Rotha Mary Clay

“He” [Lanfranc] “built a fair and large house of stone, and added to it several habitations for the various needs and convenience of the men, together with an ample plot of ground.” (Eadmer’s History.)

THE Canterbury monk mentions the foundation of Archbishop Lanfranc’s two hospitals. The lepers’ dwellings on the hill-side at Harbledown were merely wooden houses. The architecture of St. John’s was more striking: lapideam domum decentem et amplam construxit. The edifice (palatium) was divided in two parts, to accommodate men and women. As Eadmer was living until 1124, he saw the hospital shortly after its erection. He may even have watched the Norman masons complete it, and the first infirm occupants take up their abode.

Before considering the plan of hospital buildings, it will be of interest to learn how they impressed men of those days. The twelfth-century writer of the Book of the Foundation betrays his unfeigned admiration of St. Bartholomew’s. The hospital house was at a little distance from the church, which was “made of cumly stoonewerke tabylwyse.” The traditional commencement of the work was that Rahere playfully acted the fool, and thus drew to himself a good-natured company of children and servants: “with ther use and helpe stonys and othir thynges profitable to the bylynge, lightly he gaderyd to p107 gedyr,” until at length “he reysid uppe a grete frame.” When all was finished and he had set up the sign of the cross “who shulde not be astonyd, ther to se, constructe and bylyd thonorable byldynge of pite.”

16. HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN, EXETER

? 17. HOSPITAL OF ST. ALEXIS, EXETER

Matthew Paris gives sketches and brief descriptions of three hospitals in his Chronica Major.74 St. Giles’, near London—“the memorial of Matilda the Queen”—seems to consist of hall and chapel with an eastern tower and another small tower at the south-west (Fig. 10); of the Domus Conversorum, London, he says, “Henry built a decent church, fit for a conventual congregation, with other buildings adjoining” (Fig. 3); St. John’s, Oxford, he calls quoddam nobile hospitale. (Fig. 1.) The chronicler died in 1259, and these sketches were probably made about ten years previously, when the two latter houses were newly built.

Two thirteenth-century seals depict hospitals at Exeter. Mr. Birch describes that of St. John’s as “a church-like p108 building of rectangular ground-plan, with an arcade of three round-headed arches along the nave, roof of ornamental shingles, and crosses at the gable-ends.” The artist contrives to show not only one side, but one end, apparently the west front, with entrance. (Fig. 16.) The other seal is that of the neighbouring hospital of St. Alexis “behind St. Nicholas.” (Fig. 17.) The beautiful seal of St. John’s, Stafford (reproduced by the kindness of the Society of Antiquaries) shows architectural features of the transition period between the Early English and Decorated styles. The windows are triple-lancets with a delicately-pierced trefoil above; and an arcade runs round the base. (Fig. 18.)

? 18. ST. JOHN’S, STAFFORD

Casual references to building in progress occur in records, but they give little information. As early as 1161–3 Pipe Rolls mention works going on at the houses of the infirm at Oxford; there is one entry of over £8 spent on repairs. In 1232 timber was being sent to Crowmarsh to make shingles for the roof of the hospital p109 church. Land was granted to St. Bartholomew’s, Gloucester, for the widening of their chancel (1265); it is of interest to compare this fact with the elegant Early English work shown in Lysons’ view. (Pl. VI.) There occurs on another roll a licence to lengthen the portico of the Maison Dieu, Dover (1278).

The arrangement of most of these buildings is unknown, for frequently not a vestige remains. In many cases they grew up with little definite plan. A private dwelling was adapted, further accommodation being added as funds permitted. The domestic buildings were usually of wood and thatched, which accounts for the numerous allusions to fire. Even St. John’s, Canterbury, which was chiefly of stone, was burnt in the fourteenth century, but some traces of Norman work remain. (Pl. III.)

In time of war, houses near the Border or on the South Coast suffered. The buildings of God’s House, Berwick-on-Tweed, were cast down by engines during a siege. The master and inmates implored aid in their sore extremity, declaring that in spite of all efforts to repair the buildings, the work was unfinished, and that they could not endure the winter without being utterly perished.75 The same year (1333) the destroyed hospital at Capelford-by-Norham was being rebuilt. St. Nicholas’, Carlisle, was levelled to the ground more than once, and Sherburn was partly demolished at the time of the Battle of Neville’s Cross. The same story of attack and fire comes from houses at Southampton and Portsmouth.

Before proceeding to any classification of buildings, some of the component parts may be mentioned. The precincts were often entered by a gateway beneath a p110 tower. (Pl. VIII, XVI.) Sometimes, as at Northallerton, there was a hospice near the gate, especially intended for wayfarers who were too feeble to proceed; and an almonry, as at St. Cross, for the distribution of out-relief.

The mode of life in different hospitals affected their architectural arrangement. The warden and professed members of the staff were expected to live in community. The master of St. John’s, Ely, was charged not to have delicate food in his own chamber, but to dine in the refectory. In most houses the rule was relaxed, and the warden came to have private apartments, and finally, a separate dwelling. (Pl. XVI, XXI.) In large institutions, the dining-hall was a fine building. The “Brethren Hall” at St. Cross (about 36 × 20 feet) consists of four bays, and has a handsome chestnut ceiling. (Pl. X.) The beautiful refectory at St. Wulstan’s, Worcester (48 feet × 25 feet 8 inches), adjoins another long, narrow hall; these buildings present interesting features—such as the screen, a coved canopy over the dais, and a loft from which reading was given during meals. The screen, gallery and oriel are reproduced in Domestic Architecture during the Tudor Period. The title of “minstrels’ gallery,” given by J. H. Parker to the screen at the western end of the hall, has been called in question; but as the same name is found at St. Cross it may be remarked that in such institutions minstrels were called in to perform on festal days, for the account rolls of St. Leonard’s, York (1369), and St. John’s, Winchester76 (1390), allude to it. The hospital was a semi-secular house, and such halls were occasionally used for public affairs. Permission was granted in 1456 that the hall and kitchen of St. Katherine’s Maison Dieu, p111 Newcastle, might be used by young couples for their wedding dinner and the reception of gifts, because at that time houses were not large. Leland notes that Thornton “buildid St. Katerines Chapelle, the Towne Haulle, and a Place for poor Almose Menne.” If the above-mentioned kitchen was as magnificent as that of St. John’s, Oxford (now incorporated into Magdalen College), a wedding-feast or civic banquet might well take place there.

? PLATE X. HALL OF ST. CROSS, WINCHESTER

The transaction of business was conducted in the chapter-house or in an audit-room. At Ewelme, for example, there was a handsome chamber above the steps leading from the almshouse into the church, and the audit-room at Stamford is still in use.

The development of hospital buildings has been admirably dealt with by F. T. Dollman. In his earlier work (Examples of Domestic Architecture, 1858), he illustrates in great detail seven ancient institutions; a reprint with additions followed (1861). The subject calls for a more exhaustive study, which is now being undertaken by a competent architect. In this chapter nothing is attempted beyond a brief indication of the prevalent styles. Frequently, however, the original construction can be barely conjectured, for only a part is left, and that has probably suffered from alteration. Dollman distinguishes four principal modes of arrangement:—

• (i) Great hall—infirmary or dormitory—with chapel at the eastern end.

• (ii) As above, with chapel detached, and entered from without.

• (iii) Suite of buildings, usually quadrangular; chapel apart.

• (iv) Narrow courtyard. p112

(a) Infirmary.—The early form of a hospital was that of a church. A picturesque fragment of St. James’, Lewes, is figured in Beauties of Sussex;77 the foun­da­tions re­mained with­in mem­ory, con­sisting, ap­par­ent­ly, of nave, aisles and chancel, the di­men­sions of the lat­ter being about 34 × 15 feet. From an ancient deed in the Record Office, this build­ing is shown to have been the sick-ward with its chapel; it refers to the “sick poor in the great hall of the hos­pi­tal of Suth­eno­vere.” Men­tion is fre­quent­ly made of cha­pels “with­in the dor­mi­tory” or “in the in­fir­mary,” and of beds “in the hos­pi­tal on the west of the church.” The statutes of Kings­thorpe show how this ar­range­ment met the patients’ spiritual wants:—

“In the body of the house adjoining the chapel of the Holy Trinity there should be three rows of beds joined together in length, in which the poor and strangers and invalids may lie for the purpose of hearing mass and attending to the prayers more easily and conveniently.” p113

The finest remaining example of such an infirmary is St. Mary’s, Chichester. (Pl. XVIII.) It is now a great hall of four bays, and seems originally to have been longer by two bays. (See Ground-plan, Fig. 19.) The hall measures over 84 feet, and opens into a chapel 47 feet in length. A wide and lofty roof with open timbers spans the whole building, the pitch of the roof being such that the north and south walls are unusually low. (Pl. VI.) The Domus p114 Dei, Portsmouth, was of similar construction. Its thirteenth-century chapel still exists as the chancel of the Royal Garrison Church, the nave and aisles of which replace the infirmary, or “Nurcery” as it is called in one document.

The early French hospitals were usually of three wings, as at St. Jean, Angers, built by Henry II. It is probable that the same design was commonly adopted in England. St. Bartholomew’s, London, had three chapels—besides those now called “St. Bartholomew’s the Great” and “the Less”—and possibly these three were terminating chapels of an infirmary. At St. Nicholas’, Salisbury, a double-hall opened into two chapels. (Fig. 20, Ground-plan.) Here there are some traces of Early English work, which can almost be dated, for an entry of 1231 records a grant of timber,78 and Bishop Bingham completed the hospital before 1244. Buckler’s sketches (Pl. XV) give some idea of the charm of the existing buildings, which are mainly of the fourteenth century.

(b) Almshouse.—The infirmary-plan became a model for some of the later almshouses. A fine example remains at Higham Ferrers (about 1423). The dimensions of this building were as follows:—Hall, 63 × 24 feet; Chapel, 17 feet, 10 inches × 20 feet. Wooden screens subdivided the dormitory; and the statutes directed that each bedeman should join in evening prayers at his chamber door. Although not so secluded as the separate-tenement type, the early arrangement was good, for inmates had the benefit of air from the spacious hall, with its fine and lofty oak ceiling. Modern examples of this cubicle-system are still seen at Wells, St. Mary’s, Chichester, and St. Giles’, Norwich. In the latter case, the dormitory forms p115 part of a church adapted for the purpose; the compartments communicate with a corridor-hall and are open above to the panelled ceiling of St. Helen’s church with its heraldic devices. The early fifteenth-century Maison Dieu at Ripon was not unlike that of Higham Ferrers. The ruined chapel exists, with the arch which led into the domicile. By means of a partition, four men, four women and two casual guests were accommodated, and the priest had apartments at the west end.

St. Saviour’s, Wells, was a contemporary foundation. Leland remarks:—“The Hospitale and the Chapelle is buildid al in lenghth under one Roofe.” This interesting old dwelling-place still exists, but has lost its former character, as has also the Glastonbury almshouse for men, of which a view and ground-plan are shown on Plate XI.

Slightly different again was the plan of a two-storied block, having a chancel-like chapel with a roof of lower pitch. Sherborne almshouse (Dorset) was built thus. It opens to both stories of the adjoining domicile; this is done on the upper floor, by means of a gallery in which the women sit during service.

Later, it was customary for the chapel to extend to the height of the whole building under one roof, as at Browne’s hospital, Stamford. (Fig. 5.) Although the lofty chapel corresponded in height to both stories, only the lower one—which in this case was the dormitory—communicated with it. This block formed part of a suite ranging round a quadrangle. A ground-plan and views of this imposing almshouse, with descriptions of its architectural features, are found in Wright’s history. There is a striking similarity of construction between it and p116 Wigston’s hospital, Leicester (figured by Nichols79). Both were good specimens of the domestic Perpendicular style.

The earlier almshouse in Leicester, called the “Newark” (afterwards known as Trinity) was a large building. Nichols’ view (1788)80 shows a range of dwellings below, others above with dormer windows in the roof, clumsy chimneys, a bell-cote, and at one end a chancel-like extension. There must originally have been extensive buildings to accommodate the hundred poor. Leland says: “The large Almose House stondith also withyn the Quadrante of the Area of the College”; and of the church associated with it Camden says that “the greatest ornament of Leicester was demolished when the religious houses were granted to the king.” Bablake hospital, Coventry (circa 1508), which was somewhat similar to the Leicester almshouse, still exists. This “Hospitall well builded for ten poore Folkes,” as Leland reports, formed a simple parallelogram; below, ambulatory, hall, dining-room, and kitchen; above, dormitories.

ii. HALL WITH DETACHED CHAPEL

Of a great hall with separate chapel, Dollman cites one instance, St. John’s, Northampton. Here the hospital was a parallelogram, the chapel touching it at one corner, but not communicating with it; another detached building, sometimes called the Master’s House, was probably the refectory. (Plan and details, Dollman; see also T. H. Turner, Domestic Architecture, Vol. III.) From the engraving (Frontispiece) it would seem that the Maison p117 Dieu, Dover, was similarly designed; at the north-east angle is the chapel, three bays of which may still be seen. The various apartments existing in 1535 are mentioned in the Inventory.81 “The Great Chamber called the Hoostrye” (hostelry or guest-hall) was probably the common-room and refectory, but besides trestle-tables, settle and seats, the furniture included a great bedstead and a little one; this hall contained an inner room. There were four other small bed-chambers, a fermery (infirmary) with accommodation for fifteen persons, besides day-room, kitchens, etc.

iii. GROUP OF BUILDINGS AND CHAPEL

(a) Leper-house.—Although originally lepers had a common dormitory, the plan began to be superseded as early as the thirteenth century, when a visitation of St. Nicholas’, York, shows that each inmate had a room to himself. The rule at Ilford was that lepers should eat and sleep together “so far as their infirmity permitted.” The dormitory afterwards gave place to tenements. The Harbledown settlement in the eighteenth century is shown in Pl. II, the buildings being named by Duncombe, master and historian of the hospital. Facing the “hospital-chapel” were the “frater-house” and domestic quarters. The chantry-house by the gateway was, doubtless, the residence of the staff. (See p. 147.) The original dwellings must have been more extensive, for they sheltered a hundred lepers. The view of Sherburn (Durham) may reproduce the later mediÆval design. (Fig. 21.) In some cases a cloister ran round the buildings. The statutes of St. Julian’s leper-hospital ordained “that there be no standing in the corridor (penticio), which extends in p118 length before the houses of the brothers in the direction of the king’s road.”

The Winchester leper-house was quadrangular. It existed until 1788, and was drawn and described in Vetusta Monumenta. (Fig. 22, Pl. XXI.) A row of habitations extended east and west, parallel to them was the chapel; the master’s house connected the two; the fourth side being occupied by a common hall. Probably St. Bartholomew’s, Oxford, was of a similar character. (Pl. XXII.) The long building which remains north of the chapel has four windows above and four below, as though to accommodate the eight brethren. When dwellings ranged round an p119 enclosure, it was usual to have a well in the centre. Such “lepers’ wells” may still be seen on the site of St. Mary Magdalene’s, Winchester, and at Lyme Regis.

The lepers’ chapel was almost invariably a detached building. Sherburn had a fair-sized church, which is still in use, besides two chapels, one of which communicated with the quarters of the sick (capella interior infra domum infirmorum). The above were large institutions; but at St. Petronilla’s, Bury St. Edmunds—which might be described as a cottage-hospital for lepers—the chapel and hall were under one roof. The projection on the right (more clearly seen in Yates’ engraving) was the p120 refectory. The window of the chapel shown in Pl. XXVIII still exists, though the ruin is not in situ.

(b) Almshouse.—The modern design of almshouse, consisting of cottages each with its own fireplace and offices, developed during the fifteenth century. Thus about the year 1400, Grendon’s new charity in Exeter became known as the “Ten Cells.” It was directed by the founder at Croydon (1443) that every inmate have “a place by himsilf in the whiche he may ligge and reste.” Some of these tenement almshouses were quadrangular, whilst others consisted of a simple row of dwellings. The contemporary charities established at Ewelme and Abingdon illustrate the two variations of what was in reality the same type. The picturesque almshouse at Ewelme, dating about 1450, is shown in Pl. XVII. The founder’s intention was thus expressed in the statutes:—

“We woll and ordeyne that the minister ... and pore men have and holde a certeyn place by them self within the seyde howse of almesse, that is to sayng, a lityl howse, a celle or a chamber with a chemeney and other necessarys in the same, in the whiche any of them may by hym self ete and drynke and rest, and sum tymes among attende to contemplacion and prayoure.”

The buildings (of which Dollman gives views, ground-plan, etc.) were quadrangular, consisting of sitting-rooms below, with bedrooms above.

Formerly, inmates gathered round an open hearth (compare Pl. X) or in a capacious ingle-nook, like that in use at St. Giles’, Norwich. The chimney—which originally signified fireplace—is a new feature indicating a change of life. At Ludlow, for example, Hosyer’s almshouse was constructed with thirty-three chambers p121 and in every chamber a chimney. Those at St. Cross are slender and unobtrusive, but the later erections at St. John’s, Lichfield, are oppressive in size.

Of the simple row of tenements, a beautiful example remains at Abingdon. (Pl. XXVI.) It was founded by the Gild of the Holy Cross for thirteen impotent men and women. The present hospital consists of fourteen dwellings (with a central hall reconstructed in Jacobean times); the timbered cloister has recently been carefully repaired. The Spital Almshouse near Taunton, rebuilt by Abbot Beere about 1510, consists of a simple two-storied row of cottages, with a covered way in front.

iv. NARROW COURTYARD

Ford’s hospital at Coventry (Pl. XIII) is placed in a class by itself. This half-timbered house is a perfect gem of domestic architecture. The oaken framework, the elaborately-carved verge-boards of the gables, the varied tracery of the windows, the slender pinnacled-buttresses, alike call for admiration. Entering the doorway, a narrow court (39 × 12 feet) is reached, perhaps the most beautiful part of the building. Each dwelling communicates with the bed-chamber above, and at either end were the chapel and common hall. Dollman gives the ground-plan, etc.; Garner and Stratton’s recent work on Tudor Domestic Architecture also contains lovely plates of the western front, courtyard and rich details.

v. CRUCIFORM PLAN

The ground-plan of the great Savoy hospital was cruciform, which is unusual. It would appear from the p122 following extract from Henry VII’s will, that he himself superintended the architectural design:—

“We have begoune to erecte, buylde and establisshe a commune Hospital ... and the same we entende with Godd’s grace to finish, after the maner, fourme and fashion of a plat which is devised for the same, and signed with our hande.”

When completed, this was one of the most notable things of the metropolis. In 1520, some distinguished French visitors were entertained at a civic banquet. “In the afternoon, inasmuch as they desired amonge other things to see the hospital of Savoy and the king’s chapell at the monastery of Westminster, they were conueyed thither on horseback.”82 The engraving (Pl. XIV) shows an imposing pile of buildings.

Hospital buildings were good of their kind, and the chapels were of the best that could be provided. In Leland’s eyes Burton Lazars had “a veri fair Hospital and Collegiate Chirch”; Worcester could show “an antient and fayre large Chappell of St. Oswald”; St. John’s, Bridgwater, was “a thing notable” even to that insatiable sight-seer. Of the finest examples, most have vanished. At St. Bartholomew’s the Great, Smithfield, however, a portion survives of those “honourable buildings of pity” which astonished twelfth-century onlookers; and the noble church and quadrangles of St. Cross, Winchester (Pl. VIII), show the scale upon which some were designed. The church of the Dunwich leper-house (Pl. XXVIII) was 107 feet in length. (Ground-plan, ArchÆologia, XII.) Part of the apse remains, showing a simple arcade of semicircular arches, the p123 chancel being ornamented with intersecting arches. A treatise of Queen Mary’s time describes this church as “a great one, and a fair large one, after the old fashion ...but now greatly decayed.”83

The most ancient, and, from an architectural point of view, one of the most interesting chapels remaining, is that of St. Bartholomew, Rochester; the domed apse with its own arch, writes the chaplain, is rare even in the earliest Norman churches. (Ground-plan, see Journal Arch. Assoc., XI.) Norman work may be seen in chapels at Sherburn, Gloucester and Stourbridge, and in the fine hospital-hall at High Wycombe. Beautiful specimens of the Early English style remain at St. Bartholomew’s, Sandwich; the Domus Dei, Portsmouth; and St. Edmund’s, Gateshead. The latter chapel, built by Bishop Farnham about 1247, is still in use, for the graceful ruin drawn by Grimm (Pl. XXX) has been restored. It is described in Boyle’s Guide to Durham:—“The west front has a deeply-recessed central doorway, flanked by two tiers of arcades, whilst over these is an upper arcade, the alternative spaces of which are pierced by lancet lights”, etc. The chapel at Bawtry has a fine Early English window and a handsome niche at the eastern end.

Among disused or misused chapels may be named St. Mary Magdalene’s, Gloucester; St. Laurence’s, Crediton; Stourbridge; Poor Priests’, Canterbury; St. Mary Magdalene’s, Durham; some, like the last-named, are beyond restoration. St. Bartholomew’s, Oxford, and St. James’, Tamworth, long desecrated or deserted, are now being restored as houses of prayer. St. Katherine’s, p124 Exeter, has recently been given to the Church Army, for the use of the destitute poor resorting to the Labour Home.

Ancient chapels remain attached to almshouses in the following places:—

Those of Wilton (St. John), Taddiport near Torrington, and Holloway near Bath, are now chapels-of-ease; that of St. John and St. James, Brackley, is used in connection with Grammar School and Parish Church; Roman Catholics worship in St. John’s, Northampton, and French Protestants use the Anglican liturgy in p125 St. Julien’s, Southampton; the chapel of the Domus Dei, Portsmouth, is part of the Garrison Church; St. Mark’s, Bristol, is the Lord Mayor’s Chapel; St. Edmund’s, Gateshead (Holy Trinity), and St. Cross, Winchester, are Parish Churches.

74 Chron. and Mem., 57, iii. 262–3.