117. Bedmyster. (The Survey). The free Chapell or hospitall of saincte Katerine ther. Landes teñte and hereditamte,in the tenure of sondery Es perely psones as maye appereticulerly more at large by the worthe in Rental of the same xxjli. xvs. iiijd. Plate and Memord. A chalice of silv waying-viij oz. do (1). Ornamentes praysed at-iiijs. vjd. William Clerke gent (as yt is saide) Maister of the same hospital by the Kinge lrēs patente, not yit shewed. Ther be no poore people mayteyned or releved w* the premisses, saving that the saide Mr. Clerke assigneth iij cotages pcell of the same hospitall wo'the yerely-xxs. not charged in this value, for the poore men to dwell in, and other relief, they have non but as God sendeth. The priest alwayes incubent before hym was bounde to saye masse there thryse euy weke. Bedmyster. (The Rental Detailed.) The Free Chapel or Hospital of St. Katherine there. Richard Hall holds the scite and demesne lands of the said Hospital, and renders per ann.—vijli. Alice Sparrer holds two acres of meadow in Lookemoor, and renders per ann.—iijs. iiijd. John Coke holds one acre of meadow in Wademore, one acre of meadow in Boenmede, and one acre of meadow in Rodmede, and renders per ann.-vjs. iiijd. Divers persons hold as well according to custom as at will, divers lands and tenements in Bedmyster and Aisheton in the county of Somerset, and in Barkeley in the county of Gloucester, to the said Hospital belonging, and render per ann.—xiijli. xvijs. viijd. holds a certain tenement in the city of Bristoll, and renders per ann.-viijs. holds iij little cottages called Almoshouses in the parish of Redclyff in the suburbs of Bristoll, and renders per ann.-nil, because they are inhabited by paupers. Total-xxjli. xvs. iiijd. Deduct in. Money paid to the Lord the King as for the price of a lb. of pepper, per ann., for chief rent-iiijs. iiijd. Money paid to the said Lord the King for suit of Court to be annually performed-xijd. Total-vs. iiijd. And remains over, per annum-xxjli. x8. The priest before Clerke was bound to say mass thrice a week, but in his time probably no masses were said, and there was no priest; shortly after both were restored for a brief space, for we learn that on the death of Clerke, in 1557, (22) "John Angell, or Aungel, one of the Chaplains of the Chapel Royal, was instituted Master or Warden, by injunction of the King and Queen, Philip and Mary." 59 Whether Angell continued to act as Master after the accession of Queen Elizabeth in the following year, we do not know. (23) James Bonde, S.T.B., (B.D.) was appointed in August, 1568,60 on the death of John Angell, on the presentation of Hugo Brooke and John Hill, 61 (24) John Bridgwater, M.A., late Canon residentiary of Wells, was appointed November 28th, 1570, on the presentation of the same two gentlemen. Of this "chief among the converts gained by the Romanists during the reign of Elizabeth," as he is called in Mr. Hunt's recently published Diocesan History,62 Father Grant, S.J., has written an interesting memoir under the title of "From Oxford to Douay," from which he kindly allows me to quote the following extracts: 58 Barrett, 599. 59 Rymer's Foedera, xv., 479. 60 Dr. Archer, Barkley, fl. 25. 61 Id. fl. 31. 62 Somerset Diocese, 138. "John Canon Bridgwater. . . sent in to Bishop Berkeley Wells, of his "He desired to would be well a written resignation of his canonry of living at Porlock, and that of Stanton Drew. devote himself to study and retirement, and contented with the Mastership of the little Hospice of St. Katherine, Brightbow, at £25 per annum, for he had private means of his own. "He had already resigned his rectorate of Lincoln College, Oxford, and his perpetual curacy of Wotton Courtney, near Taunton. He now gave into the Bishop's hands Compton Bishop, near Axbridge. This altogether meant the renunciation of a net income of about £2,300. The renunciation was accepted very willingly by Berkeley (a descendant of the Lord who built St. Katherine's) leaving only one injunction and sign of feudal tenure, viz., that the Hospital should pay 6s. 8d. -a groat of that day-to supply wax candles at Candlemas to the Church of Bedminster. So behold him empty handed and installed at Brightbow. He is supposed to have chosen Bristol on account of its proximity to the famous John Fowler, printer and publisher, of Small Street in that City, whose ripe scholarship and Catholic tendencies were well known." After a few years at St. Katherine's, in 1577, Bridgwater, accompanied by a former chorister from Wells, named Rasing, and John Fowler, fled to the Jesuit College at Douay, where they were joyfully received by Cardinal Allen. Father Bridgwater, after his ordination as priest by the Cardinal, spent much of his time at Douay, where he wrote several works in defence of the old religion, and the Papal supremacy. He died in 1594, and was buried at Tréves.63 "Who but John Bridgwater himself can tell the tryals of his mind?" But... "as Aquapontanus " he has left us the result of his life-thoughts, contained in two rare treatises, one called the Calvino-Papiste of Elizabeth's reign, the other A Concertation on the Papal Supremacy, in an answer to John of Heidelberg." 64 According to the Rev. William Hunt, M.A., when Father John Bridgwater joined the Church of Rome several of his fellow students of Lincoln College, Oxford, followed his example.65 (25) Edward Mowcroft. Date not given by Dr. Archer, but stated by Collinson to be 1572.66 63" From Oxford to Douay," reprinted from The Month, for April, 1887. 64 Id., pp. 5, 6. 65 Somersetshire Diocese, p. 188. 66 Somerset, II., 283. (26) Francis Nevil, the last Master on record, was appointed during the reign of Elizabeth, May 26th, 1573.67 The Chapel had been sold some years before (2nd Edw. VI.) when William Clark was Master, as stated above. The house appears to have gone gradually to decay. In 1534 (26th Hen. VIII.) the revenue of the hospital was valued at £21 15s. 10d., the tenths £2 3s. 7d.68 The site was granted, June 16th, 1587, to Edward Herne and John Nicholas, by whom it was sold, in 1588, to Henry Nevil, Esq. His grandson sold it, in 1605, to Sir Hugh Smyth, Knight, of Ashton, from whom it descended to Sir Greville Smyth, Bart. Recently the property has been purchased by the Firm of Wills and Company, who have, as before stated, pulled down the few remains of the ancient buildings, and have erected upon a portion of the site a huge tobacco factory. In 1730, a portion of the site was occupied by a glasshouse,69 afterwards converted into small tenements; and, until recently, another portion of the site was occupied by a tan-yard. There is nothing on the spct to preserve the memory of the hospital except the name of a modern thoroughfare called "Catherine Mead Street." 67 Dr. Archer's Account, Barkley, 25. 68 Dr. Archer, fol. 606. 69 Mr. Strachey's "List of Religious Houses," &c., in Hemingford's "Historia," II., 654. Proceedings of the Club, 1887-1888. MEETINGS AND EXCURSIONS. THE third Annual Meeting was held on Thursday, January 27th, 1887, the President (Bishop Clifford) in the chair. In the absence, through indisposition, of the Treasurer (Colonel Bramble), the financial statement for the past year was read by the Secretary, showing a small balance in hand. Some slight alterations in the Rules, of which notice had been given, were then proposed to the meeting and carried, the chief of these being to increase the number of Ordinary Members of the Club from 40 to 50, and to raise the annual subscription to half-a-guinea, which would include a copy of the "Journal of Proceedings." It was announced that at the last meeting of the Committee, Mr. John Reynolds had been elected an honorary Member. The ballot for new members resulted in the election of Dr. John Beddoe, F.R.S., Rev. J. W. Hardman, LL.D., Mr. John Latimer, Professor C. Lloyd Morgan, Mr. C. H. Spence, M.A., Mr. W. N. Tribe, and Mr. Stephen Tryon. The following Members were then elected to serve as Officers and Committee for the year 1887:-President, the Hon. and Right Rev. Bishop Clifford; Vice-Presidents, Dr. Beddoe, F.R.S., and Lieut.-Col. J. R. Bramble; Treasurer, Mr. John Williams; Secretary, Mr. Alfred Hudd, F.S.A.; Committee, Messrs. Thomas S. Pope, John Taylor, A. T. Martin, M.A., and Robert Hall Warren. The President then gave a short Address on some of the proceedings and work of the Club during the previous year. Bishop Clifford expressed great regret at not having been able to accompany the members in their visit to Stonehenge, a monument in which he felt much interest. Several of the theories as to the origin and use of Stonehenge having been alluded to, Bishop Clifford said, that the mortice-and-tenon arrangement in which the trilithons of Stonehenge differed from all other British megalithic remains, reminded him of some of the early buildings of Rome and other parts of Italy, in which a somewhat similar plan was adopted to fasten together the great stones of which the buildings were constructed. He thought this seemed to indicate a later date, for the erection of the trilithons at any rate, tha most recent writers had than Stonehenge! |