Charities -- Great Britain; Hospitals -- Great Britain; Hospitals, Medieval; Leprosy -- England
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.
[Illustration: _PLATE XII._
PLAN OF THE LEPER HOSPITAL OF ST. GILES, LONDON
(_a_) GATE. (_b_) CHAPEL AND PARISH CHURCH. (_c_) HOSPITAL MANSION.
(_d_) POOL CLOSE. (_e_) ORCHARD. (_f_) COTTAGES. (_g_) HOUSES, ETC., OF
DR. BORDOY. (_h_) GARDENS. (_i_) WALLS. (_l_) GALLOWS.
THE CHURCH OF ST. GILES IN THE FIELDS
(_a_) PARISH CHURCH. (_b_) HOSPITAL CHURCH. (_c_) BELL TOWER. (_d_,
_e_) ALTARS. (_f_) ST. MICHAEL’S CHAPEL. (_g_) SCREEN DIVIDING
CHURCHES. (_h_) WESTERN ENTRANCE.]
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the plan began to be superseded as early as the thirteenth century,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.”
[Illustration: 21. SHERBURN HOSPITAL, NEAR DURHAM]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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