At the north end of Stonebridgegate, and not far from the Ure, stands the =Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene=, sometimes called 'The Maudlins.' It was founded by Archbishop Thurstan (1114-1141) for secular brethren and sisters, and one chaplain. The brethren and sisters were not merely to benefit by the charity themselves, but were to minister to lepers and blind priests born within the Liberty of Ripon, a certain number of whom were received into the Hospital. Lepers from outside the Liberty were entitled to a night's lodging: so also apparently were any other strangers or mendicant clergy who might be passing through the town. On St. Mary Magdalene's day there was a dole of food to the poor. A second chaplain was subsequently added by the benefaction of one William de Homelyn. At some period, apparently after 1241, the character of the foundation was changed by another Archbishop, whose name is not known. The brethren and sisters disappeared, and the staff consisted henceforth of a Master and one chaplain, or sometimes two. The Master was appointed by the Archbishop, and was generally a clerk, though sometimes only in acolyte's Orders. In 1334 one John Warrener, of Studley Roger, founded here a chantry of two if not three priests. Thus there may have been no less than six clergy attached to this small chapel; but the number was not kept up, and at the Reformation there were, besides the Master, only the two priests of Warrener's foundation. The Hospital continued to minister to blind priests, and also to lepers until leprosy died out. The lepers' portion of the building was demolished about 1350. In 1546-7 the inmates were 'five poor people.' All traces of the Master's house, the hall, the brewery, and the original dwellings have vanished. The dwellings were rebuilt in 1674, and again in 1875, since which date more cottages have been added, and a new chapel; and the hospital now accommodates twelve poor women. The Mastership, still in the gift of the Archbishop, is at present held with one of the canonries, and the cure of souls is discharged by a non-resident chaplain. [Illustration: SEAL OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE'S HOSPITAL] Fortunately the old chapel remains. The main fabric is apparently Thurstan's. It is of gritstone, but has been much altered and repaired at later periods, when limestone has been used. To the later work belong the set-off of the base, the coigns, the parapet, the east part of the south wall, the framing of most of the windows and doors, and the buttress and bell-cote at the west end. The west front is now divided by a large buttress of many stages terminating in a slope, but the plinth of this buttress is apparently original. To the right of the buttress is a long two-cusped lancet light; to the left may be traced, perhaps, the outline of an original round-arched window; while on both sides there are sloping lines in the masonry, as if there had been an acutely-pointed gable here.