A VANISHED HOSPITAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 2866, 2 April 1925, Page 1

A VANISHED HOSPITAL.

DR. GEORGE PARKER’S L\ TTERE S T INC INVESTIGA TION S. ST. JOHN'S, REDCLTEP. I.)i'. George Parker read a paper on “The Old Hospital of St. .John, Redd iff” lo members of Ihe Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society at the Red Lodge recently. Mr. J. E. Pritchard, who presided expressed satisfaction that Dr Parker had been able to deal with so interesting a subject. Dr. Parker said the chequered history of this once-famous and popular institution was not easy to trace, for its deeds .• and papers were stolen during a riot in 1398 and apparently never recovered in full, though a Bull of Pope Martin V. was issued to compel their restoration. Although the house came to early decay, part of its wealth had been preserved to the Bristol Grammar School and Almshouses; while another fraction led to the origin of the great RedclilT schools, so that to-day some 1,300 hoys had cause to remember its existence foi four centuries. A good deal of material had come to light recently, and there was much of intciest to be gleaned, for the house was not only one of the chief charitable institutions of a wealthy city, but it seemed to have been ijiiitc an “enfant terrible’’ among them, perpetually in hot water with the King, the Bishop, and the eitiy.ens, and as perpetually the recipient of great and loving gilts from them all. Its connection, too, with one of the chief Red Cross societies of the Middle Ages, the Order of the Holy Spirit, was.remarkable. No foundation charter survived, but the Patent Rolls of 13(50, 1404, 1408, and 1411 speak quite definitely of il as a “Royal House” of the foundation of the King’s ancestors or progenitors, and of his patronage. A ROYAL FOUNDER.

It is s;iid that the Monarch stayed there in his own house on decision, and hardly any other Bristol house could claim the honour of a Royal founder. With these official statements undisputed little credence could he given to the late and unsupported tale of one John Kareey as a founder. It was pretty clear (hat it was founded long before the reign of King John, and was in existence in or before June 1139, when Maurice Berkeley died, after granting a charter in which he gave “to God and our Lady nml the Hospital of St. John tin l Baptist in Rcdcliff’e, Bristol” the rents of divers houses there. That brought it at least inio the reign of Henry 11. Dugdale ascribed it to King John, but the charter he referred to was in connection with St Lawrence, outside Law ford’s . Gate.* There was evidence of the existence of St. John in 1200. ll was founded at the latest in the reign of Henry 11. but the actual founder was uncertain. There were hardly' any records of the buildings. William of YYyreestre described them briefly about. 1430, after they had undergone great'dilapidations, as situated in a lam* between KodclilV Church and the river outside the Redclill'e Gate. He spoke of a hall 42ft. long by 2(>ft. broad, and of a cloister Offi. by 00ft., a sort of court where patients were probably treated. Whether the hall was a ward with beds cannot be ascertained, but there was a master or warden and “brothers and sisters”. Ecclesiastically the house wa squite separate from Bristol and lay in the diocese of Wells, but the position was complicated by the fact that Henry 11. gave the advowson of Bedminster, with its chapel at Rede I ill, in 1157 as a pretend to Salisbury in exchange for Devizes. In civil matters it wigs very doubtful if it could claim the privileges of Bristol apart from its charter of 1200, in which King Johnhnentioned it as St. John, Bristol. Besides its Royal foundation the little community was distinguished by certain Papal privileges, and wealth began to llow in. After dealing with the Order of the ITolv Spirit, with thfe Order of Hi elloly Spirit, Dr. Parker said there was evidence of some affiliation with the great Hospital League of Europe. There was a secular confraternity established for hospital service attached to the house —the only one in the city.

FINANCIAL TROUBLES. The financial affairs of the hospital in the 14th Century showed many instances of the difficulty of maintaining its funds, and the Bishop of Wells in 1300 granted it half the revenues of Backwell Rectory. When the hospital was ffi'st built_.it lay in open country on the river bank, and it was doubtful if any church at all existed on Redcliff. There were numerous entries of legacies for the 50 years follow -

ing 1385 in the Book of Bristol Wilks showing the value the citizens placed on (lie work done there, but after 1435 few were recorded. Aliout 1395 endless financial, political, and religious troubles began about Ist. John’s. Tn 1398 a mob of rioters attached the hospital and plundered it of its deeds and valuables, for what reason no evidence was forthcoming. It was possible that the master, John Saint Paul, was a Bollard, and that the riot was a religious one. The finances again got into - confusion, and in 1-104 a Boyal Sequestration was issued. This was followed by several other Commissions,. Royal and episcopal. Finally, in September 1413 Paul made his submission to the Bishop at the little See house at Banwell, and a most elaborate sentence of deprivation, with a recital of his crimes in wasting the goods of the hospital and allowing it to fall into disrepair, was recorded against him, with this curious reservation, that srtnie means of living will, if possible be found him. LOST PROPKRTY. During the twenty years he held the mastership, the only charges brought against him were incapacity and misdoings in finance. The Hospital, however, was almost ruined. Following an appeal to the Papal Court a Bull was obtained ordering the thieves to disgorge their plunder. How many were icsored it is impossible to say. The mth in reputation and income deterred new mombe'rs from joining the community. In 1438, on the death of Nicholas Starr, the Master, the Bishop wrote to John Hull. I lie-only fully-qualified mem1, or left, saying that election by the members was impossible, as the huOse was no longer a college. Tie laid down that the Corporation of Bristol had a quasi-patronage to piosont a Master in these circumstances, and as they proposed him, John Hall, the Bishop, on this occasion was pleased to admit him to the olliee. It was not (dear it: the number of brethren increased, later, hut one or more of the later members were presented by the Corporation. The hospital carried on its work for another hundred years, and when the house was finally surrendered four names, including the Master were signed on the deed. Leyland spoke of the house being in ruins about 1542, but it escaped dissolution till March 1544. when the King made it over to his physician, Dr Owen, its total value then being £54 per annum, or about £<>so a year at present values. Owen eventually made the estate over to the Corporation nil a lease for charitable purposes. The lease was converted into sale in 1015, and the revenues now amount to £1.500 a year, of which £1,250 went to the Grammar School and £250 to Foster’s Almshouse. The Chapel of the Holy Spirit was pullet! down in I.7(Hi to improve the entrance to the church. Thus the last relic of the confraternity of the Holy Spirit disappeared, though the foundations were discovered in creeling tlm recent war memorial opposite the south porch. [The Dr. Parker referred to m the above article is the medical attendant and personal irmml a ■ Bristol <>f an aunt <d Mr ll - Poole, of Foxlon. —Ed.lT.]