Sherburn Hospital Chapel, Sherburn Hospital, Shincliffe, Durham. DH1 2SE.
Posted by: 
greysman
N 54° 46.095 W 001° 31.328
30U E 595077 N 6070004
Originally built in 1181 as the chapel for the leper colony, this church and hospital survived the dissolution of Henry VIII.
Waymark Code: WMN75R
Location: North East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/09/2015
Views: 1
The Chapel of Sherburn Hospital was built c1181 as the chapel to a leper colony and hospital founded by Hugh de Puiset (Bishop Pudsey) to care for 65 lepers and was rather clumsily dedicated to "our Lord, to the Blessed Virgin, to St. Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha". It has an early C13 tower and chancel and is Grade II* listed.
Badly damaged by fire in 1864 it was largely rebuilt with an added north aisle in 1868 to the designs of Austin and Johnson, the estimate for its restoration was £1,590. It is of squared and dressed sandstone with graduated green slate roofs. Due to the layout of the original hospital and grounds it is aligned not east-west as is usual, but north-west to south-east. The chapel consists of a Geometrical Gothic west tower and a continuous Romanesque nave and chancel with north aisle. The tower is broad, square, angle-buttressed and 3-staged with restored openings. The tall lower stage has a round-arched doorway on the south and pointed lancets above. There are blind arcades on the second stage, each with three pointed arches on colonnettes, the central arcade on the north and south sides have pairs of lancets with timber louvres to the bell chamber. The short top stage has blind arcades, each with six trefoil-headed arches on colonnettes. The restored embattled parapet is on a corbel table and there is a single bell in the tower, cast by Smith of York in 1724, which chimes the hours, the clock face being of the skeleton type and in the third stage.
The continuous nave and chancel are both of three bays, the nave has the original, c1181, south wall with flat-buttressed bay divisions and round-arched windows with sill string and continuous hood mould. The partly restored nave windows have square-cut inner order and roll-moulded outer order openings. The rear arches have colonnettes and roll moulding which continues along the sill.
The restored chancel has buttresses with offsets and similar 1868 windows and there are a pair of small round-arched windows on the east ends of both chancel and north aisle. Projecting eaves and a continuous, steeply-pitched slate covered roof has a coped east gable. The north aisle, on both nave and chancel, has off-centre buttresses, chamfered round-arched windows and a steeply-pitched matching roof.
There is a full article about the Hospital on Wikipedia here:- Sherburn Hospital
...and some more of the hospital history here:- history
The hospital survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the associated closures of many hospitals and a new constitution was introduced by Act of Parliament in 1585 for the establishment of "The Master and Brethren of Christ's Hospital in Sherborne near Durham".
An old woodcut from 1744 shows that the chapel was on the 'north' side of the hospital grounds opposite the gateway with the men's and women's parts of the hospital arranged along the sides. The chapel then had a small spire and the men and women used separate entrances into the chapel for worship.
Although the church is shown as being in a parish in the Diocese of Durham, it is considered as 'non-parochial' and regular services are not held.
Visit Instructions:1) A photo of the church is required for visits to a waymark.
2) Please share some comments about your visit.
3) Additional photos are encouraged. If you can have information in addition to that already provided about this church, please share it with us.