Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

St Bartholemew's Hospital, Sandwich, was founded before 1227 for three priests, brethren and sisters, thought to have been as a direct result of the Battle of Sandwich in 1217, The present almshouses are 18th and 19th century, the warden's house (St Bart's House) is 18th and 19th century incorporating a timber-framed building.

Monument Types

• ALMSHOUSE (ALMSHOUSE, Medieval to Post Medieval - 1227 AD to 1799 AD)
• HOSPITAL (ALMSHOUSE, Medieval to Post Medieval - 1227 AD to 1799 AD)

Full description

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[TR 33055754] St Bartholemew's Hospital [NR]. (Founded A.D. 1227) [NAT] Chapel [NR] (1) St Bartholemew's Hospital, Sandwich, was founded before 1227 for three priests, brethren and sisters. The present almshouses are C18th and C19th, the warden's house (St Bart's House) is C18th and C19th incorporating a timber-framed building, the chapel is Early English restored and enlarged in the C19th and two barns are probably C16th or earlier. (2,3) The remains of St Bartholemew's Hospital are as described above and in good condition. (4) Dover Road (W side). St Bartholemew's Chapel (Formerly listed as The Chapel, Deal Road). Grade I. An excellent example of an Early English chapel, restored asnd enlarged by Sir Gilbert Scott in the C19th. (5) Said to have been founded as a direct result of the Battle of Sandwich, which took place on St. Bartholomew's Day, 24 August, 1217. There is an unsubstantiated account that the hospital had been founded around 1190, but it was refounded in 1217. The foundation documents do not survive, but an early 13th century charter without specific date relates to the maintenance of the chaplain at the hospital chapel, which appears to have been built shortly after the foundation, with extensive restoration in the 19th century, but still substantially 13th century, and is unusually large for a such a small hospital establishment. This may be explainable by an original plan of a single bay, with what is now the nave used for infirmary or domestic accommodation. By 1301 the hospital was an establishment for 12 men and 4 women, each with an individual room but communal eating facilities. Its original purpose is said to have been to accommodate travellers, including pilgrims. Other local hospitals diversified their roles in the 13th and 14th centuries so this may explain why Leland, writing in the 1530s, described its function as to care for 'maryners desesid and hurt', and it later evolved into an 'exclusive almshouse'. (7)

<1> OS 25" 1956 (OS Card Reference). SKE48271.

<2> MHLG (1600/11/A Sep 1948). 8.9 (OS Card Reference). SKE46926.

<3> Med Rel Houses, England & Wales 1953, 304 (Knowles & Hadcock) (OS Card Reference). SKE46808.

<4> F1 FGA 23-JUN-64 (OS Card Reference). SKE42968.

<5> DOE (HHR) Dist of Dover, Kent April 1976, 33 (OS Card Reference). SKE40277.

<6> Field report for monument TR 35 NW 24 - June, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE6046.

<7> 2010, Sandwich: 'the completest medieval town in England': A study of the town and port from its origins to 1600 (Monograph). SKE55375.

Sources and further reading