30. THE HOSPITAL OF ILCHESTER
A house of lepers was established outside
Ilchester some time before 1212, in which year
Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, made a bequest of
3 marks to them. (fn. 104) The brethren received royal
protection in 1235, their house being then called
St. Margaret's Hospital. (fn. 105)
31. THE HOSPITAL OR PRIORY AT WHITE HALL, ILCHESTER
Between the years 1217 and 1220 William
Dennis (Dacus) of Sock Dennis (fn. 106) gave his
house of Whitehall in Ilchester, with lands, for
the purpose of founding a hospital to the honour
of the Blessed Trinity for the reception and
entertainment of poor travellers and pilgrims.
In addition to the house called Whitehall
he gave two houses close by and both mills which
he possessed in Ilchester, with the arable land
belonging to those mills, and various other
tenements in the neighbourhood, together with
lands near the house of the lepers at Ilchester.
The reason of his foundation was for the good
of the soul of Richard Toclive, Bishop of Winchester, who was born at Sock Dennis, and for
Adam of Ilchester, Dean of Salisbury, and
others. He reserved to himself and his heirs
the right to present the warden of the hospital
to the Bishop of Bath, in whose protection the
hospital was.
The names of witnesses attached to his deed,
among which are Stephen Langton, Archbishop
of Canterbury, and St. Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln,
show that it was made between the years 1217
and 1220.
About 1237, (fn. 107) William, Abbot of Cerne, gave
the advowson of the church of St. Mary the
Less in Ilchester to this hospital, and Bishop
Jocelin in 1241 sanctioned its appropriation to
the hospital in order that the inmates might
have close at hand a chapel for divine service
instead of being compelled, as previously, to
go through the streets on their way to the parish
church. Bishop Jocelin in his appropriation
speaks of the brethren and the sisters of the
hospital, who, leaving the world for the service
of God and the poor under the habit of poverty
have taken there the habit of monachism and
religion.
The foundation therefore was at first a hospital
in charge of the brethren and sisters.
In 1281 (fn. 108) we find it described as a priory,
and the inmates as the prioress and nuns of
'la Blanchesale' of Ilchester.
On 13 December 1313 (fn. 109) Bishop Drokensford
issued a commission of inquiry as to the length
of the vacancy in the office of prioress, and as
to the fitness of the lady proposed for that post.
Alice Atteyerd seems to have been appointed
prioress, but in the following year we find her
deprived for incompetence and unfitness, but
appealing to the archbishop against the bishop's
action. (fn. 110)
Alice Clithorne or Chilthorne, probably one
of the sisters of the house, seems to have been
appointed prioress by the bishop and the patron,
but sympathy with the expelled prioress had
induced the sisters at Whitehall publicly to
beg alms for their late head to the great reproach
of their house as Bishop Drokensford thought,
and he therefore wrote to the Archbishop of
Canterbury asking him to make some provision
for the sisters. The prioress was charged with
extreme severity towards her sisters, ejecting
them from the house and compelling them to
beg for their daily bread. (fn. 111)
The prioress seems not alone to be blamed.
John de Draycote and Walter de Wouburn,
who had been wardens of the house, had greatly
neglected their duty, and the property of the
hospital had been wasted to such an extent as
called for the interference of the Crown, so that
in the previous year the bishop had appointed
William de Modiford, rector of Tintinhull,
and William de l'Isle, rector of St. Mary
Magdalene, Ilchester, to administer the affairs
of the hospital. (fn. 112)
The appointment of Alice Clithorne, or
Chilthorne, was objected to by the escheator
of the Crown, because, as it was asserted, the
patron, Sir Nicholas de Boleville, had accepted
her as prioress before he was of legal age to do
so. This difficulty was ended by judgement
of the Crown (28 June 1316). (fn. 113) The prioress
appointed, however, seems to have been quite
unfitted for her post, and on 18 September
1323 Henry de Birlaunde, rector of Stoke, and
John de Herminal were appointed to take charge
of the house and its revenues, for the prioress
was charged with incontinence and immorality
with John de Passelawe the chaplain, and with
wasting and alienating the goods of the house,
so that the sisters again lacked maintenance and
were compelled to beg. (fn. 114)
On 29 January 1324 (fn. 115) the bishop issued a
commission to his official, and to the rectors
of Stoke and Tintinhull, to inquire carefully
into these charges, made against the prioress,
and gave them power to act. Discord certainly
existed there, and the prioress appears to have
defied the bishop and the patron. On 28 March
1324 (fn. 116) the chapel of the hospital had to be
reconciled since it had been polluted by effusion
of blood. Meanwhile the prioress was resisting
the action of the commission and refused to be
turned out. An appeal 26 June, 1324 (fn. 117) was
made to the Crown against the conduct of the
commissioners and the patron of the house who
apparently had endeavoured to take possession
of it and expel her by force.
The next year, 1325, (fn. 118) Bishop Drokensford
notified to the patron, Sir Richard de Boleville,
that this prioress, Alice, was deprived. Cecilia
de Draycote was chosen as prioress, but on 1
September 1334 (fn. 119) we find Bishop Ralph of
Shrewsbury writing to the rectors of Limington
and St. John's, Ilchester, informing them that
he had sequestrated the possessions of the church
and commanding them to take charge of them,
supplying the sisters and servants with necessary
maintenance only until they should receive
further instructions. The prioress was clearly
incompetent, and he commissioned Agnes
Champflour and Agnes de Wynterbourn, sisters
of the house, to act with her in the administration
of affairs, forbidding the prioress to do anything
without the advice and consent of these other
two sisters.
We hear of this prioress, Cecilia, again in an
action concerning a corrody which she is said
to have granted to Simonis the wife of Gilbert
Passeware. (fn. 120) The terms of the corrody were
that she was to have a place 30 ft. by 15 ft. in
which she was to build, at her own expense, a
room for her living, that she was to sit daily at
the table of the prioress, and be attended on
by the servants of the house, and wear the habit
and veil of the sisters for the term of her life.
In 1370 (fn. 121) we hear of Mary, the prioress of
'the Nywe Halle,' a change in name which
possibly may have been caused through a rebuilding of the house.
In the clerical subsidy of 1377, (fn. 122) Matilda
the prioress of Whitehall is mentioned with one
sister, and in 1423 we again have mention of
the house as consisting of the prioress, Cristina,
and one nun and co-sister, Joan Whyttock.
What happened afterwards does not appear,
but on 3 September 1463 we find in the list
of chaplains and their cures in the archdeaconry
of Wells the name of John Bonez of Ilchester,
chaplain. Between these two dates the priory
of nuns seems to have been changed into a free
chapel with residence for a permanent chaplain,
and in 1485 (fn. 123) a successor is described as following
the late John Boney or Banys chaplain of Whitehall, Ilchester; and on 30 August 1519, (fn. 124) John
Moyne was admitted as chaplain of the perpetual
and free chapel of Whitehall.
Again in the Valor of 1535 (fn. 125) mention is
made of Walter Cokkes or Cocks as chaplain
of the free chapel of Whitehall, and the endowments were at Ilchester, Taunton, and Sock, i.e.
the endowments of the former nunnery, and
were worth £18 13s. 8d.
Prioresses of Whitehall, Ilchester
Alice Atteyerde, 1315 (fn. 126)
Alice de Chilthorne, 1316 (fn. 127)
Cecilia de Draycote, 1325 (fn. 128)
Mary, 1370 (fn. 129)
Matilda, occurs 1377 (fn. 130)
Margaret, 'Marjory,' 1377 (fn. 131)
Christina, occurs 1423 (fn. 132)
32. THE HOSPITAL OF LANGPORT
In January 1311 Bishop Drokensford (fn. 133)
ordered that the proctors of the lepers of St.
Mary Magdalen of Langport should be allowed
access to the churches of the diocese on festivals
to collect alms, and a similar expression of goodwill was made on their behalf by Bishop Ralph
of Shrewsbury in 1337. (fn. 134) John Mucheldever
in 1403 left 18d. to the hospital by Westover in
Langport; (fn. 135) the lazar-house of Langport was
remembered in the will of Elizabeth Speke,
1537, (fn. 136) and as late as 1549 in that of John
Walton. (fn. 137) The almshouse of Langport Westover continued in use down to the time of the
Civil War. (fn. 138)