29. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. LEONARD, NEWARK
A leper hospital dedicated to the honour of St.
Leonard was founded outside the walls of Newark
by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln (1123-48). A
copy of the charter of foundation is preserved in
the Lincoln registry in an ancient book entitled
Libellus de chartis Pensionum. (fn. 75)
A licence for alienation in mortmain was obtained in 1311 by William Durant of Newark,
to grant to the master of the hospital of St. Leonard in that town two messuages and 20 acres
of land in Newark, Balderton, and Hawton, to
find a chaplain to celebrate daily in the church
of the hospital in honour of the Blessed Virgin
and for the souls of the grantor and Isabel his
wife, Ivo his father, and all his ancestors. (fn. 76)
Protection was granted by Edward II in 1322
from 1 September until the following Easter for
the master of the hospital of St. Leonard without
Newark. (fn. 77)
The patronage of the hospital was in the
hands of the Bishops of Lincoln; but in 1323
Edward II granted the mastership to William de
Northwell, as the temporalities of that see were
then in the king's hands. A writ de intendendo
was directed to the brethren and sisters of the
hospital. (fn. 78)
In 1347 John le Chaumbre, king's clerk, obtained a life grant of this wardenship from Edward III by reason of the voidance of the see of
Lincoln. (fn. 79)
William de Askebi, warden of the hospital, was
licensed by Pope Clement VI in 1349 to hold
in conjunction with it the rectory of Elton and
a prebend of Lincoln. An extension of this dispensation in 1351 enabled William to hold yet
another benefice. (fn. 80)
On 30 January 1350 the notification of the
estate of William son of Hugh de Scoter, as
warden of the hospital of St. Leonard, Newark,
by the collation of the Bishop of Lincoln, was
entered on the Patent Rolls. (fn. 81)
On 14 June of the same year a licence was
granted by John Gynwell, Bishop of Lincoln, to
Thomas de Sibthorpe, rector of Beckingham, to
give a messuage in Middlegate, Newark, held of
the said bishop as of the hospital of St. Leonard
extra Northgate, unto Robert de Arington,
Robert Leef, and Robert de Stokam, perpetual
chantry priests in the church of Newark, to pray
for the souls of William Saucemer and Matilda
his wife, of William de Glenham, of the said
Thomas de Sibthorpe, and of Isabel Durant.
This messuage was to serve as a residence for
these chantry priests, saving to the hospital the
accustomed rent and services. (fn. 82)
This foundation was further confirmed in
1417 by Philip Repingdon, Bishop of Lincoln,
who decreed that there should be a master having
rule of the hospital, and two poor men kept in
the hospital with a chaplain to perform divine
service, and that the chaplain and the two poor
men were to be received into the hospital and
maintained with the rents and profits of the
same, the residue being devoted to the master's
use, to the repair of the building and of the
places belonging to it, and to the supporting of
other charges. (fn. 83)
When the Valor Ecclesiasticus was drawn up
in 1534 Christopher Massingbred was master,
and the clear annual value was declared as
£17 1s. 9½d. The chapel and manse of St.
Leonard, with the close and certain parcels of
meadow in the fields of Newark, were worth
£6 19s. 11d. a year, a cowgate 16s. 6d., mills 40s.,
tenements and a grange in Newark £6 6s. 8d.,
rents in Newark £5 3s. 4d., and the remaining
income from parcels of lands or rents in South
Clifton, Girton, North Collingham, Cropwell,
Cotham, Balderton, and Hawton. Out of this
the chaplain and three poor men received
£6 18s. a year. (fn. 84)
The annual value of this hospital was declared
by the commissioners of Edward VI to be
£17 10s. 9d., founded (i.e. refounded) by Philip,
Bishop of Lincoln, for a priest to say divine service there and to find three poor bedesmen to
serve God, and also to maintain hospitality.
They found a chaplain in receipt of £5 a year,
and £3 18s. distributed annually among the poor;
the remaining income went to the master. They
further declared that the hospital was a parish
church of itself, having all sacraments and
sacramentals therein ministered and observed. (fn. 85)
This was one of the hospitals that escaped
destruction at the hands of Edward VI. This
hospital of St. Leonard, usually called the Spittal,
was leased to Sir Robert Constable, and hence
passed to William Cecil, Earl of Exeter, who
built there a goodly house; after his death this
house with the surroundings was exchanged by
Act of Parliament, 17 Charles I, with the hospital for lands of better value, and settled on his
widow the Countess Dowager of Exeter and her
heirs. The Act provided that the countess was,
within three years, to build a house of brick or
stone, roofed with tile or slate, consisting of eight
rooms, viz. four low rooms and four chambers
over them to receive the master, chaplain, and
two poor men from in or near Newark, and to
inclose an acre of ground with a brick or stone
wall to serve as an orchard and garden. (fn. 86)
The St. Leonard's Hospital charity is now
endowed with valuable property in Newark,
Girton, Balderton, Claypole, and Elston, mostly
let on unexpired leases. There are six almshouses in Northgate, erected in 1890, which
accommodate four single men and two married
couples; each inmate receives 10s. a week.
Masters of the Hospital of St. Leonard
William de Northwell, 1323 (fn. 87)
John le Chaumbre, 1347 (fn. 88)
William de Askebi, occurs 1349 (fn. 89)
William de Scoter, 1358 (fn. 90)
Christopher Massingbred, 1534 (fn. 91)