and with the Brethren of the Hospital, that he and his successors "would find evermore during the said guild a good and an able priest to say or sing mass in the guild chapel of St. John aforesaid (and two days in the week in the chapel of St. John set at the town's end of Leicester), except that the master or his successors at any time will say mass there themself, and what time they say mass there or be forth of town that then the said guild priest shall sing or say high mass at the high altar of the said St. John, helping the said master and his successors to sing and read in the choir there every holy day in the year divine service, praying especially for the souls of Peter Saddler and his wife." The priest was to have board at the Hospital, or 40 shillings a year in lieu of board, and such salary as the Stewards agreed, and a chamber found him "within the said St. John." In the Subsidy list of the Diocese of Lincoln for 1526, "Dom: Willelmus Walton Curatus Leicester Johannis," was assessed on an income of £4.
The Hospital with its church and all its lands passed by Queen Elizabeth's charter of 1589 to the Mayor and Burgesses of Leicester. Part of the site was used for the purpose of a Wool Hall, being leased for life in 1592 to the philanthropic Thomas Clarke with that object; but afterwards the building reverted to charitable uses. On an adjoining portion of the land the Town Gaol was constructed, which was pulled down in 1792. The ruins of the old church then came to light again, and were sketched by Throsby, who gave a full description of them. They comprised an arch, which he calls "Saxon," and several pillars and parts of walls.[1] The nave was 17 feet 4 inches broad, and 41 feet long. Four large oak beams had been laid on the capitals of the pillars, to support the floor when it was converted into a prison, and Throsby conjectured that they had been used originally to uphold the roof of the church.
- ↑ This arch was placed by Throsby in his garden. In my copy of Throsby's History of Leicester an old note has been written, stating that the arch was afterwards "in Mr. Berridge's garden."
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