The Master's House, Saltisford - geograph

The remaining ruins of St Michael's Leper Hospital, a mediaeval hospital, lie in a patch of scrubland in the Saltisford area in the north of the town of

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

, England, and are of the last remaining leper hospital in England. The hospital, which was founded by Roger, Earl of Warwick in about 1135, is classified by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

as a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

. The remains of two of the hospital buildings can still be seen on the site - a chapel and the 15th century, two-storey Master's House. They are both grade II* listed buildings.

History

The hospital was founded by

Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick (c. 1102 – 12 June 1153) was the elder son of Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick and Margaret (d. after 1156), daughter of Geoffroy, Count of PercheDavid, Crouch"Roger, second earl of Warwick" ''Oxford ...

, in the vicinity of a church of the same name towards the end of the reign of

Henry I of England Henry I (c. 1068 – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in ...

, in about 1135.Page, pp. 115-117 The warden was a priest. In the 15th century the chapel was probably rebuilt after its parish was merged with the

Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is grade I listed, and a member of the Major Churches Network. The churc ...

.Stephens, pp. 533 The half-timbered, two-storey Master's House was also constructed around this time.Stephens, pp. 418-427 In 1978 the then owner of Warwick Castle renovated the chapel had plans to move the buildings to the castle site but this was never realized. The structural problems of the surviving Master's House mean that it is listed on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register as 'very bad'. In 2018 it was announced that after lying unused and covered up for "almost four decades" £530,000 would be allocated to the site to use it for supported housing, preserving the older buildings in their current condition as best as possible. On January 15, 2021, Warwick District Council announced a Compulsory Purchase Order had been served on the owner of the site of the hospital to enable the scheme to proceed.

Architecture

The two-storey "Master's" (or "Priest's") House stands furthest back from the road. It is timber-framed, although some additions have been made with bricks and concrete.

References

Bibliography

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External links

* {{EHbarName, masters+house+warwick Structures on the Heritage at Risk register in Warwickshire Buildings and structures in Warwick Scheduled monuments in Warwickshire Grade II* listed buildings in Warwickshire