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Summary

A hospital for the poor, aged and sick, founded prior to 1215 and with few physical remains

Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status

• Conservation Area: Newbury Town Centre

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• Berkshire SMR No. (pre 2000): 01389.09.000
  

Monument Type(s):

• HOSPITAL (13th century to 16th century - 1201 AD? to 1600 AD?)

Full Description

A HOSPITAL FOR THE AGED AND SICK FOUNDED PRE 1215. AMALGAMATED WITH GRAMMAR SCHOOL IN C16TH. ONLY REMAINS OF THESE ARE THE CHAPEL, HOSPITAL GRAVEYARD AND ALMSHOUSES. HOSPITAL BUILT AT EXTREME S END OF BARTHOLOMEW ST, PRESUMABLY WHERE LAND WAS CHEAPER- LATER ALMSHOUSES IN SAME AREA (SMR 1391.04)

Knowles and Hadcock categorise the hospital as for a warden, brethren and sisters living under religious vows, caring for the poor, aged and sick. The rule may have been that of St Augustine. It was not suppressed at the Reformation; in 1546 it apparently contained a priest and two poor men serving the chapel, the income then being over £23 <5>.
The earliest evidence for the hospital comes from the grant of a fair by King John witnessed on the 7th July 1215 <9><14>. From 1301, the episcopal registers of Sarum give the succession of the hospital wardens <10>.

In 1267 the hospital was given the right of free burial in its cemetery; this must have lain to the north and east of The Litten chapel, where large quantities of human remains have been discovered, most notably in 2004 <15>.

Little is known about the layout of the medieval hospital although comparisons with other sites suggest it is likely that it had a hall where patients were housed, as well as a kitchen, accommodation for the priests and perhaps isolation chambers. The Litten Chapel is the only upstanding remnant of the complex, and was probably built in the early 16th century, towards the end of the life of the hospital. It was almost certainly part of a larger religious building; there may also have been a cloister or courtyard.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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