More information : Hospital at Allerdene (Alriburn or Rye Hill). Apparently came into thepossession of Newminster in which case it was probably used as a hospice, being on the road between Newminster and the monks' estates in Kidland. (1)
There is no mention of the hospital in 1205 on the first division of the barony of Hepple, but c.1281 Richard Chartenay granted to his brother Robert his manorof Hepple together with the advowsson of Alryburn hospital (NU 0227 0139 Allerdene NAT OS 6") from which it
appears probable that the hospital was founded by the family of Richard Chartenay and Maud his wife, who were married between 1212 and1229. Robery Chartenay, to whom the manor of Hepple was granted, was thereafter called Robert of Hepple and in 1331 settles a moiety of the manor of Hepple and a Moiety of the advowsson of the hospital of St Leonard at Alnburn in the handsof Thomas Styward, chaplain, in trust for his daughter Joan, wife of Robert Ogle. The whole manor of Hepple was eventually united in the possession of the Ogles and the hospital must have been given by some member of the family to Newminster Abbey, as after the dissolution of the monasteries there was the following entry among the 'possessions of the late monastery of Newminster', dated 1553: "Tosson vill, parcel of the monastery aforesaid, is worth in the farm of one tenement there called le hospitall of Tossone with 30 acres of arable land, 12 acres of meadow and common of pasture upon Simonside in the tenure of widow Swandon (Snawdon?) paying yearly 26s 8d at the terms of St Martin in Winter and Pentecost by equal portions. Memorandum, the premises lie not nigh any of the King's Majesties houses, forests or chases by 10 or 12 miles and these are the first particulars that I have made hereof'. In 1663 William Urwen was the ratepayer at the Spittle. George Alder of Prendwick in his will dated 21st January 1669/70, directed his executors to sell Alerburn Spittle 'where my son John now liveth'. Either his directionswere not carried out or John Alder bought the Spittle, as in 1715-34 it was the freehold of his son Thomas Alder of West Wilburn. Edward Donkinson was the owner in 1826, and it was offered for sale in 1840; by 1903 it had been purchased by Lord Armstrong. (2)
'The present farm house, now in the occupation of Mr Thomas Carr, is the probable site of the ancient hospitium'. (3)
Allerburn. Hospital for travellers dependent upon Newminster Abbey. Dedicated to St Leonard. Founded prior to 1331. Dissolved 1537. Also called Allerdene, Alribourn, Ryehill and Tosson. (4)
'I have heard that this house stands on the site of an old hospital. It belonged to a Mr W Dawson, whose initials are on the outside wall before Mr Carr became tenant. I understand Mr Dawson, who changed the name to Allerdene was probably the builder of the present house'. (5)
Allerdene, a farm house with outbuildings of a later period of construction stands upon a gentle N slope of pastureland, overlooking the flood plain of the river Coquet to the N. There are no traces of the hospital to be seen in or around the present farmstead buildings. (6) |