HOSPITALS
THE HOSPITAL OF ST. GILES, CHESTER
A leper hospital dedicated to St. Giles (fn. 1) stood in the
township of Boughton beyond the East Gate of Chester. (fn. 2) The founder is usually said to have been Ranulph
III, earl of Chester but the hospital possibly existed
before 1181 as 20s. a year was paid to the 'infirm' of
Chester during the minority of Ranulph III and that
sum was paid in the 14th century to the lepers of
Boughton as ancient alms. (fn. 3) Ranulph III gave an
annual rent charge of 10s. to St. Werburgh's from
which the monks were to feed 100 paupers once a year
and to give 20d. a year to the lepers of Boughton to
commemorate his father. (fn. 4) The inmates of the hospital
later claimed that their extensive privileges, which
included a toll on all food bought for sale in Chester
and a fishing boat on the Dee, were also given by
Ranulph III. (fn. 5) Three fishing stalls included in the claim
of privileges in 1499 were given by Robert the Chamberlain, probably in the 1190s. (fn. 6) The hospital also
came to possess land and rents in and near Chester
and, although the names of the original benefactors
seldom survive, some of the property probably came to
the hospital with new inmates: thus land in Eastgate
Street was given by the relatives of Yseult, who,
'smitten by the scourge of a visitation from on high',
had been admitted to the hospital. (fn. 7)
When Henry III annexed the earldom of Chester
after 1237 he proved a generous patron of the hospital. Between 1237 and 1240 he gave £5 yearly and in
1238-9 and 1240 additional grants of 10 marks
towards its maintenance. (fn. 8) He also allowed the lepers
a tithe of the expenses of the royal household at
Chester allegedly in continuation of a grant by the
earls of Chester; (fn. 9) in 1243 and 1252 he gave them 30
marks and £10 to buy clothes. (fn. 10) At least one leper in
the house received an individual benefaction: the
Crown continued to pay alms of 1d. a day which had
been granted to Amice de Costentin in the time of
John, earl of Chester, until 1277. (fn. 11) On his accession
Edward I reduced alms to the hospital to the customary payment of 20s. a year and there were few signs of
royal favour or interest in the 14th century apart from
the regular confirmation of the privileges of the hospital and a grant of £3 6s. 8d. by the Black Prince in
1353. (fn. 12) As patron the Crown nominated inmates: in
1390 William le Cryor was created a brother and
granted a portion and a decent dwelling in the hospital
and in 1401 Henry White, specifically described as a
leper, was appointed to a place. (fn. 13)
The relations of the hospital with the citizens of
Chester and the monks of St. Werburgh's were not
always happy. Around 1300 the masters were involved
in legal disputes concerning detention of rents, tolls or
alms, the Dee fishery, and usury. (fn. 14) The tolls claimed by
the hospital on all victuals bought for sale in Chester
were particularly resented by the tenants of St. Werburgh's abbey. In 1353 the right of the proctors of the
hospital to demand tolls from the tenants of the abbey
was referred to the county court (fn. 15) and in the following
year the abbot objected to the arrest of his tenants for
refusing to pay tolls when they had no obligation 'to
make any contribution to the hospital'. (fn. 16) The privilege
of collecting the tolls was still being claimed in 1499
and exercised in 1537 when the city authorities
pointed out that, whereas the privilege had originally
been granted to relieve the sick, the inmates of the
hospital were able-bodied; it was ordered that admissions should be confined to the sick of the city of
Chester on penalty of loss of the market tolls. (fn. 17) Little
else is known of the history of the hospital in the later
Middle Ages apart from some benefactions: David
Bars, who was master in the mid 15th century, was
said to have received money for the hospital and in
1505 Henry Raynford, rector of Holy Trinity, left 20d.
to 'the sele folk at Boughton'. (fn. 18) By the 16th century the
inmates evidently lived in individual houses and kept
animals on the land around the hospital. In 1537 they
were forbidden to wash food or clothes in the newly
built conduit at Boughton and were ordered to prevent
their animals damaging the conduit and to see that the
pipes were properly covered. (fn. 19)
The hospital escaped dissolution under the Act of
1547, probably because of its charitable activities. In
1553 the master was given custody of two small bells
in the chapel, a silver chalice, and a paten weighing
four ounces; the communion book and the other
goods in the chapel, which were not worth selling,
were given to the inmates. (fn. 20) By the early 17th century
the cottages which made up the hospital seem to have
become heritable properties. (fn. 21) In 1606 the seven
inmates, six men and one woman, agreed not to
receive vagabonds and beggars into their houses, to
ring their swine, and to fence the hospital lands. (fn. 22) In
1629 the right of the brothers and sisters of the
hospital to be free of the payment of pannage, pontage
and murage was confirmed. (fn. 23) The hospital and its
privileges did not survive the Civil Wars as its position
in the suburbs of Chester was vulnerable. On 20 July
1643 the Chester garrison set fire to the hospital barns
and pulled down the houses and 'the old chapel of
Spital Boughton' with the stone barn next to it. (fn. 24) The
displaced inmates complained to the mayor that while
they were helping to defend the besieged city the
soldiers destroyed their houses and plundered their
possessions. (fn. 25) In 1657 the master retrieved one of the
chapel bells from the Pentice but it was never re-hung
in a new hospital and in 1660 the restored Charles II
granted to the mayor and citizens of Chester all the
lands of 'the hospital or late hospital of Boughton,
otherwise Spittle Boughton'. (fn. 26) The hospital stood on
the southern side of Christleton Road behind West
Mount and the site, in a disused graveyard, was
marked by an inscription in 1935. (fn. 27)
Priors, Masters, or Wardens
Ralph Bebington, occurs 1295, 1296. (fn. 28)
Roger, occurs 1298. (fn. 29)
Randal of Bebington, occurs 1304, 1311-12. (fn. 30)
Matthew de Northal, occurs 1312-13. (fn. 31)
Robert Vickers, occurs 1443-4. (fn. 32)
David Bars, occurs 1452-3. (fn. 33)
Henry Medwall, occurs 1486. (fn. 34)
Richard Medwall, or Ardwall, occurs before 1518. (fn. 35)
Bartholomew Tatton, occurs before 1518. (fn. 36)
Peter Mainwaring, appointed 1518, died 1549. (fn. 37)
Hugh Barnston, appointed 1549. (fn. 38)
Ralph Thorneton, occurs 1553. (fn. 39)
Thomas Harpur, occurs 1606. (fn. 40)
Henry Harpur, appointed 1618. (fn. 41)
Two seals are known. The first, (fn. 42) probably of 12thcentury date, is a pointed oval, about 3 by 2¼ in., and
depicts St. Giles, full-length and lifting his right hand
in benediction. The legend, lombardic, is badly damaged: . . .UM CE. . . The second, (fn. 43) in use 1311-12, is a
pointed oval, about 2 by 1½ in., depicting a pascal lamb
supporting a cross. Legend, lombardic: SIGILLUM
INFIRMORUM DE CESTRIE.