Hospital of St Lawrence, Acton
Encyclopedia
The Hospital of St Lawrence, variously known as St Lawrence's Hospital, the Hospice of St Lawrence and the free Chapel and Hospice of St Lawrence and St James, was a medieval house for lepers
outside the town of Nantwich
, Cheshire
, England. It was located to the west of the town, on what is now Welsh Row, within the parish of Acton
. St Lawrence's later became a hospital for the infirm poor. Dissolved in 1548, the hospital's land and property was purchased by the Wright family. One of its buildings was subsequently used for dwellings.
or house for lepers
, who were not permitted to enter the town. The Hospital of St Lawrence was one of two medieval hospitals in or near Nantwich, the other being the Hospital of St Nicholas
at the east of the town. Founded in 1083–84 at the end of Hospital Street to provide for the needs of travellers, it gave the modern street its name.
The Hospital of St Lawrence is known to have been situated around ½ mile west of the bridge over the River Weaver
, well outside the medieval town of Nantwich and then within the adjacent parish of Acton
. It stood on a road leading from the town bridge to Lawrence Well, now Welsh Row. Joseph Partridge, author of the first history of Nantwich published in 1774, associated the hospital with an area then occupied by a malthouse
(now demolished) adjacent to the former Wilbraham's Almshouses
, and it is traditionally considered to have been located on or near the site of the Tollemache Almshouses
. However, little or no direct evidence survives as to its precise location. Partridge also states that a priory
once existed close to the hospital; no other evidence for such a foundation now survives.
Medieval treatment for leprosy involved cleanliness and washing in healing springs, and St Lawrence's was presumably at or near the brine spring known as Lawrence Well. By the late 14th century, leprosy was in decline in Cheshire; in around 1348, at the time of an outbreak of Black Death
in the county, St Lawrence's became a hospital for the infirm poor. The first record of the hospital is shortly afterwards in 1354–5, which states:
Local historian Eric Garton considers that the long interruption of services and apparent lack of an incumbent chaplain suggest that the previous chaplain had been a victim of the Black Death.
The 1354–5 document is interpreted by local historian James Hall as stating that Combermere Abbey
claimed ownership of St Lawrence's, and Hall believes that a document of 1498–9 confirms this claimed ownership. Garton considers, however, that this claim is difficult to reconcile with the institution being described as a free Chapel, which would not have been under the jurisdiction of any parent church or abbey.
The 1498–9 document also contains the earliest recorded name of a chaplain, one John ffowler. The right to appoint the hospital's chaplain, or the advowson
, had been acquired in part by the Lovell family some time before 1485; they had also owned the advowson of the Hospital of St Nicholas from around 1350. It is unknown who was originally responsible for appointing the chaplain. The advowson subsequently passed to the Crown.
In 1525, the chaplain was a Doctor Incent. At this date, the hospital's income was described:
In 1536, just over a decade before its dissolution, the hospital's income was still estimated at £4.
, Lord Mayor of London
, who founded Wright's Almshouses
in the town.
The building, lands and possessions of the former hospital were purchased from the Crown on 7 September 1548 by William Warde of London and Richard Venables, sergeant at arms
, together with the site of the former Chapel of St James of Newall, also in the parish of Acton, and other properties in Nantwich, for a total of just over £1111. Richard Wright was then the tenant. The building, lands and tithes of St Lawrence's appear to have later been purchased by Wright. According to the 1589 post mortem inquisition of his son, also Richard Wright, the hospital's lands included "another pasture called Chapel-croft, and half of another pasture called the Chapel-field adjacent, lying in Acton". The tithes were transferred by the younger Wright's daughters and heirs, Margaret Woodnoth and Elizabeth Davenport, to the minister of St Mary's Church
in Nantwich on 1 May 1639. One of the buildings of the hospital is mentioned in a document of 1653: "a messuage called the Hospitall now divided into three dwellings in/near the Welsh Row in Wich Malbanke". The subsequent fate of the hospital's land and buildings is unknown.
Leper colony
A leper colony, leprosarium, or lazar house is a place to quarantine leprous people.-History:Leper colonies or houses became widespread in the Middle Ages, particularly in Europe and India, and often run by monastic orders...
outside the town of Nantwich
Nantwich
Nantwich is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The town gives its name to the parliamentary constituency of Crewe and Nantwich...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, England. It was located to the west of the town, on what is now Welsh Row, within the parish of Acton
Acton, Cheshire
Acton is a small village and civil parish lying immediately west of the town of Nantwich in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of...
. St Lawrence's later became a hospital for the infirm poor. Dissolved in 1548, the hospital's land and property was purchased by the Wright family. One of its buildings was subsequently used for dwellings.
History
Few records of the Hospital of St Lawrence remain, and its founder and date of foundation are unknown. It was originally a lazar houseLeper colony
A leper colony, leprosarium, or lazar house is a place to quarantine leprous people.-History:Leper colonies or houses became widespread in the Middle Ages, particularly in Europe and India, and often run by monastic orders...
or house for lepers
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
, who were not permitted to enter the town. The Hospital of St Lawrence was one of two medieval hospitals in or near Nantwich, the other being the Hospital of St Nicholas
Hospital of St Nicholas, Nantwich
The Hospital of St Nicholas was a medieval hospital for travellers, which gave its name to Hospital Street in the English town of Nantwich in Cheshire...
at the east of the town. Founded in 1083–84 at the end of Hospital Street to provide for the needs of travellers, it gave the modern street its name.
River Weaver
The River Weaver is a river, navigable in its lower reaches, running in a curving route anti-clockwise across west Cheshire, northern England. Improvements to the river to make it navigable were authorised in 1720 and the work, which included eleven locks, was completed in 1732...
, well outside the medieval town of Nantwich and then within the adjacent parish of Acton
Acton, Cheshire
Acton is a small village and civil parish lying immediately west of the town of Nantwich in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of...
. It stood on a road leading from the town bridge to Lawrence Well, now Welsh Row. Joseph Partridge, author of the first history of Nantwich published in 1774, associated the hospital with an area then occupied by a malthouse
Malthouse
A malt house, or maltings, is a building where cereal grain is converted into malt by soaking it in water, allowing it to sprout and then drying it to stop further growth. The malt is used in brewing beer, whisky and in certain foods. The traditional malt house was largely phased out during the...
(now demolished) adjacent to the former Wilbraham's Almshouses
Wilbraham's Almshouses, Nantwich
The Wilbraham's Almshouses, also known as the Wilbraham Almshouses, are six former almshouses in Nantwich, Cheshire, England, located on the north side of Welsh Row at numbers 112–116 . Founded by Sir Roger Wilbraham in 1613, they were the town's earliest almshouses. They remained in use as...
, and it is traditionally considered to have been located on or near the site of the Tollemache Almshouses
Tollemache Almshouses
The Tollemache Almshouses, also known as the Wilbraham Almshouses or Wilbraham's Almshouses, are six former almshouses in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. They are in two blocks of three cottages each, located on the north side of Welsh Row at numbers 118–128...
. However, little or no direct evidence survives as to its precise location. Partridge also states that a priory
Priory
A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...
once existed close to the hospital; no other evidence for such a foundation now survives.
Medieval treatment for leprosy involved cleanliness and washing in healing springs, and St Lawrence's was presumably at or near the brine spring known as Lawrence Well. By the late 14th century, leprosy was in decline in Cheshire; in around 1348, at the time of an outbreak of Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
in the county, St Lawrence's became a hospital for the infirm poor. The first record of the hospital is shortly afterwards in 1354–5, which states:
Local historian Eric Garton considers that the long interruption of services and apparent lack of an incumbent chaplain suggest that the previous chaplain had been a victim of the Black Death.
The 1354–5 document is interpreted by local historian James Hall as stating that Combermere Abbey
Combermere Abbey
Combermere Abbey is a former monastery in Combermere Park, between Nantwich and Whitchurch in Cheshire, England, near the border with Shropshire.-Topomony:...
claimed ownership of St Lawrence's, and Hall believes that a document of 1498–9 confirms this claimed ownership. Garton considers, however, that this claim is difficult to reconcile with the institution being described as a free Chapel, which would not have been under the jurisdiction of any parent church or abbey.
The 1498–9 document also contains the earliest recorded name of a chaplain, one John ffowler. The right to appoint the hospital's chaplain, or the advowson
Advowson
Advowson is the right in English law of a patron to present or appoint a nominee to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a process known as presentation. In effect this means the right to nominate a person to hold a church office in a parish...
, had been acquired in part by the Lovell family some time before 1485; they had also owned the advowson of the Hospital of St Nicholas from around 1350. It is unknown who was originally responsible for appointing the chaplain. The advowson subsequently passed to the Crown.
In 1525, the chaplain was a Doctor Incent. At this date, the hospital's income was described:
In 1536, just over a decade before its dissolution, the hospital's income was still estimated at £4.
Dissolution
At the dissolution of the Chantries in 1548, the hospital and its chapel closed and became the property of the Crown. At this date, the institution was valued at 76 shillings a year, and was recorded as having bells to the value of 2 shillings, but no plate, jewels, goods, ornaments or lead. The last chaplain was Richard Wright, who was awarded a pension of £3 8s 4d, which he continued to receive until at least 1562; he died in 1585. The Wright family was prominent in Nantwich from the mid-16th century. Wright's will shows him to have been a relatively wealthy man, who is known to have also been the owner of Nantwich's Bell Inn. He was the great-uncle of Sir Edmund WrightEdmund Wright
Edmund Wright can refer to:*Edmund William Wright , architect and Mayor of Adelaide*Sir Edmund Wright , Lord Mayor of London...
, Lord Mayor of London
Lord Mayor of London
The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...
, who founded Wright's Almshouses
Wright's Almshouses, Nantwich
Wright's Almshouses is a terrace of six former almshouses now located on Beam Street in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The building was originally erected at the junction of Hospital Street and London Road in 1638 by Edmund Wright , Lord Mayor of London in 1640–41, and is listed at grade II*...
in the town.
The building, lands and possessions of the former hospital were purchased from the Crown on 7 September 1548 by William Warde of London and Richard Venables, sergeant at arms
Serjeant-at-Arms
A Sergeant-at-Arms is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word sergeant is derived from the Latin serviens, which means "servant"....
, together with the site of the former Chapel of St James of Newall, also in the parish of Acton, and other properties in Nantwich, for a total of just over £1111. Richard Wright was then the tenant. The building, lands and tithes of St Lawrence's appear to have later been purchased by Wright. According to the 1589 post mortem inquisition of his son, also Richard Wright, the hospital's lands included "another pasture called Chapel-croft, and half of another pasture called the Chapel-field adjacent, lying in Acton". The tithes were transferred by the younger Wright's daughters and heirs, Margaret Woodnoth and Elizabeth Davenport, to the minister of St Mary's Church
St Mary's Church, Nantwich
St Mary's Church, Nantwich, is in the centre of the market town of Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building. It has been called the "Cathedral of South Cheshire" and it is considered by some to be one of the finest medieval...
in Nantwich on 1 May 1639. One of the buildings of the hospital is mentioned in a document of 1653: "a messuage called the Hospitall now divided into three dwellings in/near the Welsh Row in Wich Malbanke". The subsequent fate of the hospital's land and buildings is unknown.
Sources
- Garton E. Nantwich, Saxon to Puritan: A History of the Hundred of Nantwich, c 1050 to c 1642 (Johnson & Son Nantwich; 1972) (ISBN 0950273805)
- Garton E. Tudor Nantwich: A Study of Life in Nantwich in the Sixteenth Century (Cheshire County Council Libraries and Museums; 1983) (ISBN 0 903017 05 9)
- Hall J. A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich, or Wich Malbank, in the County Palatine of Chester (2nd edn) (E. J. Morten; 1972) (ISBN 0-901598-24-0)
- Lamberton A, Gray R. Lost Houses in Nantwich (Landmark Publishing; 2005) (ISBN 1 84306 202 X)