Site of medieval Hospital of St Mary and St Leonard (EHER 172)

Supposed site of the Hospital of St Mary and St Leonard recorded in 1156-7 for a master, brothers and the Infirm (lepers) under St Martin Le Grand, London.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import: Site of St Leonard's Hospital (NR). <1> Supposed site of the Hospital of St Mary and St Leonard recorded in 1156-7 for a master, brothers and the Infirm (lepers) under St Martin Le Grand, London. In 1535 there was only the master and two fellows. It was dissolved 1543 and leased to Richard Fermow of London. Demolished about 1907 by C. Meyer of Shortgrove. <2> - <4> St Leonard's Hospital, Birchanger is on the right hand side of the road to Walden, by the river and seems to be an old building; probably the original fabric. (Birchanger is the part of Newport that lies beyond the toll-bridge on each side of the way leading to Walden). <5> Fragments of worked 13th century stones in a wall on the east side of the road, south of Shortgrove Park, formed part of the hospital of St Mary and St Leonard which stood on the adjoining site. <6> He granted lands and rents to sustain the brethren, priests and laymen. From 1156/7 to 1220 the King granted a yearly sum of two shillings to the infirm of Newport, and it is possible that there was an earlier charitable institution before the foundation of St Leonard's. In 1226/7 Henry III granted the right to hold a fair once a year on the Feast of St Leonard. In publications since the 1860s it has been described as leper hospital, but the original documentation does not refer to it as such. The hospital was sited on the northern outskirts of the town on the eastern side of the Cambridge Road, and it may have been incorporated into the later Hospital Farm (demolished 1907). The only surviving trace of it is some fragments of moulded stone from an arch that has been incorporated into the boundary wall. The stonework is of high quality with traces of red paint, and has been dated stylistically to the early 13th century. By the 15th century it appears to have ceased to care for the sick and become a College of Priests. <7> By the time of the Reformation, St Leonard's had 'houses, buildings, dovecotes, gardens, orchards, lands and grounds within the site, fence and circuit of the said hospital'. <8> <9> In about 1907 W.H. Quarrell noticed that the ancient Lepers' Hospital, outside Newport village near 'The Coach and Horses Inn' had been recently demolished by C. Meyer of Shortgrove. <10> "Site of an ancient hospital situated in the Carnation Nursery houses". <11> May 1950. Field survey. Unable to confirm site of hospital. <12> <13> February 1975. Field survey. No extant remains of the hospital survive within the nursery, though the worked stone is visible in the roadside wall at TL 51983495. <14> See also: <15> <16>