The Hospital of St. Andrew, Denhall, Dee Marches, 1230-1751
This hospital was located between Burton and the hamlet of Ness. Only a
few stones of it remain today on a site known as 'Chapel Field'. When the
hospital was built it would have been very close to the shore of the Dee
Estuary. This has now largely silted up and the shore is several miles
away. Here is a photo of the quay where the ships would have bearthed at
Denhall:-
Above photograph taken by Richard Smith and can be seen on http://www.deeestuary.freeserve.co.uk
Alexander Stavensby
In the early 1230s Alexander Stavensby, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield,
built a hospital at Denhall on the marshes of the Dee estuary to help the
poor and the shipwrecked and annexed to it the neighbouring church of Burton
in Wirral which had been ab antiquo a prebend of Lichfield cathedral. The
dean and chapter of Lichfield, who were given Tarvin church as a prebend
in compensation, confirmed the annexation and Stavensby’s appropriation
of Burton church to his new hospital in 1138. Gregory IX again confirmed
the appropriation in 1241.
Secular priory
The hospital, which was dedicated to St. Andrew, was known in the 13th
century as a secular priory. In 1251 the pope con-firmed the liberties
and privileges of the prior and brethren but the community was evidently
mixed at that period as the prior made a land grant in Burton by the wish
and consent of the brethren and sisters there serving God’. That is the
only surviving reference to women living in the hospital and after it there
are no further indications, apart from the name of priory, that in its
early days the inmates lived under a religious rule.
Bishop Walter Langton
On the appointment of a new warden in 1310 Bishop Walter Langton reiterated
the ‘traditional’ constitution of the hospital: the new warden was to associate
with himself two resident priests and all three were to wear the customary
decent dress with a cross and were to celebrate masses and other services
regularly. The warden was to act as hospitaller in admitting poor men,
travellers arriving from Ireland, and others. Even in the early days of
the hospital the wardens were unlikely, however, to have resided per-manently
at Denhall. In the 1260s the prior was appointed one of the deputies of
the bishop’s official and also acted as the warden of the nuns of Chester.
From c. 1300 the wardenship or mastership of the hospital, which was valued
at £10 a year, was usually held in plurality by secular clerks and
several of the masters were prebendaries of Lichfield cathedral or of St.
John’s, Chester. In the mid 15th century the compatibility of the two benefices
of the mastership of the hospital and the rectorship of Burton was ques-tioned
but the bishop ruled in 1447 that both could be held by a secular clerk
and in 1451 papal dispensation was obtained for the combination of the
offices.
William de Newhagh
Apart from the names of the masters little is known of the history of
the hospital in the later Middle Ages. William de Newhagh who resigned
the mastership in 1400 on the grounds of age and ill-health was said to
have improved the buildings and increased the income of the poor inmates;
he was granted an annual pension of 10 marks from the revenues.
Free fishing in the Dee
In 1499, after the hospital had ceased to have an independent existence,
extensive privileges were claimed by the master on behalf of the inmates
which may have dated from the foundation. Among them were free fishing
in the Dee within the hospital bounds, the right of wreck, and free warren
of rabbits on the lands of the hospital. No boats were to anchor there
without the master’s permission and tolls were claimed on merchandise landed
there for transport to Chester by land or sea. The masters had the right
to make voyages in the small boat belonging to the hospital carrying corn
and other necessities without licence and to buy victuals in Chester free
of toll. Sheriffs and other officials could not enter the lands or waters
of the hospital to exercise their offices and the master claimed to be
under the special protection of the Earl of Chester. There is no record
of further endowments after Stavensby’s grant of the church of Burton though
the hospital held property in St. John’s Lane, Chester in the later 14th
century.
In January 1496 the hospital was united by the bishop with St. John’s
Hospital, Lichfield on the grounds that it was too impoverished to continue
independently. It is possible that some connection with Cheshire was maintained
after the union of the two hospitals as one of the almsmen in 1539 bore
the Cheshire surname of Capenhurst. The site of the Denhall hospital, which
came to form the most valuable estate of St. John’s Hospital, was leased
after the union to Sir Thomas Smith of Hough and the buildings seem then
to have been used as the parsonage house of Burton church.
17th century
In the 17th century the masters of St. John’s tended to treat the former
hospital as their personal property and in 1675 Francis Ashenhurst settled
the site of the Denhall hospital and the glebe and tithes of Burton on
his future wife. It remained in the hands of the Ashenhurst family and
in 1738 part of the hospital buildings were demolished with the permission
of the bishop and the master of St. John’s and a new parsonage house built
in a less remote position.
Demolition
In 1751 the remains of the hospital buildings, then in a ruinous state,
were demolished, apart from one outly-ing building which had been converted
into a barn. Some remains were still visible in 1897 and stone from the
buildings was used in the wall skirting the field in which the hospital
had stood.
Extracted from "A
new survey of St Andrew’s Hospital, Denhall - Cheshire Archaeology
News, Issue 6, Spring 1999
A
recent survey (see photo) has revealed unexpected new evidence about the
site of a medieval hospital at Denhall, near Burton. St Andrew’s Hospital
was founded in 1231-4 by the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, for the
help of the poor, the shipwrecked and travellers to Ireland. It stood by
a small inlet on the shores of the Dee, and also served as a fishing port
(hence its dedication to St Andrew, patron saint of fishermen) until the
Dee estuary silted up in the 17th century. It was never a wealthy institution
and, though it remained in use as a parsonage until 1738, it was finally
demolished in 1752.
Now only the earthworks remain, and the site was designated as a Scheduled
Ancient Monument in 1975. In 1996 it was acquired by Ellesmere Port and
Neston Borough Council, with the aid of grants from Cheshire County Council
and English Heritage.
The new study consisted of a measured survey of the surviving earthworks,
together with a geophysical survey of features below the surface. It has
revealed the chapel, infirmary, drainage system and outbuildings of the
medieval hospital, a previously-unsuspected trackway and perimeter wall
around the hospital precinct, and a series of probable medieval quays across
the mouth of the inlet. These would probably have been used for offloading
goods for Chester from seagoing vessels riding at anchor on the Dee. The
survey will help to improve the future management and interpretation of
this nationally-important site. "
A
recent survey (see photo) has revealed unexpected new evidence about the
site of a medieval hospital at Denhall, near Burton. St Andrew’s Hospital
was founded in 1231-4 by the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, for the
help of the poor, the shipwrecked and travellers to Ireland. It stood by
a small inlet on the shores of the Dee, and also served as a fishing port
(hence its dedication to St Andrew, patron saint of fishermen) until the
Dee estuary silted up in the 17th century. It was never a wealthy institution
and, though it remained in use as a parsonage until 1738, it was finally
demolished in 1752.