Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade I listed building. Main construction periods 1064 to 1840. The Hospital of St Nicholas, Harbledown, was founded c1084 for lepers and c1400 the places were filled by the poor aged and sick. It was not suppressed in the 16thc. The Norman to 14thc church survives but the present hall and dwellings are dated 1840. A gateway and St Nicholas's Farmhouse, (originally the Chantry House), have the date 1685 on them but are probably older, and a piece of medieval stone rubble wall in the north-west corner of the precinct known as the Mint or Clavering, must have formed part of the original building. Harbledown was the last step of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. At the Reformation as subsequently it was converted into almshouses and housed a master, 15 brothers and 15 sisters together with a non-resident Reader or Chaplain. These were rebuilt in 1685 and again in 1840.

Monument Types

• CHURCH (Medieval to Modern - 1074 AD to 2050 AD)
• LEPER HOSPITAL (HOSPITAL, Medieval - 1074 AD to 1094 AD)
• ALMSHOUSE (ALMSHOUSE, Post Medieval - 1567 AD to 1840 AD)

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:
1. 5273 HARBLEDOWN CHURCH HILL (south side)
The Old Leper Church of St Nicholas TR 1358 31/353
I
2. The hospital church dating from Archbishop Lanframe's Hospital for Lepers of circa 1084. Chancel and nave with north and south aisles and a tower at the west end of the north aisle. The chancel and nave are Norman and date from Lonframe's foundation. The north aisle and the tower were added in the C12, the south aisle in the C14. Built of flint with stone quoins. Tiled roof. Catslide roofs over aisle and south transept. Crown post roof. Norman capitals. Squint. Traces of Mediaeval wall paintings circa 1350. C14 glass in chancel windows. West doorway with continuous zigzag. Archbishop Lanframe's Hospital for Lepers was originally known as the Hospital of the Forest of Blean. Harbledown was the last step of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. At the Reformation as subsequently it was converted into Alms houses and housed a master, 15 brothers and 15 sisters together with a non-resident Reader or Chaplain. These were rebuilt in 1685 and again in 1840.
Listing NGR: TR1304358155

Description from record TR 15 NW 31:
[TR 13005816] St Nicholas Hospital [NR] [TR 13045815] St Nicholas Church [NAT]. (1) The Hospital of St Nicholas, Harbledown, was founded c1084 for lepers and c1400 the places were filled by the poor aged and sick. It was not suppressed in the 16thc. The Norman to 14thc church survives but the present hall and dwellings are dated 1840. A gateway and St Nicholas's Farmhouse, (originally the Chantry House), have the date 1685 on them but are probably older, and a piece of medieval stone rubble wall in the north-west corner of the precinct known as the Mint or Clavering, must have formed part of the original building. (2-3) St Nicholas Hospital, Harbledown, a group of mid 18thc almshouses, incorporates the remains of an earlier foundation, namely the church, which is in normal use, the Chantry House and gatehouse, and a fragment of old walling centred TR 13015819. GP. AO/65/60/3 and 7. (4) The Old Leper Church of St Nicholas, Grade I. Church Hill (south side). The hospital church dating from Archbishop Lanframe's Hospital for Lepers of circa 1804. Chancel and nave with north and south aisles a tower at the west end of the north aisle. The chancel and nave are Norman and date from Lanframe's foundation. The north aisle and the tower were added in the C12, the south aisle in the C14. Built of flint with stone quoins. Tiled roof. Catslide roofs over aisle and south transept. Crown post roof. Norman capitals. Squint.Traces of Medieval wall paintings circa 1350. C14 glass in chancel windows. West doorway with continuous zigzag. Archbishop Lanframe's Hospital for Lepers was originally known as the Hospital of the Forest of Blean. Harbledown was the last step of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. At the Reformation as subsequently it was converted into Alms houses and housed a master, 15 brothers and 15 sisters together with a non-resident Reader or Chaplain. These were rebuilt in 1685 and again in 1840. (5) Additional bibliography. (6-11) Additional bibliography - not consulted. (12-13)

The listing was amended in June 2014.

Summary of Building

Church, originally part of a leper hospital, late C11 with C12 and C14 additions.
Reasons for Designation

St Nicholas's Church, a late-C11 building with C12 and C14 additions, is listed at Grade I for the following principal reasons: * Architectural interest: a very well-preserved Norman and later medieval church with a good collection of early fittings and decoration; * Historic interest: built for St Nicholas's Hospital, England's first leper hospital founded by Archbishop Lanfranc c.1084, this is a rare and early example of a medieval leper church; * Group value: with the other listed structures belonging to St Nicholas's Hospital.
History

The church was built as part of the original St Nicholas's Hospital – a leper hospital, probably the first in England, founded c.1084 by Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury 1070-89, and in operation until the end of the C14. Henry II visited St Nicholas's on his penitential journey to Canterbury in 1174. After c.1400 the hospital became an almshouse for the poor; it was recorded to have had sixty places for poor men and women in 1562. The foundation was reconstituted in 1565, and the domestic ranges were rebuilt in 1685 and again in 1840. It is still an almshouse today, for retired people.

At least 350 religious houses and hospitals for the care of lepers (known as leper or lazar houses) were established In England between the close of the C11 and 1350. Many have disappeared, destroyed during the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s or simply decayed. Some remain, however – including this one, the oldest; St Mary Magdalen at Stourbridge near Cambridge; St Mary Magdalen in Sprowston, Norwich; and the hospital of St Mary the Virgin, IIford. Others survive as ruins or archaeological sites.

Leprosy, known today as Hansen's disease, had entered England by the C4 and was endemic by 1050. Leper houses were usually built on the edge of towns and cities or, if they were in rural areas, near to crossroads or major travel routes – such as this one, on the Canterbury-London road. They needed to retain contact with society to beg alms, trade and offer services such as prayers for the souls of benefactors. There was high demand for places and 'leprous brothers and sisters' were often accepted fully into the monastic order of the house. Most houses had their own chapel and rituals for prayer and singing went on throughout the day.

Many lepers retained contact with their family and friends, being allowed to make visits home and to receive visitors. Attitudes began to change in the C14, particularly after the horrors of the Black Death (1347-1350), as fear of contagion led to greater restriction and isolation. However by this time leprosy was in retreat – possibly due to greater immunity in the population – and many houses fell into disuse or were put to new uses, often becoming almshouses for the sick and disabled poor.

Details

Church, originally part of a leper hospital, late C11 with C12 and C14 additions.

MATERIALS: flint with stone dressings; tiled roof.

PLAN: the church comprises a chancel and nave (both of Norman date and belonging to Lanfranc's original foundation), with a tower and north aisle added in the C12 and a south aisle of the C14.

EXTERIOR: the church stands within the little sloping enclosure formed by the almshouses (rebuilt in 1840) to the west and south and St Nicholas's Farmhouse to the north. The west front features a Norman doorway with a zigzag moulding, and a square-headed three-light Perpendicular window above. The plain square tower, set back to the right, is of four stages with simple lancet openings. The nave roof sweeps down over the aisles in a continuous catslide. The projecting chancel has two-light windows with early Decorated tracery.

INTERIOR: the interior features Transitional Norman arcades, partly remodelled in the C14, with some Norman carved capitals surviving. The floor slopes downward from east to west, supposedly to facilitate the regular washings needed to prevent infection. The roof is of C14 crown-post type. The belfry, reached by a flight of medieval solid-tread stairs, contains four bells: one of c.1450 cast by William Chamberlain, and three of 1614-22 by Joseph Hatch. Other early features include C14 wall-paintings and stained glass in the chancel, simple timber benches in the nave and an octagonal font with carved beasts and blind Perpendicular tracery to the shaft. A treasury at the end of the north aisle displays artefacts from the medieval hospital.
Selected Sources

Book Reference - Author: Knowles, D and Hadcock, R. N - Title: Medieval Religious Houses in England and Wales - Date: 1971 - Page References: 275
Website Reference - Author: Lambeth Palace Library - Title: National Church Institutions Database of Manuscripts and Archives - URL: http://archives.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk
Website Reference - Author: Simon Jarrett - Title: Disability in Time and Place - Date: 16 April 2014 - URL: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/content/imported-docs/a-e/disability-in-time-and-place.pdf
Book Reference - Author: Ingram Hill, Derek, and Lyle, Marjorie - Title: The Ancient Almshouses and Hospitals of Canterbury - Date: 2004
Other Reference - Description: 'Hospitals: Harbledown', A History of the County of Kent: Volume 2 (1926), pp. 219-220.


National Grid Reference: TR1304558153 (17)

Historic England archive material (18)

Historic England, Archive material associated with St Nicholas' Church in Harbledown, Listed building (Archive). SKE54652.

<1> OS 1/2500 1957 (OS Card Reference). SKE48127.

<2> Med Rel Houses Eng & Wales 1953 275 (Knowles & Hadcock) (OS Card Reference). SKE46779.

<3> MHLG (1953/11/A Dec 1960) 35 (OS Card Reference). SKE46948.

<4> F1 ASP 05.02.65 (OS Card Reference). SKE41926.

<5> DOE (HHR) Dist of City of Canterbury Kent March 1980 101 (OS Card Reference). SKE40223.

<6> BOE N East & East Kent 1983 340-41 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE38203.

<7> Arch Cant 29 1911 261 (OS Card Reference). SKE34964.

<8> Arch J 86 1929 294-298 (G M Livett) (OS Card Reference). SKE36712.

<9> Arch Cant 60 1948 15-16 (FC Elliston-Erwood) (OS Card Reference). SKE35318.

<10> VCH Kent Vol 2 1926 219-220 (RC Fowler) (OS Card Reference). SKE51206.

<11> MRH Eng & Wales 1971 312 322 & 362 (D Knowles & RN Hadcock) (OS Card Reference). SKE47437.

<12> Old Eng Houses of Alms 1910 34 37 (S Heath) (OS Card Reference). SKE47864.

<13> Tanner's Notitia Monastica 1787 Kent xxviii (Naismith) (OS Card Reference). SKE49811.

<14> GATEHOUSE AT ST. NICHOLAS HOSPITAL ALMSHOUSES AT HARBLEDOWN FROM SOUTH. (Photograph). SKE2628.

<15> ST. NICHOLAS HOSPITAL ALMSHOUSES AT HARBLEDOWN FROM SOUTH. (Photograph). SKE2629.

<16> Historic England, National Heritage List for England (Index). SKE29372.

<17> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources and further reading

Related thematic articles

• Medieval Kent (Thematic Essay)