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WEST RETFORD: HOLY TRINITY HOSPITAL.

The manor of West Retford was on the site now occupied by Holy Trinity Hospital. The hall dated from the 16th century; the two wings were added in 1795. The building was demolished in 1835.

The following abstract from the will of the charitable founder of this hospital, will not only explain all the circumstances relative thereto, but will render other details unnecessary.

John Darrel, M. D. of West Retford, being siezed in his demesne as of fee, of, and in, divers messuages, lands, &c. of the value of seven score pounds per annum, which descended to him from his ancestors, and having no issue of his body, by reason whereof the name and blood of his ancestors "in the lineal ‘stemm’ was like to be spent and fail;" and being zealous to do some pious work or public good therewith, was desirous. that the same or such part thereof as is thereafter mentioned, should be disposed of to the glory of God in a work of charity to the poor. By his Will, dated November 11th, 1664, he bequeathed all his said messuages, &c. (except such lands and tenements as he himself purchased,) unto the Hon. William Pierrepoint, Esq. the Hon. George Pierrepoint, Esq., Sir George Savile, Bart., Sir William Hickman, Bart., Anthony Eyre, Esq., Francis Stringer, Esq., and Francis Sandys, Esq., his executors, upon especial trust and confidence, towards the founding an hospital for the sustenance and relief of poor and impotent men, to the number of sixteen, to have continuance for ever. By his said Will, he appointed the Subdean of the Cathedral Church of the blessed Virgin Mary, in Lincoln, and his successors, master and governor thereof; and that the said hospital should be incorporated by the name of "The Master, and Governor, and Brethren, of the holy and undivided Trinity of West Retford, in the County of Nottingham," with full power and authority to purchase, take, hold, receive, amid enjoy, and have, to them and their successors, all goods, chattels, lands, tenements, &c. under the said name; and directing that they should have a common seal, with a cross graven therein, and in the circumference thereof "Sigillum Hospitalis Sanctae Trinitatis de West Retford." whereby the said master, and governor, and brethren, and their successors for ever, should, and might, seal any manner of instrument touching the said incorporation. He also further directed that the said Subdean and his successors, upon the death of any of the brethren, should place others in the room or place of him or them so dying; preferring (if any) those of the blood and kindred of the testator, and after them those of the neighbourhood; the master and governor for his pains and for his visitation, receiving £20 per annum, and every of the brethren £10 per annum. The testator also devised the advowson of the rectory of West Retford to his executors, to be by them sold, and the money arising therefrom, to be appropriated to the liquidation of such debts as should be owing at the time of his decease. He also directed that £10 per annum should be expended in the repairs of the said hospital, if the profits of the lands would bear it; he likewise bequeathed 40s. a year out of his said lands unto the governors of the Free School at Gainsbro’, being a body aggregate in perpetual succession, for and towards the setting of the poor people of that town on work. The remaining part of the Will devises to his executors all the lands, &c. which he himself purchased, the profits of which were to be laid out for the maintenence of some ingenious scholar, whose father should not have above £30 per annum, in lands or estate, to be chosen out of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire by turns, upon the election of the said master and governor, and the archdeacon of Nottingham, and their successors; the same scholar to be admitted and educated in Exeter College, Oxford; the said profits to be received by the said scholar for five years after he shall have taken the degree of Master of Arts; or until he have been settled in some benefice which shall first happen, and no longer, and then another to be chosen and maintained in like manner. Lastly, the testator bequeathed to Mr. William Midwinter, of Gainsbro’, £20 for past services, with a desire that he should be the overseer of the funeral, or in his absence, Mr. John Law, of East Retford, and Mr. Humphrey Hoole, and ordered that £20 should be expended thereupon, or more if they should think it necessary.

A short time after Dr. Darrel’s decease, (which took place on the 8th of March, 1665,) it was discovered that Thomas Darrel, gent. deceased, from whom part of the estate descended, had, during his life-time, made some secret or other conveyance, of part of the said lands, amounting to the annual value of forty-five pounds, situate in the Biggins in the parish of Ordsall, to the Rt. Hon. the Lady Diana Cranborne. A decree of the court of chancery, however, put the executors in possession of the estate, but chargeable with the sum of £118, as well as £40 a year, to be paid to Richard Cooke and his heirs, for ever. On the 28th of May, 1680, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, keeper of the great seal, decreed that the number of the said poor impotent men be reduced to ten, to have the same allowance of £10 per annum; and that the yearly allowance of the master and governor should be reduced to £15; but that if the revenue of the said estate should at any time hereafter increase, then that the said master’s allowance, and the number of poor men, should also be increased, in proportion suitable to the advance of the estate.

In consequence of the augmentation in the value of the estates, and a correspondent economy in the general expenditure, the trustees have been enabled, since the date of that decree, to increase the number of the brethren, so, as again to fulfil the will of the founder, and also to enlarge their annual allowance; thus enabling them to spend their declining years in comfort and comparative affluence.

The hospital is situated on the west side of the high road from Retford to Worksop, and was once the residence of the liberal donor; it is a low and ancient looking edifice in the centre, with two advanced wings in the same style; at the end of these are two advanced fronts, erected in the year 1794, in a kind of mezzo-Gothic style of architecture. The centre part is generally denominated ‘THE HALL,’ in which prayers are read daily; the brethren are each provided with a folio edition of the book of Common Prayer, and alternately officiates as chaplain quarterly, for which he is allowed fifteen shillings. The building is two stories high; over the entrance is placed the arms of Dr. Darrel, with the crest and supporters; over the whole a small bell is suspended, which is regularly used to warn the brethren of the arrival of the appointed hour of prayer. The staircase consists of two short flights of steps, which, with the bannisters, are formed of old English oak; on entering the chamber, the whole assumes a very antiquated appearance,—the work of years which have long since passed away; here no painted nor papered walls salute the eyes of the visitor, but the whole is inlaid with empannelled oak, while over the fireplace is a simple but beautiful specimen of old English carving: in one corner hangs a number of old picture frames, which once circumscribed the portraits of the apostles and evangelists ,—an appropriate decoration to the room; whilst another corner gives place to "the common chests’ which contains the seal and the various documents appertaining to the estate.

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