maintained
close links with the guild. An inventory of guild
goods, 1389, (fn. 53) includes a set of vestments bequeathed
by the Earl of March and in 1438 his descendant
Richard, Duke of York, was admitted a member
with his wife for the high entry fine of £16 13s. 4d. (fn. 54)
During the 1420s it was customary to distribute caps
bearing the livery of the guild to local notables, as
well as to officers of the guild, at the annual feast.
Edmund, Earl of March, Lord Talbot, and William
Burley were among the recipients in 1424. (fn. 55)
The custom of endowing daily masses or annual
obits by individual members for their own benefit,
rather than that of the brethren in general, is first
met with in 1393, when Hugh Ace, Vicar of St.
Katherine's, Hereford (but member of a Ludlow
family), provided for an annual obit for himself and
his kin. (fn. 56) The growth of the practice can presumably
be related to the building of the college in the churchyard as a residence for the guild chaplains. (fn. 57) Over
30 endowments of this nature are recorded between
1393 and 1537, nearly all of them by inhabitants of
Ludlow. They included daily masses endowed by
John Hawkins (1405), (fn. 58) Richard Sibbeton (1408), (fn. 59)
Thomas Paas (1427), (fn. 60) William Mershton (1443), (fn. 61)
and John Parys (1449). (fn. 62) The resulting increase in
the number of chaplains may be the reason for the
enlargement of the college in the 1440s. (fn. 63) The guild's
establishment was said to be 8 chaplains in 1436 (fn. 64)
and, although only 6 were paid in 1463, (fn. 65) between
8 and 10 chaplains were normally employed, 14721533, at a cost of some £50 a year. (fn. 66) The only new
daily masses endowed after 1450 were those founded
by John Hosier (1486) (fn. 67) and Thomas Cooke (1516), (fn. 68)
but in each case the founder stipulated that his
chantry priest was not to be regarded as a priest of
the guild, although the priests were provided with
free quarters in the college and their salaries were
paid by the guild officers. (fn. 69)
Apart from this proliferation of chantries the
guild's contribution to the service and adornment
of the parish church at this period must have been
considerable. In 1446-7 the guild purchased 100
wainscot boards at Bristol for the choir stalls, which
are still in the church, and may also have paid the
wages of the craftsmen who made them. (fn. 70) The
churchwardens' accounts suggest that the guild was
always ready to assist these officers in ways which
might escape record, as in 1469 when it contributed
towards the carriage of stone from a quarry at
Hughley. (fn. 71) The guild's most notable contribution,
however, seems to have been in the field of church
music. This developed in the Lady Chapel, where
the chantry priest originally maintained by the
borough was by the 15th century a guild chaplain.
It is probably more than coincidence that the payment of an additional stipend to this chaplain for
supervising the choir is first recorded in 1486, (fn. 72) the
year in which John Hosier provided stipends for
the six best-voiced children commonly singing at the
mass of Our Lady. (fn. 73) By 1492, when there were two
guild chaplains (or 'singing men') in the Lady Chapel,
the guild's porter was paid for serving in the choir
and Thomas Sherman received 40s. as organist. (fn. 74)
In the following year the guild undertook to provide
and maintain lights in the Lady Chapel to Our Lady
and St. Anne. (fn. 75) John Vauwe, who began his career
as a chorister, was engaged in 1503 as a third guild
chaplain in the Lady Chapel (fn. 76) and was still employed
in 1533, though no longer as a 'singing man'. (fn. 77)
Three such chaplains appear to have been employed
until the 1530s (fn. 78) and in 1546 there was establishment
for four 'singing men' although only two were then
serving. (fn. 79)
Surviving guild records do not suggest that the
provisions in the statutes of 1284 regarding financial
assistance to members in distress were carefully
observed. In 1347 nine members received alms
totalling 13s 11d., and 2s. 3½d. was spent at the
funerals of ten others. (fn. 80) Alms of 6s. 8d. were given
to a member in 1364. (fn. 81) Three or four such cases
occur annually in the 1420s and in 1427 a total of 13s.
was also distributed to divers poor brethren at
Easter and All Saints. (fn. 82) Annual expenditure on alms
was said to amount to a mere 8s. 2d. in 1546. (fn. 83)
The number of grants of property to the guild fell
off after the later 14th century but later acquisitions
tended to be individually more substantial, since
most of them formed the endowment of chaplains or
obits. By 1439 the guild owned 167 rent-charges,
96 tenements, 30 shops, and 18 other properties in
Ludlow, and out of a gross rental of £85 only 19s. 8d.
came from property outside the town. (fn. 84) Net receipts
from rents varied from £58 to £80 a year between
1462 and 1504 (fn. 85) but had evidently increased substantially before the dissolution of the guild, since
gross rents of £122 (£102 net) were recorded in
1546 (fn. 86) and of £140 c. 1550. (fn. 87) By the latter date the
guild's Ludlow possessions included 152 tenements,
14 shops, 75 miscellaneous properties, and only 63
rent-charges, while the gross income from property
outside Ludlow had risen to £20 a year. (fn. 88) Most of
the country properties lay in south Shropshire and
north Herefordshire, notably at Ashford Carbonell,
Cleobury North, Hopton Wafers, Richard's Castle,
and Stanton Lacy, but included outliers at Marlborough (Wilts.) (fn. 89) and Eastham (Worcs.). Some part
of the property outside Ludlow was acquired as
the endowment of obits but much was purchased,
notably in the years 1517-26. (fn. 90) An observation made
in 1546 that expenditure on repairs to the guild's
town property greatly exceeded the surplus income
set aside for the purpose is borne out by the stewards' accounts; (fn. 91) the country purchases were presumably designed to provide a more profitable
investment.
By the end of the 15th century, however, income
from the admission fines of members in confraternity equalled if it did not exceed that from rents.
The admission of members and the collection of
entry fines was the main duty of the stewards, who,
by this period, might spend over half the year in their
journeys throughout Wales and southern England.
In 1446-7 one steward was away from Ludlow for
51 days and the other for 89. (fn. 92) In 1505-6 the periods
were 163 days and 127 days (fn. 93) and in 1533-4, their
busiest recorded year, the stewards were on their
travels for 210 and 165 days respectively. (fn. 94) They
were entitled to travelling expenses (for themselves
and a companion) of 14d. a day. There is no sign
that the office was unpopular, for several stewards
served for more than one term, and one may assume
that they combined guild duties with private business. Surviving itineraries suggest that recruiting
grounds were clearly divided between the two
stewards. In 1446-7 Richard Ryall spent two of his
three journeys (each of three weeks) in the clothing
districts of the west, each time visiting Bristol, and a
mere nine days on a circuit which included Much
Wenlock, Stafford, and Wolverhampton. His
colleague Richard Knighton made six journeys,
three through Shropshire, Cheshire, and northern
Wales, two to London, and one in central Shropshire. (fn. 95) By 1505 it was customary for one of the
stewards to confine himself to the west, while the
other covered Shropshire, Wales, and the west
Midlands. (fn. 96) Fines and instalments were collected
at local centres, normally market towns, and in the
more important towns the guild employed local
representatives known as 'solesters'. (fn. 97)
No pattern can be traced in the amounts levied as
entry fines in 1377, (fn. 98) but by the early 15th century a
fixed scale was in use. (fn. 99) Single persons paid 6s. 8d.
and married couples 13s. 4d., half this rate being
charged on members already dead. Only a very small
number of members paid their fine in full on their
admission. The remainder paid instalments of a few
pence a year, often for as long as 20 years. Payment
of entry fines or instalments in kind was not uncommon; Bristol merchants are found paying in
wine, and west Midland craftsmen with iron goods,
while members living near Ludlow sometimes provided corn in lieu. Officials of the guild also had to
dispose of quantities of articles left as pledge for the
payment of fines of deceased members. (fn. 100) A small
annual payment was commonly levied from members
in guilds of this type (fn. 101) but none was required by the
Palmers' Guild.
Transactions of this nature required a relatively
sophisticated system of record-keeping. While on
their journeys the stewards made out lists giving the
names of new brethren and of those paying instalments, with the amounts received from each. These,
endorsed with a claim for expenses, were handed to
the guild clerk, who was responsible for preparing
all other records of confraternity. The clerk then
made out 'receipt' accounts, which were arranged
topographically and distinguished new from old
members, and entered the names of that year's
new members in a 'riding book'. The 'riding books',
which are also arranged topographically, provide the
most complete record of confraternity membership,
since they were subsequently used to record the
instalments paid by particular members. When a
member's fine had been fully paid a marginal note
'sol.' 'reg.' was set against his name in the 'receipt'
account and 'riding book' and he was entered in the
register (a parchment roll) of the year in which
payment was completed. The guild records include a
few original steward's lists (fn. 102) and 'receipt' accounts,
1472-1539, (fn. 103) 'riding books' for c. 1460, 1497-1508,
and 1515-16, and registers, 1399-1413, 1485-9, and
1505-9. A simpler method of recording confraternity
payments, whereby the names of those paying by
instalment were entered in a parchment debitorium,
was in use until the earlier 15th century. (fn. 104)
Since so high a proportion of income from confraternity came in by instalments, the amount
received from this source in any one year provides
only a rough guide to changes in guild membership.
Totals of £25-30 a year are recorded in the 1420s, (fn. 105)
of £56 in 1440, (fn. 106) and of £82 in 1447, (fn. 107) but of only £40
in 1473. (fn. 108) During the earlier 16th century total
receipts were rarely less than £100 a year and
reached £156 in 1515. (fn. 109) The stewards could still
collect £130 in 1533-4 (fn. 110) but by 1540 only £43 was
paid in the course of their journeys and nearly half
of this was repaid to them in travelling expenses. (fn. 111)
Surviving records suggest that confraternity membership reached a peak in the first two decades of
the 16th century. The number of members who paid
their entry fines in full and were therefore entered in
the registers rose from 568 in the four-year period
1485-9 to 1,176 in the years 1505-9. In the first
period about a third and in the second less than a
tenth of those admitted were already dead. These
figures, however, represent perhaps a quarter of all
those who contracted for membership, the remainder
having neglected to pay or defaulted after a few
instalments. In 1505-6, for example, out of 2,020
persons recorded in the 'riding book', only 405
subsequently paid their fine in full, while 1,214 paid
only a part before dying, moving elsewhere, or losing
interest, and 382 paid nothing.
Since the records do not always indicate the
occupations of members any attempt to classify them
according to social status must be tentative. Of
members (or family groups) with stated occupations
appearing in the registers of 1485-9 and 1505-9
about half were merchants, tradesmen, or craftsmen, a little more than a quarter were clergy, and
about an eighth were nobility or gentry. Among
minor changes in the composition of fully paid
membership between these two dates is an increase
in the number of regular clergy (mainly monks)
from 4 in 1485-9 to 63 in 1505-9. (fn. 112) Both in the
'riding books' and in the registers the number of
persons of stated occupation who were engaged in the
textile trades far exceeds any other group, but this
may be no more than a reflection of the general
balance of occupations. The occupations of London
members are nearly always given, and here at least
give a firm indication of the class to which the guild
appealed. London members admitted in 1505-6
included 18 persons engaged in textile trades (10 of
them mercers), 4 other substantial tradesmen, a
gentleman, 2 members of the Inns of Court, and a
fellow of a Cambridge college.
The geographical distribution of members followed a pattern to be expected from the itineraries of the
stewards. During the 15th century about half of
them lived in Shropshire or in those parts of Herefordshire and Worcestershire adjacent to Ludlow,
but the proportion of such local members had
dropped to a quarter by 1505-6. The next largest
group lived in the south-west Midlands and West
Country but the proportion of Welsh and northern
Midland members tended to rise during the later
15th century. Thirty-four members of Edward IV's
household were admitted, c. 1461, (fn. 113) but the number
of London members was normally small. Very few
members lived in districts outside the stewards'
normal circuits but once at least a steward enrolled
members while visiting Walsingham. (fn. 114) Like some
other guilds (fn. 115) the Palmers appear to have obtained a
papal indulgence conferring special privileges on
their members. Such would seem to have been the
object of a journey to Rome undertaken by the
warden in 1514. (fn. 116)
Although the guild was investigated by the
Chantry Commissioners in 1546 (fn. 117) it continued in
being for a further five years. During protracted
negotiations with the Privy Council and the Court
of Augmentations the guild's spokesmen alleged that,
in virtue of a confirmation of its charter obtained
from Henry VIII, the guild was exempt from the
operation of the Chantries Acts and that only £22 9s.
of its revenues was being expended on superstitious
uses. (fn. 118) From the outset, however, the object of these
negotiations was to secure not the survival of the
guild but the transfer of its endowments to Ludlow
corporation. Agreement over the terms of transfer
had been reached by May 1551 (fn. 119) and in the following month the guild was formally surrendered to the
Crown. (fn. 120) In 1552 the college and all other possessions
of the guild were granted to the corporation at an
annual rent of £8 13s. 4d. The support formerly
given by the guild to Hosier's almshouses (fn. 121) and the
grammar school (fn. 122) was to be maintained, and out of
the revenues the borough was also required to
provide an usher at the grammar school, a public
preacher, and an assistant to the Rector of Ludlow. (fn. 123)
The college stood on the west side of College
Street, facing the churchyard. It was built in 1393-4 (fn. 124)
and extensions, which were in progress in 1446-7, (fn. 125)
included a great chamber and other service buildings.
For a few years after it had passed to the corporation
in 1552 the college appears to have been used as a
poor-house (fn. 126) but by 1571 it had been leased to a
Mr. Poughnell, (fn. 127) and it remained a private residence (fn. 128)
until it became Ludlow Cottage Hospital in 1874. (fn. 129)
The main features of the plan can be reconstructed
from the surviving remains. (fn. 130) The building originally included an eastern range, parallel to the street,
but this was rebuilt in 1715. (fn. 131) The only surviving
feature likely to be earlier than 1715 is a disused
stone chimney-stack on the south gable. A moulded
coping on the inner face of the stack marks the
earlier roof-line. This suggests that the southern end
of this range originally contained the kitchen, the
northern end being presumably an open hall.
Behind the eastern range is a courtyard about
50 ft. square. This is bounded to the south by a
stone wall containing three pairs of windows and
two square-headed fireplaces in corresponding
positions at ground and first-floor levels. The west
wall, which for 20 feet is of the same height and
thickness as the south wall, contains a blocked doorway some 11 feet from its junction with the south
wall, flanked by two small windows, and a large
window in a similar position at first-floor level.
These features, all of which are of late medieval date,
indicate that to the south of the courtyard was a
two-story building some 50 feet long and 20 feet wide.
Since it contained four heated rooms it may have
been the private quarters of the guild chaplains.
The internal plan was probably the common one of
shared heated chambers, each serving two studies or
cells. Such a plan could have accommodated up to
eight chaplains and this corresponds closely with the
guild's known establishment towards the end of its
history.
The north wall and the remaining part of the west
wall of the courtyard are lower and narrower than
the south wall and contain no medieval features.
There were, however, buildings on this part of the
college site in the 19th century (fn. 132) which may have
incorporated or replaced medieval stone or timberframed structures.
Some part of the additions made to the college in
the 1440s may be incorporated in the old rectory (a
nurses' home in 1969). The older part of this house
comprises a two-bay stone range adjoining the north
gable of the Cottage Hospital and a cross-wing to
the north with a timber-framed and jettied upper
story; both contain 15th-century features. (fn. 133)
Wardens Of The Ludlow Palmers' Guild
Geoffrey Andrew, occurs before 1284. (fn. 134)
Henry Pygin, occurs 1284-1310. (fn. 135)
Richard of Corve, occurs 1334-49. (fn. 136)
Richard of Orleton, occurs from 1359, died
c. 1361. (fn. 137)
John Hawkins, occurs 1364-71. (fn. 138)
William of Orleton, occurs 1373-90. (fn. 139)
William Hereford, occurs 1392. (fn. 140)
William Broke, occurs 1393-4. (fn. 141)
Philip Hugene, occurs 1397. (fn. 142)
William Parys, occurs 1401-4. (fn. 143)
John Leinthall, occurs 1405-8. (fn. 144)
William Parys, occurs 1424-40. (fn. 145)
John Parys, occurs from 1443, died c. 1449. (fn. 146)
John Griffith, occurs 1451-63. (fn. 147)
John Dodmore, occurs 1467-70. (fn. 148)
Richard Sherman, occurs 1470-94. (fn. 149)
Walter Morton, occurs 1496-1508. (fn. 150)
Richard Downe, occurs 1508-34. (fn. 151)
Walter Rogers, occurs 1535-46. (fn. 152)
William Langford, occurs 1546-51. (fn. 153)
There are impressions of the oval common seal,
1357 and 1499-1517; (fn. 154) its matrix was presumably
struck soon after 1329, when the guild was given
licence to have such a seal. (fn. 155) It measures 2 × 13/8 in.
and shows two standing figures, flanked by pillars,
beneath cusped and traceried canopies. On the left is
the Virgin and Child and on the right St. John the
Evangelist, holding a palm leaf over his left shoulder
and a ring and open scroll in his right hand. The
scroll has an illegible inscription. Below are two
shields, that to the left bearing the arms of England
and the other the arms of the Mortimers, lords of
Ludlow manor. A kneeling figure, presumably
representing a palmer, is set between the two shields.
Legend, black letter:
SIGILLUM CUSTODIS ET CONF[R]ATRUM GIL[DE]
PA[L]MA[R]IORUM DE LUDEL'
At least three smaller seals were employed by the
guild during the later 14th and early 15th centuries.
Their legends appear to make no reference to the
guild but the earliest specimen, an impression of
which is found on a deed of 1342, is there described
as the common seal. (fn. 156) This is a round seal of 7/8 in.
diameter. The device, which is surrounded by
cusping, shows the standing figure of the Virgin
facing a kneeling figure, who holds a three-branched
plant and probably represents a palmer. Legend
illegible. The second seal, known from impressions
of 1381 and 1383, (fn. 157) is oval and measures 11/8 × 7/8 in.
It has a device similar to that of 1342 but the Virgin
is holding the Child and the two figures are set in a
plain canopied niche. Legend, lombardic:
MATER DEI MISERERE MEI
An impression of the third variant form of the
common seal is attached to a deed of 1417. (fn. 158) It is
oval, 1 × ¾ in., and has the same device as the
preceding but the figures are surrounded by cusping.
Legend illegible.