Hospital of St Nicholas, Nantwich

Hospital of St Nicholas
The 16th-century 140–142 Hospital Street might stand on the hospital site
Geography
Location	Nantwich, England, United Kingdom
History
Founded	1083
Closed	1548
Links
Lists	Hospitals in England

The Hospital of St Nicholas (variously known as St Nicholas Hospital, the Hospice of St Nicholas and the free Chapel and Hospice of St Nicholas) was a medieval hospital for travellers, which gave its name to Hospital Street in the English town of Nantwich in Cheshire. Founded in 1083–84 by William Malbank, first baron of Nantwich, it was dissolved in 1548 and probably later demolished.

The Hospital of St Nicholas was founded by William Malbank, the first baron of Nantwich, in 1083–84, the eighteenth year of the reign of William I. His post mortem inquisition states:

William Maubank formerly Lord and Baron of Nantwich died seized of the site of St. Nicholas Hospital in Nantwich, a Hall, and 2 salt-pits with all the lands and perquisites belonging to the said Hospital. These were granted by him to God and to St. Nicholas of the said Hospital in pure and perpetual alms to support a certain priest celebrating Divine service in the said Hospital for ever.

It was established at the east end of the town's single street, which subsequently became known as "the high street of the hospital", the modern Hospital Street. The site might have belonged to the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.

The hospital was a religious house which accommodated sick, infirm and destitute travellers. It had a chapel with a chaplain to minister to the spiritual welfare of the occupants. It also distributed alms to the poor. The institution was financed by a mixture of tolls from travellers, tithes from the parish, rents on its lands and property, and charitable gifts. The Hospital of St Nicholas was one of two medieval hospitals in or near the town, the other being the Hospital of St Lawrence (or St Lawrence and St James) on Welsh Row, which fell within the parish of Acton. Founded as a house for lepers, the Hospital of St Lawrence became a hospital for the infirm poor in around 1348.

The earliest recorded chaplain of the Hospital of St Nicholas is Sir John in 1259. The buildings of the hospital are first mentioned in a document of 1280. After the death of the third baron of Nantwich without male issue, the advowson – the right to appoint the hospital's chaplain – passed in the female line, being acquired by the Lovell family in around 1350; from this date, the chaplains or masters are recorded in the Bishops' Registers of Lichfield.