THE KNIGHTS OF ST LAZARUS
IN NORTHAMPTON
The Order of St. Lazarus, known for its role in caring for those with leprosy (Hansen's Disease), is a historic order with a charitable focus. While not directly headquartered in Northamptonshire, the order did have establishments in the region.
STEPPINGTON HILL - (Catesby)
Steppington Hill, near Catesby (Northamptonshire), represents a minor but documented holding of the Order of Saint Lazarus in England.
Although no surviving charter records the original grant, the site is listed among Lazarite properties in the county, indicating that by the 12th–13th century the order held either land, rent, or tithe income here. As elsewhere in England, such holdings were typically small and derived from pious donations by local lords, most likely connected to the manor of Catesby.
Steppington Hill was not a Lazarite house or hospital. Instead, it formed part of the agricultural economy that sustained the order, with income generated from tenant-farmed land. This interest coexisted with the dominant local estate of Catesby Priory, reflecting the layered nature of medieval landholding.
The Lazarite connection ended with the Dissolution of the Monasteries, after which any rights at Steppington Hill passed into secular ownership.
No physical remains of the order survive on the site today; its significance lies in its role as part of the dispersed income network supporting the Lazarite order in medieval England.
THENFORD
Thenford and the Order of St Lazarus
The Northamptonshire village of Thenford had a small but significant medieval connection to the Order of Saint Lazarus, a religious order founded during the Crusades to care for lepers.
This link is recorded in the Valor Ecclesiasticus, which shows that the order received income from the village. The payment came not from land, but from the parish church of St Mary, as part of its “spiritualities” — income derived from tithes.
The arrangement most likely began in the 12th or 13th century, when a local lord granted a fixed annual pension from the church to the order. Such gifts were common, allowing patrons to support religious institutions while gaining spiritual benefits.
In practice:
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a local priest served the parish
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the church collected tithes
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a portion was paid to the Lazarites
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the income was managed remotely from Burton Lazars
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There is no evidence of a Lazarite hospital or community in Thenford itself—the connection was entirely financial.
Today, little remains of this link beyond historical records, but it shows how even a small village like Thenford was part of a wider medieval network, contributing to an international religious order through its parish church.
HASELBECH
The Gift of Haselbech
The connection between the Order and Haselbech began in the 12th century through aristocratic patronage.
A Norman landowner, William Burdett of Loseby, granted:
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the church of Haselbech (Northamptonshire)
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along with churches at Loseby and Galby
to the Order of St Lazarus.
This gift formed part of a wider pattern of donations made to support the Order’s work. These grants were later confirmed by royal authority, including King Henry II.
What the Order Owned at Haselbech
Once granted, the church at Haselbech became part of the Lazarite estate system. Their rights typically included:
The Church and Advowson. (The Order held the advowson—the legal right to appoint the parish priest.) and
The Rectory (Appropriated)
The church was appropriated to the Order, meaning:
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The Lazarites became the rector in law
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They received:
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tithes (main parish income)
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income from glebe land
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They appointed a vicar to serve the parish locall
This structure is reflected in later taxation records such as the Valor Ecclesiasticus, which records income from such appropriated churches.
In effect, Haselbech was part of the Order’s “spiritual revenue network”, helping fund Burton Lazars and its wider activities.
During the 12th to 14th centuries, Haselbech was a small rural manor village, with a Population likely under 150 and Around 20–30 houses with an Economy based on open-field farming
At its centre stood the parish church: of St Michael's Built mainly in the 13th–14th centuries
The Lazarites themselves did not live in the village. Instead, A vicar served the parish and Revenues were collected and sent to Burton Lazars
Dissolution and Aftermath
The English house of the Order survived longer than many monasteries but was eventually dissolved in 1544, when Burton Lazars was surrendered to the Crown.
After this, Haselbech’s rectory and advowson passed into secular or diocesan control
WALBEK LAZAR HOSPITAL (Northampton)
Little known of short history of leper hospital at Walbeck, Walbeck was situated in Kingsthorpe Hollow & took its name from stream there;
Walbeck Leper Hospital probably lies in Kingsthorpe Hollow; earliest known record of hospital is in first half of C13th when it is said to lie 'without North Gate of town'; not recorded after 1347
Hospital of Walbek was lazar house & situated by North Gate of Northampton; mention of only two C14th diocesan references granting indulgencies; name Walbek occurs in corporation deed of 1360
BRAYBROOKE - All Saints Church
The Knights Hospitallers, the Order of St Lazarus, and Medieval Braybrooke
Braybrooke, in medieval Northamptonshire, was a small but important manorial settlement with links to two of the great religious orders of the Middle Ages: the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem and the Order of St Lazarus of Burton Lazars.
At the heart of the village stood All Saints Church, the parish church of Braybrooke. The present building preserves medieval work from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, with an earlier 12th-century font suggesting that Christian worship on the site began before much of the surviving structure was built. In the Middle Ages, All Saints would have served the whole parish for ordinary worship, baptism, burial, and the spiritual life of the village.
The Order of St Lazarus had a financial connection with the church. In the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535, the hospital of Burton Lazars is recorded as receiving an annual pension from the church of Braybrooke. The amount was 26s 8d, equal to two marks. This does not necessarily mean that the Order of St Lazarus owned All Saints or held the advowson, but it does show that they had a recognised right to income from the church’s revenues.
The Hospitaller connection was different. Their link appears to have been through the manor known as West Hall Fee. In 1402, the Inquisition Post Mortem of Anne, widow of Thomas Latimer Bochard, recorded that she held Braybrooke Castle and also “Westhallfee” manor with the advowson. Westhallfee was held of the Prior of St John of Jerusalem in England by a rent of 12d, and was valued at 10 marks a year. This shows that the Knights Hospitallers were feudal overlords of West Hall Fee, the manor to which the advowson of Braybrooke church was attached.
There was also a chapel associated with West Hall. Medieval records refer to the Chapel of West Hall, also called the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin on the Green. It was probably founded in the 13th century, when Peter de Raley was permitted to have a chapel in his own ground at Braybrooke for himself and his household, excluding other parishioners. Later records describe a chapel or chantry called Westhalse as being “of the Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem.” This may have been a small private or manorial chapel connected with West Hall Fee. It may have stood separately near a former green, or possibly functioned as a chapel or chantry space associated with the parish church; the exact site has not yet been identified.
Braybrooke itself contained two medieval manorial interests. The better-known East Hall Fee is identified with Braybrooke Castle, a moated manorial site on the eastern side of the village. In the early 14th century, Thomas de Latimer was granted licence to strengthen his manor house at Braybrooke, and the surviving earthworks still show the remains of the moated manor, enclosures, fishponds, water-control features, crofts and settlement remains.
West Hall Fee was a separate manor or fee within Braybrooke. It was later brought into the Latimer lordship, and by 1402 it carried the advowson of All Saints Church. Its precise location is still uncertain, but the name suggests a manorial centre west of East Hall Fee. The lost Chapel of West Hall and the field-name Maudcroft or Madcraft, said to be connected with Maud Swinnerton, lady of West Hall Fee, may preserve important clues to its former position.
The nearby Hospitaller commandery of Dingley is highly relevant. Dingley was the principal Knights Hospitaller house in this part of Northamptonshire, founded in the 12th century and later merged with Battisford in 1461. Although the surviving Braybrooke evidence names the Prior of St John of Jerusalem in England rather than Dingley directly, it is reasonable to consider whether the Hospitaller rights at West Hall Fee were administered through, or connected with, the nearby commandery at Dingley. This still requires further documentary proof.
Medieval Braybrooke was therefore not a Hospitaller commandery or a Lazarite house in its own right. Instead, it was a manorial village where several religious and lordly interests overlapped. The Latimer family held the main manorial power; the Hospitallers had overlordship connected with West Hall Fee and its chapel or chantry; and the Order of St Lazarus received a pension from the parish church. Together, these records show how even a small medieval village could be linked into the wider religious, military and charitable networks of medieval England.
