Spital-in-the-Street
| Spital-in-the-Street | |
| Lincolnshire | |
|---|---|
 Cromwell House and the Ostrich Inn, Spital-in-the-Street | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SK966907 |
| Location: | 53°24’18"N, -0°32’54"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Market Rasen |
| Postcode: | LN8 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | West Lindsey |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Gainsborough |
Spital-in-the-Street is a small hamlet in Lindsey in Lincolnshire. It stands on the A15 road - the route of the Roman Ermine Street – 12 miles north of Lincoln and 9 miles east of Gainsborough. The A15 / A631 crossroads at Caenby Corner is a mile to the south. Nearby villages include Hemswell to the west, Glentham to the east, and Glentworth to the southwest.
History
Spital-in-the-Street lies on Ermine Street, a Roman road that runs in a straight line for 32 miles between Lincoln and the Humber, passing through no villages north from Lincoln until Broughton 25 miles away. The village's name comes from the ancient inn managed by monks for the hospitality of travellers, known as a "spital", on Ermine Street. The same element is found in such remote locations as Spittal of Glenshee. It is believed that the spital was maintained by hermits.
The chapel attached to the hermitage was dedicated to St Edmund.[1] King Edward II granted a licence for land and rent to be appropriated by the Vicar of Tealby for the payment of the Chaplain; and by a document signed at Tealby in 1323 and witnessed by nearly all the dignitaries of Lincoln Cathedral the foundation was placed under the jurisdiction of the Dean and Chapter. Ten years later the hermitage is called “Spital-on-the-Street” so its use had probably already been enlarged, although there is no documentary evidence of this. All that is known is the building of a house for the Chaplain by John of Harrington in 1333.
A fair and a market were inaugurated in 1324.[2]
In 1396 King Richard II granted to Thomas de Aston, Canon of Lincoln, leave to build a house "adjoining the west side of the chapel for the residence of William Wyhom the Chaplain and of certain poor persons there resident and their successors", and before the end of the 14th century it had buildings sufficient for these poor persons. It escaped Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries only to be later seized by Elizabeth I for the Crown and sold.
The Sessions for the Kirton division of Lindsey were for many years held in the chapel, but it fell into disrepair and was pulled down by Sir William Wray in 1594 with a new Session’s House built nearby. Six years later Robert Mapletoft of Pembroke College, Cambridge was appointed Sub-Dean of Lincoln Cathedral and also Master of the Spital Hospital; he rebuilt the chapel and set about improving the Hospital’s revenues. By the mid-19th century, the Charity Commissioners estimated the hospital’s revenues to be £959 per year, although they said that most of this was being misappropriated. This money, a considerable amount, was eventually recovered and used to endow De Aston School in Market Rasen, to restore Lincoln Grammar School and pay the alms of four neighbouring parishes.[3]
The chapel was restored in 1864 but by the end of that century, the hospital had been abandoned and only the chapel remained, falling ever further into dereliction until being restored once again in the 1990s.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Spital-in-the-Street) |
References
- ↑ National Monuments Record: No. 327060
- ↑ Letters, Dr Samantha (2005). Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516. Centre for Metropolitan History.
- ↑ Stopp, Peter. Bishop Norton - A Lincolnshire Parish History. Bishop Norton Village Hall Committee, 1986, p.5