Medieval hospital in Barrowford ?

[Stanley]

Spittlefield Head: The Possibility of a medieval hospital in Barrowford



On the first (19th century) Ordnance Survey map a row of cottages on the right-hand side, near to the top of Pasture Lane, Barrowford (SD 852 403) is marked as Spittlefield Head. I am unaware of any references within local history to this area and so I have been giving the origins of this name some thought. The first thing that springs to mind is the fact that the Spittle name almost always applies to the former use of a site as a hospital; secondly, as the site is known as Spittlefield Head then it is not unreasonable to assume that this was the upper limit of the area. In other words the cottages (still extant) are located at the higher point of the area within which any former hospital may have stood.

The fields surrounding the present cottages appear to have been terraced at some time; these levelled areas are do not seem to be the standard crop-growing features but rather cover a couple of acres. This would provide a number of levelled areas down the hill towards Barrowford. Modern Aerial photographs of the area show two linear banks below the cottages but nothing conclusive. Aerial images taken in the 1940s, however, show a distinctive crop-mark shadow, in the field above the cottages, within the newly mown grass. This outlines a distinctive double rectilinear enclosure, one smaller than other and adjoining the larger one. If this turned out to be the foundations of a building then we are looking at monastic proportions.

A search of the area reveals that Spittlefields is a site still surrounded by ancient boundaries. The field above the cottages runs north to the top of the ridge where Pasture Lane takes a sharp left-hand turn. Turning right here leads along what is now a footpath to Utherstone Wood and the Water Meetings. This was formerly an Iron Age trackway that followed the ridge from east to west, this became a Roman Road leading from Ribchester to Kildwick and beyond. The ancient agger, or raised roadside banking, can still be clearly made out upon entering the field through the style from Pasture Lane. Heading east the wall on the right of the track is the Roughlee / Barrowford parish boundary, this was formerly the boundary between Over Barrowford Booth (including Blacko) and Nether Barrowford Booth (including Laund and Rushton Thorns).

On entering the field from Pasture Lane a deep gravel pit can be seen just over the boundary wall, in the bottom here is a massive slab of stone placed over a stone-lined well. A few metres along the boundary wall a style takes a footpath towards Barrowford valley, past Spittlefield Cottages. This path follows one of a number of ancient field boundaries, these are ditches with thrown-up earthen banks upon which low stone walls have been erected - these are topped with holly and thorn hedges. Aerial photographs show that all the hedges running towards Barrowford from here originally terminated at Pendle Water. One ran past the White Bear Inn (originally Charle's Farm) another followed the original line of Pasture Lane down past the Lamb Club (Bank Hall) and another followed the line of the present Halstead Lane down to the river. Above Spittlefield Cottages another ancient field boundary takes the form of a curved tree-lined bank-and-ditch, this has all the hallmarks of having delineated an enclosure.

Orders of Knights:

Having recognised the possibility that there may have been a hospital of some kind on this site is worth considering the background of these institutions and the period within which Spittalfield Head was likely to operate. The Clitheroe Court Rolls do not appear to make any mention of a hospital in this area within the 15th or 16th centuries, neither have I seen other records of such an organisation around the beginning of the early modern period. This would suggest that the site would be used as a hospital in the medieval era and as such it would probably be part of an Order of Hospitallers.

The Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem was one of the oldest confraternities of chivalry and is believed to have been founded by Saint Basil the Great in the 4th century. The origins of this order go back to the Infirmary of Saint Lazarus, a leper colony established outside the walls of Jerusalem near to the established home of Saint Lazarus. This Order was the only one dedicated specifically to the care of lepers throughout the near east and Europe during the Middle Ages. Lazarites not only ministered to the care of lepers but also to the sufferers of other contagious diseases. The Order, through necessity, took on a military role so as to protect the sick within its care from the infidels during the Crusades.

Following the fall of Acre, when Christians were expelled from the Holy Land, the order moved to France from where it spread across Europe. Many leper hospitals were founded at this time in England where they were known as Lazar-cotes, Lazar-houses or Lazarettes. The order of Saint Lazarus carried out its role as carer of the diseased whilst maintaining a military power through its fleet of warships stationed in the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages.

The Order of Saint John was another Order dedicated to much the same principles as the Order of Saint Lazarus. The dissolution of the Order of the Knights Templar in 1312 resulted in considerable additions to the Hospitaller properties. The king sold off many of the Templar properties so as to settle his own debts, therefore Hospitallers came into conflict with some of the most powerful barons in England. An Act of Parliament of 1324 confirmed the Hospitallers in their rights, but the dispossessed barons entered into a long law suit costing the Order much in expensive litigation.


By 1050 Monastic Orders were beginning to adopt the rule of Saint Augustine whereby the older practice of renouncing the world through a life purely devoted to prayer changed to a more pastoral outlook. This enabled them to devote their efforts to the care of the sick and infirm, providing shelter and alms for the unfortunate. Following the Norman Conquest of 1066 a huge increase in hospitals and other charitable institutions took place, by 1154 there were around 1200 institutions in England and Wales.

The four main types of institution were Almshouses; Hospices for wayfarers and pilgrims; Hospitals for the sick and poor and Leper Houses. Not all of these were actually run by religious orders, however, almost 60% of the 12th century institutions were either unrelated to a monastic order or were operated independently from the Mother House. Feudal Lords (often with much prompting from the Sovereign), Guilds and local organisations either ran or supported these institutions.

Of these institutions almshouses were the most common, typically being for men only - usually local people who were expected to follow the monastic daily routine. Hospitals catering specifically for the sick or poor were not particularly numerous, by the 15th century many had ceased caring for the sick altogether, possibly because of a decline in charitable funds by the middle 14th century for their support. Because famine and plague had reduced the population at this time patrons were unwilling to support people within institutions when there was a critical shortage of labour.

Well before the dissolution of the monasteries 1536-1539) medieval institutions such as hospitals were in decline - some converted to other uses, such as schools, some charged a fee to the wealthier sick and many others simply disappeared.


Medieval Hospitals by Margaret Markham

Article courtesy of the Vale & Downland Museum Trust, Oxford

The word 'hospital' derives from the Latin 'hospes', meaning a stranger, foreigner, or guest. The original function of a hospital was to provide hospitality and shelter for travellers of all kinds, not exclusively for the sick, but later a variety of institutions came into being to cater for the poor, the aged and the sick which bore the name 'hospital'. The change in character is illustrated by the history of St. John's Hospital, Oxford, which originally seems to have served as a hostel for the entertainment of travellers, but was re-founded in 1231 as a hospital for the sick. Hospitals of all sorts became much more numerous in England as a whole after the beginning of the 12th century, but it is difficult to estimate their total number, as some were short-lived, were re-founded in slightly different forms, or were amalgamated with neighbouring houses at different dates. Many survived through to the Dissolution, and, indeed, afterwards: Ewelme Hospital is an example which still survives, having been spared by the king who was an immediate patron of this house on a favourite royal manor.

Endowments

Funds for a hospital were generally started by an endowment, usually derived from the rents of land or houses. The king sometimes granted the right to have wood from the royal forests, or hay or straw from crown lands: for example, in 1226 Henry III gave ten cartloads of dry wood to St. John's Hospital, Burford, and five years later the prior of that house was granted three oak-trees for firewood; the endowments of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Oxford, included the right to receive two loads of hay every year from the king's mead near Osney. Nobles or well-to-do merchants added bequests and contributions, and pilgrims contributed alms. In addition the pope often granted lepers the right to beg in public for alms for a certain number of days, and contributors were granted an indulgence.
By this means money was raised for the repair of the hospital chapel at Burford in 1305. Another common privilege was exemption from the payment of certain kinds of tithes and subsidies.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Leprosy appears to have been prevalent throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, although other skin diseases were probably also often mistaken for it. John of Gaddesdon, Professor of Medicine at Oxford from 1307 to 1325, described four different kinds of leprosy. Before entering a lazar-house a leper had to be examined by a priest (see Leviticus Ch. 13) or by a physician, who was ordered not to hurry the examination, but to carry it out thoroughly. Treatment was often by bathing in medicinal springs, by diet, blood-letting, plasters and ointments. A local tradition at Clattercote relates that the present canal reservoir occupies the site of the lepers' pool in which lepers from the hospital were dipped and bathed. During the 14th century leprosy was becoming less common in England indeed, it has been suggested that the Black Death removed a very high proportion of the sick and reduced the virulence of the disease. Later foundations of hospitals were more in the nature of almshouses catering for the poor and elderly, while some of the earlier leper houses changed their function: Clattercote was converted soon after 1246 from a leper hospital to a house of Gilbertine canons.

Internal Life

Medieval hospitals vary enormously in size. In exceptional cases they might house a hundred or more inmates. Most of those in Oxfordshire catered for between half-a-dozen and twenty. St. Bartholomew's Hospital in Oxford was originally founded for 12 lepers, but the number was reduced in 1316 to eight, of whom two were to be healthy enough to carry on the farming of the few acres surrounding the hospital. Although St. John's Hospital in Oxford was refounded in 1231 to cater for the sick, it was laid down in 1246 that incurable cases were not to be admitted. The later foundation of Ewelme, in contrast, was for thirteen men who were poor through age or infirmity, but no-one with leprosy or any other 'intolerable disease' was to be admitted. Preference was given to the inhabitants
of the four manors from which the hospital obtained its endowment. The inmates of a hospital were in the charge of one or more priests, who sometimes also had the responsibility of running a school or maintaining a chantry. Ewelme was operated by two priests, one of whom, the master, was preferably from the University of Oxford, while the second was to teach grammar free of charge to boys from the four manors supporting the house. A grammar school was also run in connection with St. John's Hospital at Banbury from 1501. The salary of the master/chaplain of St. Bartholomew's, Oxford, was fixed in 1316 at £4 a year. The master of St. John's Hospital, Banbury, was paid a salary of £14 in 1526. Within many hospitals a strict rule of life which was almost monastic in character,
involving vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, was upheld. Even at Ewelme, where the inmates were not bound to absolute poverty, anyone who came into property worth more than £4 a year had to leave the house. If he inherited less he was allowed to remain, but had to give half to the hospital, and all personal property had to go to the hospital on the death of an inmate. In many cases the occupants of a hospital had to attend daily services in the church, sometimes several times a day. In the earlier stages at least, the master was to be elected by the brethren from amongst their own number. This was the case at St. John's Hospital, Banbury, into the mid 14th century, but later on the appointment was in the hands of the bishop of Lincoln, and ultimately it became a sinecure given to canons of Lincoln or college fellows. The inmates themselves were usually allocated a fixed sum: at the early 16th century foundation of Childrey they were
to receive 9d weekly each plus 2s.8d. a year for wood and coals. Special livery was also often enforced. At Ewelme the brethren were to wear cloaks with a red cross at the breast. At Childrey they received an annual payment of 9s.4d for livery; and in 1367 the rule at St. Bartholomew's, Oxford, that the brethren should not leave the hospital without their habits, was confirmed.

The Buildings

The model for the hospital buildings probably came from the dormitories of the greater monastic houses. The plan included a long hall for the sick, which could be divided by wooden screens. By the 13th century the common dormitory was giving way to separate rooms. St. Helen's Hospital at Abingdon, for example, was rebuilt with thirteen separate chambers in 1446. The hospital chapel would normally be at the east end of this range. Upkeep of chapels is often recorded in the documents, e.g. in 1232 the king granted an oak to the master of Crowmarsh hospital to make shingles for the roof of the church. There would also be separate rooms or a separate house for the warden or nurses in charge of the whole. In 1229 the king granted to the prior of St. John's Hospital, Banbury, old timber from Warwick gaol to build a house, and the surviving 15th-century hall-house at Fyfield, now the White Hart Inn, is probably the house of the chantry priest responsible for the hospital. Most hospitals had their own burial ground: that belonging to St. John's Hospital in Oxford came to light during renovations to Magdalen College in 1976-7. This hospital also had a large kitchen, which is now incorporated into the college. The most complete assemblage surviving is at St Bartholomews Hospital, Oxford which has a separate chapel and almshouses.

Dedications

St. Lazarus was chosen as the patron saint of lepers the original was the Lazarus who lay at the rich man's gate in the parable, but later he was confused with Lazarus of Bethany, who was raised from the tomb. Other dedications of hospitals in Oxfordshire include St. Leonard of Limousin, patron of prisoners and diseased people (Banbury, Clattercote); St. Giles, patron of cripples (Cold Norton, Oxford), St. John the Baptist, who himself led a wandering life (Abingdon, Banbury, Bicester, Oxford, Wallingford); and St. Mary Magdalene (Abingdon, Crowmarsh, Woodstock).

Location of hospitals

Medieval hospitals were closely linked with town life, and in Oxfordshire the greatest concentration was within Oxford itself, with most of the remainder in the smaller market towns. They usually have marginal locations, outside the town walls or gates, or on the outskirts. This is partly because they came as latecomers to the town plan, but the position also suited both leper houses and hospitals.

Abingdon St. Helen's Hospital: Founded in association with the Guild of the Holy Cross in 1442 for support of 7 poor men and 6 women, with 2 chaplains. Dissolved 1548, but refounded as Christ's Hospital 5 years later by Sir John Mason, who had bought up much of the former Guild property. Hospital premises, much altered in 16th17th centuries, survive in Long Alley Almshouses.
Abingdon St. John's Hospital: Site by St. Nicholas's church, just outside main gate of Abingdon Abbey. Probably founded by Abbot Vincent c.1120. Suppressed 1538. Part of hospital incorporated into the Guildhall and Roysse's School. Abingdon Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene: Site by Ock Bridge, founded before 1336. Still housed 20 poor people after Dissolution of Monasteries, maintained by townspeople's charity. No remains.

Banbury St. John's Hospital: Site on east side of Oxford Road outside the town's South Bar. Founded before 1225 as a hostel for travellers. After 1501 closely associated with a grammar school, which, in 1549, when the hospital was dissolved, seems to have occupied the same premises. Crucifix found on site now in Banbury Museum. Banbury St. Leonard's Hospital: Leper hospital recorded on several occasions between 1265 and 1398. In 1319 said to be 'near the bridge of Banbury', but actual location probably presumed by name of Spital Farm, half a mile to southeast. No remains.

Bicester Hospital of St. John Baptist: An earlier hospital refounded in 1355 by Nicholas Jurdan in connection with chapel of St. John Baptist, of which he was warden. No later record of hospital known. Chapel stood at north end of Sheep Street, demolished in 15th century.

Burford Hospital of St. John The Evangelist: First recorded 1226, had its own chapel by 1305. Dissolved 1538. In late 16th century Sir Lawrence Tanfield built a great house on the site, now called Burford Priory, incorporating surviving fragments of the medieval hospital.

Childrey Hospital: Almshouse for 3 poor men founded 1526 by William Fettiplace. Dole administered by chantry priest. Fettiplace's chantry-house, almshouse and school still standing near church in 1824. Present schoolmaster's house incorporates late 16th century building.

Clattercote St. Leonard's Hospital: Leper hospital probably founded mid 12th century by Robert de Chesney, Bishop of Lincoln. Soon after 1246, converted to priory of Gilbertine canons. Remains of priory incorporated into present house. A barn said locally to represent part of the earlier hospital buildings contains nothing obviously medieval. Canal reservoir nearby is said to occupy site of former "lepers' pool", where the inmates of the hospital were bathed.

Cold Norton St. Giles's Hospital: Hospital and Augustinian priory of Cold Norton both founded in 1150's by Avelina, Lady of Norton, remained closely connected throughout their existence. This hospital was the only one in Oxfordshire recorded in list drawn up Roy Genase of Canterbury, c.1200.

Crowmarsh Gifford Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene: Leper hospital beyond east end of Wallingford Bridge, founded before 1142. The small Norman church which remains was probably the hospital's free chapel. Dissolved 1547.

Ewelme Hospital: Licence given to William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, in 1437, to found an almshouse in Ewelme to house 13 poor, aged and infirm men in the charge of a priest. The foundation escaped the Dissolution, and the original almshouse remains intact, one of the earliest brick buildings in Oxfordshire.

Eynsham Hospital: Known only from a single reference in the Eynsham Abbey cartulary. Fyfield Hospital: Founded in conjunction with a chantry in Fyfield parish church by Sir John Golafre in 1442. The 15thcentury White Hart Inn was probably the original chantry house.

Gosford Hospital: Nuns of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem were in charge of a hospital at Gosford from c.1140 - 1180. In 1279 the Knights Hospitallers of Clanfield had their own manorial courts and a chapel there, and a house belonging to the Order remained until 1547. Premises subsequently became an asylum or poorhouse known as 'Louse Hall', and then an alehouse. A 15th-century window, possibly from the hospital, was found under the floor of the King's Arms at Gosford during alterations in 1948, and is preserved in the St.
John Ambulance headquarters at Kidlington.

Oxford St. Bartholomew's Hospital: Leper hospital for 12 sick persons and a chaplain, founded on Cowley Marsh before 1129 by Henry I. Number of inmates reduced in 1316 from 12 to 8, of which 2 were to be healthy enough to farm the few acres surrounding the hospital. The hospital was granted to Oriel College in 1328, and increasingly became used as a rest house where sick members of the college could retire for a change of air. The existing chapel was built soon after its acquisition by Oriel. The main hospital range north of the chapel, destroyed in the Civil War, was rebuilt as a row of 4 almshouses by the college in 1649, and is now Bartlemas House. Bartlemas Farm, to the west, incorporates further 16th century hospital buildings.

Oxford St. Clement's Hospital: Known only from a single grant of alms in 1345.
Oxford St. Giles's Hospital: Site by St. Giles's church recorded several times from 1330 to 1390. No remains. Oxford Hospital of St. John Baptist: Originally a hostel for entertaining travellers, first mentioned in Godstow Cartulary in 1180. Refounded as a hospital for the sick by Henry III in 1231, with a grant of the garden of the Jews outside the East Gate. In 1294 the brethren received permission to enclose a vacant plot measuring 100 yards by 30 yards south of the road passing their churchyard, to use as a burial ground, this may have been
the former Jewish cemetery, unused since their banishment in 1290. In 1457 the hospital and its endowments were granted to William Waynfleet for the foundation of Magdalen College. Fragments of the extensive hospital buildings are incorporated into the college kitchens and the High Street range. Part of the hospital burial-ground was uncovered during renovations in 1976-7. Oxford St. Peter's Hospital: Probably occupied part of site of New College. Known only from a single reference in 1338. Wallingford Hospital of St. John Baptist: Site on Lower Green, outside the South Gate. First recorded 1224, many later deeds survive in Wallingford Corporation muniments. Hospital chapel mentioned 1546. Dissolved 1547. Rubble wall and other fragments remain, incorporated into existing buildings.

Woodstock Hospital of Holy Cross: Leper hospital outside town, known only from grants of royal protection made to its brethren in 1231-2. Woodstock Hospital for Leprous Women: Known only from a royal grant of fuel in 1235. Woodstock St. Mary's Hospital: In 1220 Henry III ordered the rebuilding of an almshouse within the court place of Woodstock. This may be the same establishment as the Hospital of St Mary to which Edward III granted a licence to seek alms in 1339. No remains.

Vale and Downland Museum Trust, 19 Church Street, Wantage, Oxfordshire, OX12 8BL
Telephone: 01235 771447 e-mail: museum@wantage.com




It can be seen, then, that there is a possibility that activity at Barrowford Spittalfields dates back to the 13th,14th or 15th centuries. There is the consideration that the site is somewhat remote at present and in the medieval period was at least two miles from the nearest town of Colne. Barrowford as such did not exist in this period, the area being just a scattered collection of forester's huts, and the odd vaccary stead such as Park Hill, within the Forest of Pendle. It is likely that the area of Spittlefield was within a clustered community, however, as there are a number of farmsteads along this part of the ridgeway. Ridge End, above the Water Meetings, is mentioned a number of times in the 16th century, as is Rigg and Ruggall Ing (Ridgaling Farm). There is an elevated earth platform near to Ridgaling, this could be evidence that another building stood here. Other neighbours include the farms and cottages of Royal Oak, Fulshaw, Lower Fulshaw, Oaklands, West Pasture, Pasture and Lower Ridge. There is a likelihood that this clustered settlement would be at least as early in date as the Anglo-Saxon period. If a hospital for the treatment of contagious diseases required a high degree of isolation from the main community, whilst still being accessible then this spot would certainly fit the bill.


Leprosy:

One of the main functions of the hospitals operated by the Orders was in the treatment of post-Crusade leprosy within the local populace, the town of Clitheroe had a high enough number of poor unfortunates who suffered with this terrible disease to warrant the erection of a specific leper hospital. This was built at Edisford Bridge, by one of the main arterial highways serving the town. T.D.Whitaker, in volume 11 of his "History of Whalley" has this to say on the subject:

Domus Leprosorum de Edisforth.

"Whatever may have been the origin of that loathsome disease, the Elephantiasis, in England, whether it were contracted by some of the earlier crusaders, or, which is more probable, arose from want of cleanliness, and the exclusive use of salted animal food during a great part of the year, it seems to have been confounded by our ancestors with the unclean leprosy of the Mosaic law, and to have condemned the unhappy subjects of it to all the inconveniences of a legal separation. In this view retreats were charitably provided for lepers in various parts of the kingdom. And as the hospital of Edisforth was founded exclusively for the use of the borough of Clitheroe, and the state of population in those early times can never have been very considerable, it seems to prove the complaint to have been extremely common.

The first memorial of this foundation is a charter without date, which implies the prior existence of the hospital, and in which John, son of Ralph de Cliderhow, grants three acres of land in Sidhill "leprosis de Edisforth."

Perhaps, however, the next charter, equally without date, may contest the claim of antiquity with the former, and will ascertain a very early warden nowhere mentioned besides: Orme de Hammerton grants "Deo, S. Nich. Domui de Edisforth et fratribus leprosis ibm conversantibus cum Reginaldo, duas acras super Schetill" (now Cheetle).

In the next place Roger de Lacy, const. Cest. who died in 1211, for the health of his soul and those of his ancestors, gives to the same four acres of land in Baldwinhill (now Bawdlands, an outskirt of the town).

Walter de Grimshaw, warden, appears to have died about 10 Edw. II. [1316-7] when Richard de Edisforth was presented by the Earl of Lancaster. In his time there were no lepers, a proof that the complaint was on the decline, and he was sued for dilapidation and waste. Whether any other warden was presented after him I know not; but in 24th Edw. III. [1350] the house having now neither warden nor brethren, Hugh de Clitheroe, bailiff, entreated the abbot and convent of Whalley to take possession of the lands thereunto belonging, subject only to the condition of finding a chantry priest to celebrate in the chapel; this proposal was accepted, and the last memorial which I find of the place is that in 1508 John Paslew, abbot of Whalley, and the burgesses of Clitheroe, present Sir William Heerd to the Chapel of St. Nicholas of Edisforth, vacant by the death of Sir John Dineley, "secundum mortificationem ejusdem."

The site of this ancient hospital was on the Yorkshire side of the Ribble, near the road to Mitton, and on the spot where now stands a farm-house. Some remains of strong and ancient masonry are remembered."


Whitaker's antiquated view of the disease does not alter the fact that leprosy was, and still is, a virulent and destructive disease - rightly feared within the civilised world of history. The contagious bacillus of leprosy attacks the soft tissues of the body, especially the skin and mucous membranes. The advanced stages saw the sufferer lose parts of the face, the nose and mouth palate were gradually eaten away. Sensation was lost in the limbs and it was common for the leper to receive cuts of which they were unaware. Death usually occurred from secondary infection in these wounds, gangrene set in which quickly poisoned the already depleted immunity of the sufferer.

The disease appears to have been none-existent within the Roman world until Pompey the Great introduced it upon his return from his Asian campaign, after this the disease was constantly referred to by classical writers. As the Roman Empire declined, along with its Asian and Syrian contacts, then so the disease declined, becoming virtually unknown in Europe. This was to change dramatically following the First Crusade, much to the horror of the populace who only had Biblical references to draw upon in relation to the treatment of the disease. The enactments of Moses were rigorously applied to sufferers, the priority being to isolate them from the community. Those who were unfortunate enough to contract leprosy were cut off from everything that they would have valued - family, friends, neighbours, trade, possessions etc, - this was regardless of class, colour or creed.

The leper became the equivalent of that modern horror idiom ’the living dead.’ Where the disease first became apparent the sufferer would often be taken to the local parish church and his clothes taken away and burned. The medical man would be asked for his opinion as to whether the case actually was leprosy or one of the many other highly contagious diseases of the time. The medical man would be instructed by the authorities to carry out a thorough examination. Where leprosy was confirmed the victim would then be dressed in the ‘leper’s garb’ of a shirt, tunic and large black cloak fastened around the waist by a wide leather belt. The victim then knelt before the alter and heard his own funeral service. The priest would escort the unfortunate to the nearest leper-house, towards the end of the 12th century these were known as Lazar-houses. The priest would exhort the new inmate to suffer the affliction brought upon him by God in penitence. Earth was thrown on the victim’s feet, as if the person were being buried, this signified the final and total withdrawal from the rest of humanity.

In remote areas of the countryside, far from towns or large settlements, the unfortunate sufferer, be it man or woman, was driven from the locality and forced to make a living in any way they possibly could. Lepers in these country areas wore their distinctive hooded cloaks, the face fully covered, and had to carry a wooden clapper-board so as to warn of their approach. They were forbidden from entering bake-houses, mills, inns and churches, they could not enter narrow streets, speak to children or reply to any questions asked by passers-by. A cup on the end of a long stick was carried, if the victim required beer or wine then he stood outside an Inn and hoped someone would fill the cup from a safe distance. This also applied to purchasing food from markets, similarly any money given to the leper whilst begging might be placed on a stone for him to collect - as in the later black death plague money would be placed in vinegar so as to disinfect it. When the leper became too ill to beg for alms he usually died a pitiable death in complete isolation.

Any property owned by a victim was removed from their ownership, they could use the income generated, up to £4 if the victim was in an institution, but they could not sell their property or inherit property. The leper was dead within the eyes of authority.

The Fitz-Eustace Inheritance:

A well documented example of this within our locality is where the Lords of Clitheroe became affected by the dread disease. Following the Norman Conquest Roger de Poitou, a relative of William the Conqueror, held vast tracts of land between the Mersey and Ribble and far into Yorkshire. Roger de Poitou later granted the whole of Blackburnshire and the “great fee” of Pontefract to Ilbert de Lacy, a Norman knight, these lands were formerly occupied by no less than twenty-eight Saxon lords. Ilbert de Lacy built the Clitheroe Castle that we know today, he improved upon the original structure of Roger de Poitou. It was said that the de Lacys could ride from their Castle at Pontefract to Clitheroe castle, some fifty-miles, and stay in a house of their own at all points along the route.

Four generations of de Lacys held these great estates until Robert de Lacy, the last male of the line, died childless. The estates therefore passed to his half-sister, Awbrey who was the widow of one Richard Fitz-Eustace of Halton - a powerful nobleman in his own right. Awbrey had two sons, the eldest being John Fitz-Eustace who had accompanied his king, Richard The Lionheart, on Crusade and was killed at the siege of Tyre. The heir to the estates was therefore the eldest son of John, Richard Fitz-Eustace - unfortunately Richard was a leper and could not inherit the properties and lands due to him. His younger brother, Roger, then became eligible but he was missing in Palestine, where he had followed his father to the Crusade, presumed to be dead.

Legend has it that John became a hermit, living in the cave below Clitheroe Castle under the auspices of the Dean of Whalley. This dean had been a close friend, and distant relative, of the late Robert de Lacy and expected to inherit the great lands upon his death. hearing that Awbrey had inherited he began to plot for his own succession by seizing the estates. To do so he needed to obtain the will of Robert de Lacy in order to falsify it - this had been placed in the safekeeping of the hermit of the rock who had no intention of giving to the Dean (who had no idea at this stage the true identity of the hermit).

In the meantime Roger Fitz-Eustace had turned up, having escaped his captors in Palestine. He rode with his entourage into Clitheroe in order to obtain the will and claim his inheritance. The Dean summoned the hermit to a meeting with Roger and managed to switch the original will for a bogus copy. The hermit denounced the Dean and, casting off his cloak, revealed the Fitz-Eustace coat-of-arms over his chain mail armour. The younger brother, Roger, then recognised John who declared that, although he had been cured of leprosy, he did not intend to claim his inheritance - he wished to live the devout life that he had become used to. Roger wanted to hang the Dean there and then but John dissuaded him as the Dean had been generous to him in his role as hermit. In fact the hermit advised his brother to arrange a marriage between Geoffrey de Whalley (the son of the Dean) and Roger Fitz-Eustace’s daughter Maud. This marriage healed the rift between the two families, Roger gave the manors of Towneley, Coldcotes and Snodworth to the young couple as a marriage portion. The Towneley family of Towneley are descended from this union. John Fitz-Eustace returned to his life as a hermit and died shortly afterwards, many people said that his extreme devoutness led to him starving to death following a fast.

The Spittlefield area:

The early leper-houses were eventually abandoned because the disease spread so readily. As we have seen, the Order of Saint Lazarus began to operate larger houses outside of towns. Was the Barrowford Spittlefields one of these institutions? Without written record, or archaeological evidence it is impossible to tell. There is the distinct possibility that the name Spittlefield Head refers to an area of land cultivated by the hospitallers to feed the inmates of an institution in another part of the area. The evidence for a medieval building around Spittlefield is scant to say the least. A forage around there has shown that there are worked stones within the drystone walling that pre-date the erection of these relatively modern field boundaries. A number of crude, half-round capping stones, usually found on walls enclosing the gardens of buildings, can be seen. These appear to be much earlier in date than the caps known to relate to 16th century buildings.

The site of the present (19th century?) Spittlefield Cottages once held a much earlier building, this much is clear from the piles of worked stone behind the present buildings. A number of large, worked local gritstone blocks are evident, some with a whitewashed surface. Studies of the replacement of a 16th century farm house with a 19th century building at Hill Farm in Briercliffe, show that the same pattern appears to be evident. The gritsone blocks at Spittlefield are identical to the remnants of the 16th century structure at Hill.

An interesting find on the site takes the form of stone measuring approximately 60 cm in length. The stone is around 30cm across and has been worked to a strangely shaped edge at one end, this edge tapers down from the main body and resembles a knife-edge where the final edge is bevelled. The other end of the stone appears to have been broken off. On one face a flat area resembling a cartouche has been worked, on this is a single extant piece of carving, this appears to be in the form of a stylised eye - similar to the “eye of God” on St. Mary’s Church tower at Newchurch-in-Pendle. This example is, of course, much smaller, around 20mm in length. When laid on its side it is possible, with imagination, to discern a face whereby this carved elipse forms one eye, the other having worn away. The carved edge presents a problem to me as a none-expert. My best guess is that it was made to fit a mortice within a timber framed door, or window, and therefore the stone could be a lintel from a building. My other thought is that this stone was part of the shaft of a cross, the worked end could have slotted into a mortice within a base stone. Conversely the worked edge, or tenon, could have been at the top and a cross head dropped onto it. An ancient stone-cross would not be out of place on this site if it were to have been a monastic style institution.

We therefore have at least minor evidence for a building dating from the early modern period, very possibly this was the first stone building on the site, a replacement for an earlier timber structure. Around the time that this stone building was being erected the "new" stone bridge at Higherford (or Over Barrowforth as it was then) was being built. This bridge, now known as the Roman Bridge, enabled Pendle Water to be crossed even when the river was in flood, a frequent occurrence during the winter months. The bridge was built upon an important crossing point, the reason for my inclusion of this is that the main route served by the bridge was an important trade-way. From at least the Iron Age this way was the track that traversed the Pendle Water valley - the traders from the north and east would pass through what would become Barrowford via a number of inter-ridgeway tracks. This particular route ran from the east-west ridgeway road from Ribchester to the east (as forementioned) through Ridgaling, across the present Pasture Lane and directly through Spittlefield Head.

The extant row of cottages at Spittlefield are built at a very strange angle to the nearby modern road of Pasture Lane, the buildings have a totally different orientation to the neighbouring farms. A study of an aerial survey carried out in the 1940s shows that there was a road, or trackway, running from Ridgaling on the top of the ridge, through Spittlefield (the present buildings fronting on to this trackway), past the well at West Pasture Farm just below and along to the important market town of Colne via the Higherford packhorse bridge. The footpath on the south side of the Barrowford to Colne Road is all that remains of this old trade route.

The discovery of this ancient route (this was still marked on early OS maps as a footpath) from the inter-kingdom ridgeway, to where it became a local way across the valley, appears, to me at least, to pre-date the assumed original transient ridgeway routes through Barrowford ie; Wheatley Lane and Pasture Lane where they cross the present park to Park Hill and onwards to Colne. These latter were the ways between the two Booths of Barrowford and probably aided the farmers of Rushton Thorns (Fence area) and Laund who needed to take the arable produce from their outlying farms to the central vaccary farm of Park Hill and its mill. There would also be a need for the smallholders within these areas to carry their cloth to the "outlayers" of Barrowford and the markets of Colne.

There is also evidence for a trackway along the end of Spittlefield, from the ridgeway, straight down to the main crossing of Pendle Water at the bottom of Church Street (this was possibly the "ford" in Barrowford). It becomes evident, therefore, that the site of Spittlefied Head was located on an important cross-roads in early times, this area was possibly far busier in the medieval period than it is now!

Conclusion:

Having seen that leper hospitals were usually placed on the outskirts of towns the location of Barrowford Spittlefield cannot be seen to fit this criterion in any way. I also have to consider the possibility that the population might have been too small within this corner of the Forest of Pendle to warrant a contagious disease institution. There is, however, the consideration that a plague hospital may have been required during the 14th century period of famine and disease.

The function of a hospital for the relief of the sick and poor possibly required a similar site to the leper houses, in order to adequately tend to the needy they would need to be where the needy were. This again raises the question; was Sptittlefield Head a description of the land upon which the hospitallers and inmates worked in order to feed themselves? The actual buildings need not necessarily be in close proximity to its lands.

The question as to whether a hospital on this site was a form of almshouse also raises the same arguments as above - the medieval town maps of places like Lancaster and Preston invariable show the almshouses to be located on the approaches to the town but still within the town precincts.
This leaves the possibility that a building stood at the top of Pasture Lane that had the purpose of providing food, shelter and care for the traveller. If this were to be the case then it would not surprise me one iota. Having already mentioned that this site is located on a former cross-roads, below a main arterial ridgeway, the spot would appear to have been ideal for the purpose of tending to wayfarers.

Whatever the truth of the matter may be this area of Barrowford is a fascinating spot and I am positive that it will reward a formal investigation into its origins, were this ever to become possible. Meanwhile I will just keep on tramping the fields in search of the elusive truth!
John A Clayton
Barrowford

[Stanley]

Bumped as being worthy of wider circulation despite not being directly Barlick related.