34. PLUMTREE'S HOSPITAL, NOTTINGHAM
John Plumtree of Nottingham obtained
licence from Richard II in July 1392 to found
a hospital or Domus Dei at the Bridge End (now
Red Lion Square), to be served by two chaplains,
one of whom was to be the master or warden,
for the support of thirteen aged poor widows.
The founder endowed it with a messuage on
which the house was built and with ten other
messuages and two tofts all within the borough
of Nottingham. (fn. 167)
In this case, as in many others, preparations
for the establishment of a house of this character
were made some little time before the formal
legal sanction had been obtained. There are two
documents of the year 1390 among the town
muniments transferring land to the founder for
this hospital. (fn. 168)
John de Plumtree was a leading burgess of
the community and was thrice mayor, namely
in 1385-6, 1394-5, and 1408-9. This hospital, dedicated in honour of the Annunciation
of the Blessed Virgin, was founded for the good
estate of the founder, of his wife Emma, and for
their souls after death, and for the souls of their
parents and other ancestors. To emphasize this
purpose a chantry was ordained, in the year
1400, at the altar of the Annunciation in the
chapel of this hospital. By this document a
stipend of £5 was assigned to each of the chaplains, and the presentation, after the founder's
death, vested in the Prior and Convent of
Lenton. (fn. 169)
Prior, however, to the formal founding of this
chantry, an important special recognition of the
altar of St. Mary was obtained from Boniface IX.
The pope, in February 1393, granted relaxation
of two years and two quadragene of enjoined
penance to penitents who on the principal feasts
of the year or their octaves, and of 100 days to
those who during the six days of Whitsun week,
visited and gave alms at the altar of St. Mary in
St. Mary's Hospital, Nottingham, in Fishergate,
for the construction of the same. (fn. 170)
The first two chaplains entered in the episcopal registers were Thomas Tawburne, master,
and John de Coventry, second chaplain. They
were instituted on the same day that Archbishop
Scrope confirmed the establishment of the
chantry, namely on 22 July 1400. (fn. 171)
Boniface IX in 1402 granted to the warden
and others of the hospital of the Annunciation of
St. Mary the Virgin, at the Bridge End, Nottingham, exemption for all their houses, possessions, and goods, present and future, from all
jurisdiction of the ordinary, taking them under
the immediate protection of St. Peter and the
apostolic see, to which alone they were to be
subject both in spiritualities and temporalities;
with indult to the warden and his successors to
grant to the brethren and sisters plenary remission in the article of death, and power to
choose and depute three or more fit priests, over
and above the number of two priests as instituted
by the founder, for the celebration of divine
offices. The pope further directed that the
warden and chaplain shall in future, on greater
double feasts, celebrate or cause to be celebrated
mass and other divine offices in the hospital
chapel solemnly with music. (fn. 172)
Although thirteen widows are named in the
foundation of this house, it does not appear certain
that the endowments were ever sufficient in old
days to maintain such a number. The will of
Anne Plumtree, 1403, leaves to the widows of
this hospital a dozen of woollen cloth to be
divided among them. The will of Henry
Plumtree, elder brother of the founder, 1408,
left 12d. to every bed of the hospital then
occupied. (fn. 173)
By a singular choice, this chapel was used in
January 1408-9 for the marriage of Sir Edward
Pierrepont to Margaret Rempston; a licence for
this purpose was issued by the archbishop to
Thomas Tawburne, the warden. (fn. 174)
An enrolment of enfeoffment, at the local
court, of John de Plumtree of the possessions of
his hospital, dated 20 May 1414, is extant
among the town muniments. From this document it appears that there were two chapels
within the precincts, evidently distinct buildings, one of St. Thomas the Martyr and the
other of St. Mary; probably the former was a
small oratory pertaining to the masters. (fn. 175) Both
chapels were to the rear or to the east of the
dwelling portions; that of St. Thomas on the
north or Fishergate side, and that of St. Mary
on the south.
The founder in 1415, probably disappointed
of the help of others in this foundation, and
recognizing that there was not a sufficiency to
support thirteen widows, executed an amending
instrument, by which he confirmed the appointment of two priests, raising the stipend of the
warden to £6, and limiting the number of poor
widows to seven. At the same time he
augmented the chantry by giving it his dwellinghouse in Cuckstool Road, after his death and
after the death of Thomas Plumtree, chaplain,
his kinsman. Shortly after this the founder died,
leaving 20s. to each of the widows. (fn. 176)
Save for the record of the institution of successive chaplains, nothing more is known of this
hospital until 1503, when in a taxation of lands
and tenements of Nottingham the brief entry is
made:—'The Chaunterie of John Plomtre at ye
Briggend, £18.' (fn. 177)
The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1534 gives the full
annual value of the hospital property as £13 10s.
William Baker was warden, and he and his fellow
chaplain would absorb £11; £1 10s. was all
that went to the poor (the widows seem to have
quite disappeared), whilst the remaining 20s.
went in various small dues to the burgesses of
Nottingham, Lenton Priory, Newstead Priory,
and the manor of Sutton Passeys. (fn. 178)
The commissioners for the survey of chantries,
hospitals, &c., preparatory to their dissolution in
1545-6, certified that there were no poor widows
left in this house, but that the revenue was employed in the living of the two chantry priests,
Peter Bursall and William Browne. (fn. 179) It was
then described as the Hospital and Chantry of
Our Lady at the Bridge End, and the revenues
were estimated at £11 1s. (fn. 180)
During the next three years the secondary
chaplain disappears, for when the commissioners
of 1548-9 arrived to carry out under Edward VI
the designs of his father, they found that there
were no poor supported, but that the lands were
wholly employed for the benefit of Peter
Bursall, the surviving senior chantry priest, or
master. (fn. 181)
The hospital at this date became vested in the
Crown, and various masters or wardens obtained
successive patents to enjoy the revenues, without
fulfilling any of the former functions of the
office. At last, in 1644, one Huntingdon Plumtree, of the founder's kin, obtained the patent
and made allowances of 5s. a month to certain
poor, with an additional 6d. on New Year's Day.
In 1650 he pulled down the old ruinous buildings and erected a new hospital, a brick building
of some distinction, of which Thoroton gives a
plate. (fn. 182) Eventually, in 1751, the building was
made capable of accommodating thirteen widows
according to the founder's original intention,
through the action of John Plumtree, grandson
of Huntingdon Plumtree. The present hospital
was built in 1823-4 by John Plumtree of
Fredville, Kent. The endowments then brought
in £680 a year, out of which the thirteen
resident almswomen received £1 10s. a month,
as well as an annual ton of coals and a gown;
in addition thirty out-pensioners received £10 a
year. (fn. 183)
At the present time the income of the hospital
is £1,100 a year, and each of the thirteen inmates receives £13 10s., a ton of coals, and a
gown yearly; there are also forty out-pensioners,
each of whom receives £13 a year.
Wardens of Plumtree's Hospital (fn. 183a)
Thomas Tawburne, 1400
John Edward
Richard Knolles, 1488
John Bradley, 1500
Robert Braidill, 1502
Edward Ersden, 1527
William Baker (or Barker), 1534
Peter Burdesall (or Bursall), 1540