AFTER THE SUPPRESSION

1540–1553.

The Augustinian priory of St. Bartholomew, West Smithfield, being now suppressed, it remains to consider the period between the suppression and the resuscitation by Queen Mary, during which time the church and monastic precincts were sold to Rich, and the other possessions to various people desirous of acquiring monastic lands.

The first few years after the suppression of the monasteries must have been a period of great pressure at the Court of Augmentations. The amount of arrangements necessary in connexion with each monastery must have been very great and the mass of property to be sold stupendous; yet everything seems to have been done with great exactness, whether the matter was large or small.

Thus, in 1541, it being duly proved before the court that the prior and convent of St. Bartholomew's had been under obligation to find a chaplain to sing mass daily in the chapel of Gray's Inn for the students and fellows at a salary of £7 13s. 4d. a year, it was ordered that the treasurer and fellows should be recompensed by the king by a payment of £6 13s. 4d. with arrears from Lady Day. (fn. 1) A receiver for the rents payable by the tenants of the late monastery had to be appointed; this was John Ancher, who seems to have got into arrears, for there is a record that Spilman, one of the receivers of the augmentations, gave orders in the year 1546 that he was 'not to be distrained for his arrearage to the king of £23 10s. 7d. till he should return'. (fn. 2)

We know that provision was made for the conduct of divine service for the parishioners at St. Bartholomew's during the interregnum until the year 1544, when matters were finally settled, because the will of John Bochard, priest, dated the 7th June, 1542, was witnessed among others by Thomas Hitchyn, (fn. 3) who is styled 'the curate of the parish' and was probably an assistant priest; Bochard designates him 'his cousin' and left him £5 (fn. 4) and a new livery, but whether he conducted the services in the parish chapel until it was pulled down, or at once went into the monastic quire, we do not know.

The decision to pull down the nave and the parish chapel, and to leave the quire for a parish church, was probably influenced by Rich. That the demolition began not very long after the suppression is shown by the fact that the same John Bochard, in his will, after desiring to be buried within the church of St. Bartholomew the Great, bequeathed £6 13s. 4d. 'towardes the bildyng of hit', (fn. 5) showing that the conversion of the quire into the parish church had either begun, or was about to begin in 1542. This is further shown by the record of a payment in the year 1543 by the treasurer of the augmentations to Hugh ApHarry, who lived in what is now No. 91 Bartholomew Close, of £80 (about £360 of our money) for repairs to the late priory. (fn. 6) And on the 1st October, 1543, there is a record of £20 being paid, and on the 4th November £60 to the same man, 'towards repairing the king's house of St. Bartilmewe's'. (fn. 7)

The principal work of Hugh Ap-Harry would have been enclosing the west end of the truncated church with a wall built on the foundations of the pulpitum, and closing the north arch of the crossing with a wall built on the stone screen there. As the lead had been stripped from the roof of the south transept, it is probable that a brick wall was also required to separate the south transept from the church. The retaining wall at the west end of the present graveyard, when removed in 1909, was also found to be of this period, and may have been Ap-Harry's work.

We have now to consider the probable reason for converting the monastic quire of the church into the parish church, instead of using the nave for that purpose, as was done at Waltham, Bolton, Malmesbury, and elsewhere. It must be remembered that one of the objects in suppressing the monasteries was the desire to augment the royal revenue: therefore the policy was to turn as much of the suppressed monastery into cash as was possible.

But at St. Bartholomew's there was another force at work. The chancellor of the Court of Augmentations from the first intended to obtain the property for himself. He probably led the craze to live in a late abbot's or prior's house. After the suppression of the Austin Friars in the city in November 1538, Rich took up his abode there; (fn. 8) but on the suppression of St. Bartholomew's, eleven months later, he left the Austin Friars and made the prior's house of St. Bartholomew's (fn. 9) his town residence. He dated a letter from 'St. Bartholomew's' 'to the auditor of the suppressed and surrendered lands in London' as early as the 16th February, 1540. (fn. 10) On the 16th March following he signed a letter to Thomas Cromwell, also dated from 'St. Bartholomew's'. (fn. 11) He collected around him, in houses in Bartholomew Close, as we shall see, many of the officials of the Court of Augmentations, which was no doubt a convenient arrangement.

In the October following he invited Sir Thomas Arundel, the sheriff of Somerset and Devon (one of the commissioners for the suppression of the monasteries) and his wife to lodge at his house at St. Bartholomew's, 'where', he says, 'you shall have a bed of the hardest for your wife, yourself, your maids, and a couple of your servants'. (fn. 12) Thus three to four years before he purchased the monastery he had settled down in the prior's house as his London residence; and no doubt he had an understanding that the place was to be granted to him; therefore he would have a particular interest in making provision for a suitable parish church for the property he proposed to acquire. The old parish chapel, consisting of the north transept of the church, with Walden's chapel extending eastward, would have made by itself but a poor parish church when the monastic quire and nave were taken down; whilst the nave with its ten bays would have made a larger church than he required. The conventual quire, however, was in every way suitable for his purpose, the site of the nave making a graveyard for his parishioners; and the old parochial burying-ground and the transept on the north side of the church being done away with, increased the accommodation for the profitable 'Bartilmy Fair' and for subsequent housebuilding. The king's interest was at the same time well safeguarded, because the nave and parish chapel had together more lead and useful building material in the shape of stones and timber than had the monastic quire.

The sale of the monastic lands and houses outside the monastic precincts commenced before the sale of the monastery to Rich. In fact, as early as December 1540 there was a sale of messuages, tenements, and shops in Watling Street, in Cheapside, West Cheap, in 'Pawleys' Wharf in the alley called the 'Three Legges', and lands in the parish of St. Vedast, made to Stephen Vaughan, the ambassador to the regent of Flanders, and to his wife Margaret. (fn. 13) From this time the sales were continuous until all were realized.

Early in the year 1544 Sir Richard Rich was able to make the necessary arrangements for the sale to himself of the church and priory; that is to say, all that was comprised within the monastic walls which are the bounds of the present parish of St. Bartholomew the Great.

An exact survey was made by way of 'Particulars for the Grant' (fn. 14) to him, consisting of a detailed description of the 'Bounds and limits of the circuit and precinct of the Close called Great Seignt Bartilmewes Close', which was signed by Richard 'Ryche', Richard Duke, and Thomas Burgoyne, the chancellor, the clerk of the council, and the auditor of the Court of Augmentations respectively, who were all dwellers in the Close.

The 'particulars' also contained a detailed list of the tenants of the houses within the precincts of the monastery and the yearly rent they paid; those having leases are specified and listed together. There were two houses not included in the list: one, referred to below, had been sold to Sir John Williams and Sir Edward North (fn. 15) (who the next year had resold it to Richard Mody), though the rent of 66s. 8d. reserved to the king out of the house was included in the list; the other was the prior's house, described as being 'already in the occupation of Sir Richard Rich', and inasmuch as it is not described as having been sold to him, we may assume that it had already been the subject of a free grant made to him by the king.

As at the time of the making of the 'particulars for the grant' none of the monastic buildings had, apparently, been let on lease or otherwise (as they all subsequently were), they were simply enumerated and taken at an inclusive assessment of £6 only. It would seem as if this assessment was quoted as a justification for the ridiculously low figure at which Rich valued these buildings to himself for his own purchase. The entry translated runs as follows:

'Rent or reservation on lease of the capital mansion house of the said late monastery, with the halls, chambers, chapel, kitchen, pantry, buttery, gallery, farmery, dormitory, cloister, frater, with the old kitchen, wood-house, upper rooms, cellars, and other buildings and erections whatsoever built within and above the said capital mansion house together with the gardens and "les Yardes" to the said capital mansion house adjacent thereto or connected, together with all the land and soil within the site and fence of the capital mansion house aforesaid. And also together with a certain granary building, called a "garner", situate within the great green of the market there, and also together with a certain stable called "le Priours stable" situate within the precinct of the said close. All and singular which premises were late in the proper tenure care and occupation of the late prior and convent of the same late monastery at the time of the dissolution thereof, and lately by Richard Southwell, Knight, Edward Northe, Knight, (fn. 16) and Thomas Pope, Knight, (fn. 17) have been assessed at yearly £6.'

The Fair was valued at £65 16s. 3d., (fn. 18) and the entry is as follows:

'The market of St. Bartholomew's is worth in issues and profits of the market of St. Bartholomew, with the profits, stallages, and "les bothes" within the precinct of the same late monastery, with the land and soil of the same called "les grenes". And together with the profits of the court of pie-powder, and the tolls of the said market clear beyond fees, wages, vacancies, repairs, stowing of "les bothes" and other deductions therefrom this year £65 16s. 3d.'

The five tenements and two stables standing on the ground facing Smithfield, between the west gate of the fair and the corner of Long Lane, which, though within the monastic bounds, were an intrusion of St. Sepulchre's parish (and so still remain), were separately valued at £6 3s. (fn. 19)

The total value, as arrived at by this survey for the grant, may be epitomized thus:

From this amount were deducted certain outgoings which are of sufficient interest to be here shortly enumerated:

Then follows a memorandum that the king has no other lands, tenements, rents, &c., within the Close; and the signature of Thomas Burgoyne, the auditor, as having examined the particulars, and the date, the 8th April, 35 Henry VIII (1544). The clear sum of £117 7s. 11d. was rated at nine years' purchase, making £1,056 11s. 3d., to which was added 'for the advowson of the churche of Seynt Bartilmewez newly to be erected there £8', making a total of £1,064 11s. 3d. to be paid by Rich 'all in hand'. Appended thereto is this memorandum: 'The king must discharge the buyer of all incumbrances except leazez and such allowances as byn recited in the particulars and except all such charges as the Fermers are bounden to paye.

Md. A tenure in Socage for all the premises without any tenth—

It is endorsed—

'Memorandum that I Sr. Richard Riche, Knyght, chancellor of the King's Highnes Court of Augmentacion of the Revenuewes of his crowne doe desire to purchase of his grace by virtue of his majestie's commission of sale the premisses being of the cleere yeareley value of cxviil. viis. xid. In witnesse whereof I the said Sr. Richard Riche have subscribed and seallyd this cedule annexed to these particulars bounds and limits made of the same day and yeare mencioned and expressed (fn. 25) in the rate thereof made.

per me Ricardum Ryche.'

On the 19th May following (1544) the grant of the property was made by the king by writ of privy seal by the authority of Parliament. (fn. 26) Translated from the Latin (fn. 27) it runs:

'Know ye that we have as well in consideration of the good true and faithful service and counsel unto us by our beloved and faithful counsellor Richard Rich, Knight, chancellor of the Court of Augmentations of the Revenues of our Crown before this time done and shewn, as also in consideration of the sum of one thousand and sixty-four pounds, eleven shillings and three pence of lawful money of England paid into the hands of the treasurer of our Court of Augmentations of the Revenues of our Crown,' &c.

It then proceeds to grant:

'All that the site and capital messuage and mansion house of the late monastery or priory of St. Bartholomew in West Smythfeild in the suburbs of London lately dissolved and now being in our hands. As well as all the Close of the same late monastery or priory in West Smythfeild afore said commonly called Great Saint Bartholomewes Close and all the ambit and precinct of the same close and all gates, walls, party walls, bounds and limits containing the same Close,' &c.

The bounds are then given (fn. 28) as in 'the particulars for grant', and the grant proceeds:

'We give also . . . all those our messuages houses and buildings called le Fermery (fn. 29) le Dorter (fn. 30) le Frater (fn. 31) le Cloysters (fn. 32) le Gallarys le Hall le Ketchyn le Buttery le Pantry le old Ketchyn (fn. 33) le wood house (fn. 34) le garner (fn. 35) and le Priours Stable (fn. 36) belonging to the said late monastery or priory and being within the said close, as well as all other houses buildings courtyards gardens (fn. 37) vacant places lands and soil belonging to us whatsoever within the said close,' &c.

The grant then recounts that, on the 24th February, 1543, the king had already granted by Letters Patent to John Williams of Rycote and to Sir Edward North a tenement with a garden adjacent, and with chambers, stables, cellars, &c., within the Close, which Robert Blage, one of the barons of the exchequer, had lately held and occupied, and the reversion thereof; and had also given a certain annual rent of 66s. 8d. reserved by deed on the 20th February, 1534, in favour of Sir John Porte, issuing out of the same house and premises: these latter to be held by the service of a hundredth part of a knight's fee and by a yearly payment to the king of 6s. 8d. at the Court of Augmentations. It is further recounted that Williams and North had since granted the house and premises and the reversion and the above annual rent of 66s. 8d. to Richard Mody, Esq., subject to the payment to the king of the annual 6s. 8d. This house therefore being then no longer in the king's gift, he grants to Rich merely the service of the hundredth part of a knight's fee and the annual rent of 6s. 8d. reserved to the king.

Then follows the grant in detail of the messuages and tenements enumerated in the particulars for the grant as paying rent, and the grant of the water supply:

'Also we give and for the consideration aforesaid we grant unto the said Richard Rich, Knight, all that our water and aqueduct and water course flowing down and running from a certain place called Le Condite Hede of St. Bartholomew's within the manor of Canbery in the parish of Iseldon in our county of Middlesex upto and into the said site and close of the late monastery or priory of Saint Bartholomew and all "lez cesternes" and "lez pypes" of lead in which and through which the same water and water course is carried down . . . to the said site of the said late monastery . . . together with full power licence and authority to cleanse "les cesternes" and pypes from time to time . . . as fully and in as ample a manner as William Bolton late prior and his predecessors priors . . . at any time before the dissolution did and had right to do.'

All these grants to be held of the king by fealty only and not in chief, in lieu of all services and demands whatsoever.

The grant is then made of the Fair thus:

'We do give and grant unto the said Richard Riche, knight, his heirs and assigns all our fair and our market commonly called and named Bartilmew feyer held every year and to be held in the aforesaid Close called Great St. Bartillmew's Close in West Smythfeld aforesaid lasting for three days to wit on the even of the day of St. Bartholomew the apostle and on the day of St. Bartholomew the apostle and on the morrow of the same day of St. Bartholomew the apostle. And also all the stallage pickage tolls and customs of the same fair and market and also all our court of pie-powder within the fair and market aforesaid . . . and all rights jurisdictions authorities privileges offices advantages profits and emoluments belonging to us whatsoever, to such court of pie-powder in any manner belonging appertaining comprised or appendant. And also all examining amending and correcting of all weights and measures whatsoever in the fair and market aforesaid used and to be used every year at the time of such fair and market: and also the examination of other things whatsoever to be exposed for sale in the fair and market. As well as the assize and the assaying amending and correcting of bread wine and beer and all other victuals whatsoever to be exposed for sale in the fair and market. . . . As fully freely and entirely and in so ample and like manner and form as William Bolton late prior of the same late monastery or any of his predecessors priors at any time before the dissolution of the said late monastery . . . to hold of us our heirs and successors by the service of the twentieth part of a knight's fee in lieu of all services and demands whatsoever; all which fairs and markets and aforesaid messuages lands tenements rents and all the premises abovementioned amount to the clear yearly value of one hundred and seventeen pounds seven shillings and eleven pence. . . . And we grant . . . that merchants and all other persons coming to the fair and market aforesaid for the sake of selling or buying, that they in their coming and in their sojourning there and in their returning thence shall have the assured peace of us our heirs and successors. . . .'

After much repetition the grant of the parish church is made:

'And whereas the said close of the said late monastery or priory of St. Bartholomew commonly called Great St. Bartillmew's Close from time whereof memory of men is not to the contrary and before the dissolution of the same late monastery or priory of St. Bartholomew was universally held used and accepted as a parish and as a parish in itself distinct and separate from other parishes and the inhabitants of the same close and within the same close throughout the same time always had their own parish church and burial place within the church of the said late monastery or priory and annexed to the same church, and all sacraments and sacramentals and other divine services were for the same parishioners and inhabitants by a certain curate at the cost of the prior and convent of the said late monastery . . . therein administered and solemnized in the same manner and form as in parish churches within this realm of England hath been used and accustomed and now is; and on pretext of the dissolution of the said monastery or priory not only a great part of the church of the same late monastery but also a certain chapel commonly called "le Parishe Chapell" annexed to the same church wherein the said parish and inhabitants used to have receive and hear divine service and to have such by the said curate to them administered has been now utterly taken away thence and the lead stones and timber thence are being turned to our own use and sold, yet a certain part of the church of the said late monastery convenient and fitting to be set up as a parish church there is still remaining constructed and built. Now for the reason that the said inhabitants have no place where they can and may have divine service and sacraments and sacramentals administered and solemnized for them as befits Christians and so ought and is becoming to befit them, know ye therefore that we considering the premises will and for ourselves and our successors by these presents grant unto the said Richard Riche Kt. his heirs and assigns and unto all the inhabitants within the said close called Great St. Bartillmews who now are and from time to time hereafter shall be, that that part of the said church of the late monastery now, as before mentioned, remaining there constructed and built shall for the future for ever remain there and shall continue for ever and shall be called the parish church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle the Great (fn. 38) in West Smythfeild in the suburbs of London distinct and separate from other parishes and the same part of the said church of the said late monastery remaining as aforesaid constructed and built we make ordain set up and establish by these presents as the parish church of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle the Great in West Smythfeild in the suburbs of London for all the inhabitants within the said close called Great St. Bartholomew's Close to endure for all time. And that all the vacant land and soil containing in length eighty-seven feet of assize and in breadth sixty feet next adjacent to the said parish church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle the Great aforesaid as is before mentioned by us prepared on the western side of the same church shall be for the future received and reputed for the burying-place of the said parish church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle the Great and the said close called Great St. Bartholomew's Close; and all houses buildings gardens and lands and soil within the boundaries ambit and precinct of the same close called Great St. Bartillmews, as well as all and singular the inhabitants within the close aforesaid who now are and in future hereafter shall be shall for ever be held and reputed to be in the parish and of the parish of the said parish church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle the Great aforesaid.'

The king then proceeds to appoint the first rector:

' And we will and by these presents for ourselves our heirs and successors we grant that John Dean now curate of the said parish church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle the Great aforesaid shall be the first rector and incumbent of the same parish church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle the Great aforesaid for the term of his life and by these presents we make order and constitute the same John Dean the first Rector and incumbent of the said church for the term of his life. And we will and for ourselves our heirs and successors by these presents we grant that the said John Deane and his successors incumbents of the same parish church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle the Great aforesaid shall be and shall for ever be called Rectors of the same parish church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle the Great aforesaid and shall and may be able by this name to sue and to be sued in all places and courts whatsoever within this realm of England and elsewhere wheresoever.'

The patronage is then granted to Sir Richard Rich as follows:

' And that the right of patronage of the said rectory and the parish church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle the Great aforesaid shall belong and appertain to the said Richard Riche Knight his heirs and assigns for ever.'

The induction of future rectors is arranged as follows:

' And that all persons who after the decease of the said John Deane shall in future be nominated and appointed to be rectors of the said parish church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle the Great aforesaid shall be admitted and instituted and inducted into the same by the ordinary or ordinaries of the diocese of London for the time being within whose jurisdiction we will that the same church shall be in manner as other rectors of the realm of England are instituted and inducted.'

The following arrangement is then made as regards the firstfruits:

' And that he shall pay to us our heirs and successors first fruits and tithes of the same church after the rate and value of eight pounds a year according to the form of the statute in that behalf lately published and provided in our court of first fruits and tithes yearly to be paid. And further we have given and granted and pardoned and by these presents we do give grant and pardon unto the said John Deane now rector of the said parish church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle the Great aforesaid all manner of first fruits and sum and sums of money whatsoever unto us from him in place of first fruits in any wise due by the said John Deane for the same parish church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle the Great aforesaid by reason and pretext of the institution of the same John Deane in the same church . . . '

The advowson is further granted to Sir Richard Rich:

' And further of our more abounding grace and of our certain knowledge and mere motion and for the considerations aforesaid, we have given and granted and by these presents we do give and grant unto the aforesaid Richard Riche Knight the advowson gift free disposition and right of patronage of the rectory and parish church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle the Great aforesaid to have and enjoy unto the same Richard Riche knight his heirs and assigns for ever. To be held of us our heirs and successors by fealty only and not in chief, in lieu of all services and demands whatsoever.'

Licence was then granted to endow the rectory:

' And also we will and have given licence . . . and grant unto the said Richard Riche Knight that (he) and his heirs and assigns may and can give and grant lands tenements rents services and hereditaments up to the yearly value of eleven pounds although such are held of us in chief or otherwise unto the said John Deane rector of the said parish church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle the Great aforesaid and his successors rectors of the same church for their maintenance for ever. And unto the same John Deane and his successors in like manner we give licence and grant by these presents that he and they may and can receive the same lands tenements rents services and hereditaments from the said Richard Riche Knight his heirs and assigns, the statute against putting lands in mortmain . . . notwithstanding.'

The grant concludes thus:

' We will also and by these presents we grant unto the said Richard Riche Knight that he may and shall have these Letters Patent under our seal of England in due manner made and sealed without fine or fee great or small unto us in our hanaper or elsewhere to our use therefor in any manner to be rendered paid or made.'

' Witness myself at Westminster the nineteenth day of May in the thirty-sixth year of our reign (1594).

(Signed) B. Godsalve.

By writ of Privy Seal and of date aforesaid by the authority of Parliament.'

In this way was the whole of the monastery of St. Bartholomew conveyed to Sir Richard Rich, who had been, with Thomas Cromwell, a leading instrument in the suppression of the monasteries in England.

On the 24th May following (i.e. five days later) Rich executed a charter of feoffment (fn. 39) whereby he conveyed to the newly-created rector, John Deane, and his successors, rectors of the church, six houses on the west side of Bartholomew Close, and a chamber over the south gate of the monastery. The houses now standing on the site of these six houses, with the proceeds of a house next to the south gate (which was sold to widen the entrance to the Close), comprise the present glebe of the parish. (fn. 40) All the houses had formerly belonged to the monastery. They were to be held of the king by fealty and not in chief, the rector paying 16s. for the yearly tithe to the king. ' Possession and seisin ' was delivered by Sir Richard Rich to ' John Deane, Clerk, Rector ' on the 18th June following, in the presence of Sir Roland Hill, Alderman of the City; Thomas Burgoyne, the auditor; Richard Tyrrell, gentleman (a tenant); Richard Mody Esquire (a late tenant); Richard Allen, a tenant; Hugh Ap-Harry (a neighbour); eight others named, 'and others '. After this sale of the monastery to Rich the purchaser figures more largely in the history of St. Bartholomew's than does the church.

During the remainder of the reign of King Henry, that is to the 28th January, 1547; during the whole of the reign of King Edward VI, 1547 to 1553; and during the first two years of Queen Mary's reign, the only records in connexion with the church that we have found have been concerning John Deane, the first rector.

He first appears in the records in the year 1535, when he was rector of Little Stanmore, one of the possessions of St. Bartholomew's, with an annual stipend of £6 13s. 4d. (fn. 41) In 1539 he had apparently come to the priory, for he witnessed there on the 11th January the will of Richard Bellamy, and is described as 'John Dean, priest'. (fn. 42) Immedi ately after the suppression he apparently acted as ' parish priest of Great Saint Bartholomew's', for he is so described when witnessing the will of John Burgoyne on the 9th August, 1540. (fn. 43) He probably had an assistant priest, since in 1542 Thomas Hitchyn, as already seen, (fn. 44) is described as ' curate of the parish'; but this assumption may not be correct, because Deane himself when created rector is described in the king's grant as ' curate of the parish church '. His services as a witness to the wills of his parishioners were apparently much valued, for the records of his so acting are numerous. In 1545 he witnessed the will of Richard Aleyn, and is styled ' John Deane, clerk ' (fn. 45) ; and in 1546 as 'Sir John Deane, Parson of Saint Bartholomew's', he did the same office for Robert Adams. (fn. 46) (The title of Sir was used at that time much in the same way as Rev. is now.) In 1549 he was left a small legacy of 13s. 4d. by Edward Corbett; (fn. 47) in the previous year Dorothy Paver (fn. 48) had bequeathed him ' a gilt piece and the lease of her house ', and mentioned that he was her 'ghostly father'. He is described in both these latter instances, and also in those that follow, as ' Sir John Deane, parson of Great Saint Barthilmews '.

When Queen Mary set up the Black Friars at St. Bartholomew's, in 1555, Sir John Deane went on with his duties as parish priest (no doubt in Walden's part of the parish chapel, which was not pulled down until 1559 or later), although Rich had given the glebe to Queen Mary). In 1556 he witnessed as parish priest the will of John Garatt, (fn. 49) and in 1557 that of Richard Bartlett, ' Doctor of Phisuke'. (fn. 50) Bartlett left him his 'worstead gowne furred' on the condition that he ' should take no money for breakynge the grounde in the churche' and that he should see 'his stone layed over' him. It is evident, even from these fragmentary records, that John Deane had the confidence and respect of his parishioners. (He is referred to again later on when rector (fn. 51) .)

THE HOSPITAL SUPPRESSED AND REFOUNDED

In the year 1538 the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of the city petitioned the king (fn. 52) that they might have the ' order rule disposicon and governance ' of this and other hospitals in London, viz. St. Mary's, St. Thomas's, and the new abbey on Tower Hill; but Rahere's hospital nominally shared the same fate as the priory, though it was reconstructed by a grant from the king by Letters Patent dated the 23rd June, 1544. Therein the king said (fn. 53) that the hospital was then ' vacant and altogether destitute of a master and all fellows or brethren ', and that therefore all the possessions of the hospital were in his hands, and that, ' desiring nothing more than that the true works of piety and charity should not be abolished there, but rather fully restored and renewed, according to the primitive pattern of their genuine sincerity, and the abuses of the foundation of the same hospital in long lapse of time lamentably occurring, being reformed, he had endeavoured, as far as human infirmity would permit, that henceforth there should be comfort to the prisoners, shelter to the poor, visitation to the sick, food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, and sepulture to the dead administered there '. The king therefore determined to found a hospital to consist of one master, a priest, and four chaplain-priests: called the vice-master, the curate, the hospitaler, and the visitor of the prisoners in Newgate, respectively. He appointed William Turges, his chaplain, the first master, and Thomas Hikkelyng (or Hickling) (fn. 54) the vice-master, whom, with the other three chaplains, he incorporated, granting them the site of the old hospital, its buildings, bells, &c., in frankalmoign. (fn. 55)

In the year 1546 the king, having expressed himself as willing to endow the hospital with lands and tenements to the clear value of 500 marks, on the condition that the citizens should bind themselves also to give 500 marks yearly, entered into a covenant (fn. 56) with the mayor and corporation to endow the hospital with all the possessions enjoyed by the hospital before the suppression, saving so much as was reserved to the king, which few reservations are set out in the covenant.

This covenant was confirmed by Letters Patent on the 13th January, 1547, (fn. 57) whereby the possessions were to be held by the mayor and commonalty and citizens of London and their successors, thus in fact granting the petition of 1538. In this grant the king decreed that the hospital should henceforth be called 'the house of the poor in West Smithfield near London of the foundation of King Henry the Eigth'; and that the church within the site of the hospital should be the parish church and should be called 'the church of St. Bartholomew the Less, in West Smithfield near London'. (fn. 58)

When the Corporation had entered into these engagements with the Crown, they heartily endeavoured to raise the money to perform their part of the contract. They made a grant of half a fifteenth to be assessed on the citizens; they passed an Act applying the profits of the great beam, the beam of the steel yard, the iron beam, package, gauging of wine and of fish and sundry other offices, towards the relief and sustentation of the said poor. And they further passed an Act at the same time (1548) for assessing the several companies to pay the annual sum of 500 marks. (fn. 59)

One other somewhat curious provision occurs in the Journals of the Court of Common Council, (fn. 60) made for the same good object in the year 1552; 'that when any principal messuages or houses shall be converted into an alley or alleys every inhabitant within every room or place in such alley, &c., shall yield to the poor of West Smithfield the whole yearly value thereof,' but the actual meaning of this provision is obscure.

From this point we must cease to refer to Rahere's great hospital; for with the disappearance of the prior and canons the last solid connecting link between the two foundations was severed. But the link of sentiment has never been broken and is expressed on the part of the parishioners of St. Bartholomew the Apostle the Great in the feeling of admiration for, and sympathy with, the noble and ever-progressing work of St. Bartholomew the Less and its hospital. Of this substantial proof was given in the year 1904, when consent to a bill before Parliament (fn. 61) for uniting, for ecclesiastical purposes, the parish of St. Bartholomew the Less with that of St. Bartholomew the Great was given by the patron, the rector, and churchwardens of the latter parish, should it be found necessary to demolish the church of St. Bartholomew the Less for the extension of the wards of the hospital.

Footnotes