Historic Melton: ​Burton Lazars Leper Hospital and 'Roger' the Leper Head

The Burton hospital was the largest leper hospital in England and was known as the principle English House of the crusading Order of the Knights of St Lazarus.

The order was established in the Holy Land in the early twelfth century to defend the faith and to provide assistance and relief to people suffering with leprosy or ‘Hansen’s disease’ as we know it today.

It is generally believed that Roger de Mowbray, with the support of King Henry II founded the hospital around 1157 following his return from the Second Crusade to the Holy Land, when he gave two carucates (approximately two hundred acres), and the revenue from a mill at “Burtone” that was located on the Brentingby/Burton boundary.

The site for the hospital was chosen because of its proximity to a sulphur spring that provided rich mineral water used by the ‘lepers’ for bathing.

On the 10 th March 1335, King Edward III confirmed in a Royal Charter that the hospital would be exempt from tithes and tolls and again, this was later confirmed in 1425.

The hospital was run by a Prior or Preceptor but was generally known as the Master. Eight Brothers supported the Master and they most probably wore black habits due to their allegiance to the Augustinian order that followed the Rule of Saint Augustine.

Walter de Nova Castro was the Master in the late 12th century and following on from him there were another 30 Masters, ending with Thomas Legh who was Master from 1537 to 1540,

In 1450, following a petition from the house Master and the brethren, Pope Nicholas V took the ‘Burtone’ establishment under his special jurisdiction and decreed that the hospital was independent and subject only to the papacy, thus exempting it from all episcopal jurisdictions.

A Papal bulla – or seal - was found in the area, in a field off Burton Road. When the British Museum examined it, an expert dated it from the reign of Pope John XXII between 1316 and 1334.

An archaeological excavation in 1913 by the Marquis of Rutland unearthed around 100 Medieval floor tiles, many carrying the coats of arms of noble families.

Some of these are now held in the collection of the British Museum.

The floor tiles were made in Burton Lazars and are identical to those in St Mary’s Church in Melton Mowbray.

In a list of old field names uncovered by the Burton Lazars Women’s Institute, the name “Kiln Close” was discovered providing evidence to pottery kilns where the tiles would have been made.

The only other relic from the hospital that we know of is a stone carving depicting a leper’s head, affectionately known as “Roger” after the founder and is now in the custody of St James Church, Burton Lazars.