More information : [SU 7169 7358] Municipal Buildings [TU] on site of
[TI] St. John's Hospital & Grammar School [GT]. (1)
The hospital was founded in the ca. 1190 by Abbot Hugh II of Reading Abbey. Dugdale mistakenly gave the dedication to St Laurence. Hugh II's charter locates the building outside the Abbey gates. The hospital served the dual purpose of providing relief for the inmates, originally 13, and for the help of needy wayfarers. Following King Henry VII's visit in 1486, he requested of the Abbot that the hospital, suppressed some years previously, be converted to some pious use. The Abbot suggested that it become a grammar school, to which the King assented. William Dene, a rich man and servant in the Abbey grounds provided 200 marks to advance the conversion.
In 1478, the old guild hall was converted to a hospital or workhouse, and the upper floor of the grammar school was apparently added as the upper storey of the school. In 1786, the town hall was rebuilt, and the noise ensuing in the following years was a cause of complaint from the school. In 1789, the school moved to new premises adjacent to the schoolhouse in Vastern Lane. (The school was to close in 1866, although it reopened on a new site in 1871).
Restored by Slingsby Stallwood for the University, 1892. (2-3)
Additional bibliography (4)
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