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From 'This is The West Country'
History
St John's Hospital
It wasn’t only the castle which William Brewer left as a legacy. Apart
from an abbey at Dunkeswell and a castle at Torquay, in 1216 he built the
hospital of St John the Baptist in Bridgwater. This was an Augustine Priory
which served the needs of pilgrims but was closed to lunatics, lepers, epileptics,
pregnant women, breast-feeding mothers and those with contagious diseases,
no matter how sick or destitute. The rich and the powerful were also barred
from taking lodging, entertainment or allowing their horses to feed there.
Its main function was to provide food and lodgings for travellers, care
for the sick and educate the young of the poor of the town.
It was a self-governing establishment with its master being elected from within its own brethren. Their attire was that of the common hospitallers with the exception that they sported a large black cross on their mantles and outer garments. This distinguished them from the Franciscan friars who were set up at the other side of the town. Part of their role was to provide someone to serve the church of St. Mary’s and another to serve on a daily basis at the services in the castle chapel. Three women “of good fame” lived in the priory in order to attend the sick and infirm.
Based just outside the east gate, its position today would be at the
start of Broadway by the entrance to Eastover. Within the grounds there
was the 112 foot long St. Katharine’s church, an infirmary, rectory, dormitory,
chapter house, cloister, parlour and a school, the first for Bridgwater.
A herb and vegetable garden, a fish-pond for Friday dinners, and a graveyard
completed the picture. In 1286, a licence was granted for a channel to
be cut down to the river in order to clear waste from the privies. This
was three feet wide and of sufficient depth to allow the river to run all
the way in. It was then covered over, presumably with timbers, such that
earth and stone could be placed on top to allow those whose land it passed
through to pass across it unhindered. A track ran from the hospital up
to the Polden Hills, known as the Long Causeway, and this followed the line
of Monmouth Street and Bath Road to Crandon Bridge, locally known as the
Silver Fish. This may well have been a significant link to a priory which
was once based at Horsey.
The Wat Tyler Rebellion and the sacking of St John’s Hospital
In 1380, Thomas, the master of St John’s, complained that William Blacche, a tanner, John Thomas, a carpenter, John Kelly, a hosier, and many others, attacked the hospital, breaking its doors and windows, taking food and £20 in cash, locked all the doors, beat up the servants and threatened them in such a way that they were afraid to go back to the hospital. The event reflected the hostility which was developing between many of the locals and those who held power at the hospital. But it was only a prelude to what was to follow.
In 1381, the power held by the St John’s priory resulted in an unfortunate backlash. Across the country, but especially in the South-East, there had been religious unrest which resulted in the troubles labelled the Wat Tyler Rebellion. The rebellion was crushed and Wat Tyler executed. In York, Scarborough and Bridgwater, the news had failed to get through and the troubles continued. In Bridgwater, there was friction between St John’s and St Mary’s. St John’s took all the tithes and even appointed the vicar of St Mary’s.
The master of St John’s also had numerous deeds in respect of monies loaned to various townsfolk. Nicolas Frompton, a priest who had seen the way the Knights of St John had been treated in London, and Thomas Engilby, a yeoman, raised a mob of 14 men with Engilby as their captain. They forced their way into the house of the Knights and seized William Camel, the master, demanding that he transfer all properties and rights to Frompton. In addition they burned a large number of deeds and bonds and bullied the master into signing a £200 ransom promise. Finished at the priory, they moved on to Sydenham Manor, the home of John Sydenham, and burnt the rolls of the manors of Sir James Audley and John Cole. Then they burned a tenement belonging to Thomas Duffield, and a house and goods of Walter Baron of East Chilton. Worst still, they had Walter Baron beheaded.
On the Friday, Frompton headed towards Ilchester gaol, forcing John Bursy of Long Sutton to go with him. At Ilchester they removed Hugh Lavenham from the gaol and made John Bursy behead him in order that they could take the head on a spear back to Bridgwater. There it was displayed on the town bridge alongside that of Walter Baron.
Then they heard the news that elsewhere the rebellion had been crushed several days before. This was bad news since Frompton and Engilby were using that as the justification for their actions whereas their grievance was, in reality, unrelated and a strictly local affair. Engilby fled the country and, in his absence, was condemned to death. Before the month was out he was pardoned and Frompton meanwhile had disappeared, never to be heard from again.
Text Copyright © 2008 Roger Evans