Lord Leycester Hospital - High Street, Warwick, UK
N 52° 16.803 W 001° 35.415
30U E 596172 N 5793122
Lord Leycester Hospital is a group of timber-framed buildings on Warwick High Street dating mainly from the late 14th. The "hospital" has never been a hospital in the medical meaning but served as a charitable institution.
Waymark Code: WMR2W4
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/04/2016
Views: 3
A plaque on the wall of the building tells us:
Lord Leycester's Hospital
The Guilds of St George, of the Holy Trinity and of the Virgin Mary raised these buildings about the year 1400 AD. These Guilds were dispersed in 1546.
In 1571 Robert Dudley, Earl of Leycester founded here his hospital for aged or infirm men who had seen service in the wars, together with their wives.
By 1950 the buildings had become seriously decayed and the Brethrens' quarters were no longer fit for use. During the period 1958 to 1966 the buildings were restored and their quarters modernised.
The hospital was re-opened on the 3rd November 1966 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
The Lord Leycester website gives an overview of the buildings:
The Lord Leycester Hospital is not now, and has never been a medical establishment. The word ‘hospital’ is used in its ancient sense meaning “a charitable institution for the housing and maintenance of the needy, infirm or aged”.
The Hospital is an historic group of timber-framed buildings on Warwick High Street dating mainly from the late 14th Century clustered round the Norman gateway into the town with its 12th Century Chantry Chapel above it.
For nearly 200 years it was the home of Warwick’s medieval Guilds. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth I it became, under the patronage of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, a place of retirement for old warriors. So it remains today as an independent charity providing homes for ex-Servicemen and their wives. The buildings are open to visitors and can be hired for civil ceremonies, receptions, dinners, parties and other events.
The Lord Leycester Hospital is Grade I listed with the entry at the Historic England website telling us:
Built round a courtyard. South range with Guildhall circa 1483. East range before 1400. North range with Master's House probably medieval, much restored with some C16 partitions and south wall. West wing with King James's Banqueting Hall, late medieval with modern facsimile west wall, fine early open timber roof with tiebeams.
Originally built by the Guild of St George and the Holy Trinity in C15, and taken by Lord Leicester in 1571 for the purpose of forming a pensioners' hospital. 2 storey plus attic. Heavy timber framing of various types, in fair state of repair, much of which is original close set studding. Extensive restoration in C18 and also about 1850, when timber framing was uncovered by removal of plaster and two small flush gables were added to the High Street elevation. Restored roof, mainly of old tiles. Internal features of considerable interest include open quadrangle with covered gallery, Guildhall (right hand side of main entrance), which was converted to the Brethren's Quarters in C18.