St Margaret's Almshouses are part of a 12th-century leper colony in

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England.

History

The building was founded as a leper hospital in the 12th century, Somerset Historical Environmental Records dates it to between 1174 and 1180 AD. Records of

Taunton Priory Taunton Priory, or the Priory of St Peter and St Paul, was an Augustinian house of canons founded c. 1115 by William Gyffarde (also called William Giffard), Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England near Taunton, Somerset, England. Histo ...

describe it as The Chapel of St Margaret 'infirmorum' in 1180.

Glastonbury Abbey Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Its ruins, a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument, are open as a visitor attraction. The abbey was founded in the 8th century and enlarged in the 10th. It w ...

acquired the patronage of the hospital in 1280 and Abbot Beere rebuilt it as almshouses in the early 16th century. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the associated chapel was demolished. From 1612 to 1938 the building continued to be used as almshouses, cared for by a local parish. In the late 1930s it was converted into a hall of offices for the

Rural Community Council The rural community councils (RCCs) were established in rural England during the twentieth century to promote rural community life. Each shire county now has one, although some are relative newcomers. The RCCs also form a national coalition call ...

and accommodation for the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen. The designer of those renovations was William Worrall of Glastonbury. From the late 1980s and the building then stood empty and then, in the early 1990s the

thatched roof Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

was destroyed by fire and the building suffered from vandalism and neglect until the

Somerset Buildings Preservation Trust The Somerset Buildings Preservation Trust (SBPT) works to save the architectural heritage of Somerset, England. The Trust is an independent body and consists of up to 18 Trustees who hold Board meetings 3 times a year. It is a Building Preserv ...

with Falcon Rural Housing purchased and restored it using, as faithfully as possible, the original architecture and building materials. After restoration it was purchased by Falcon Rural Housing as four dwellings of social housing. It is a long freestanding single storey building, built mostly of local shillet stone. On the front of the building is a stone tablet with the arms of Abbot Bere of Glastonbury, the original restorer of the building. It is a grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

References

External links

St Margaret's Almshouses (formerly Leper Hospital) from Somerset Buildings Preservation Trust

St Margaret's Leper Hospital, Taunton - Somerset Historic Environment Record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taunto, Saint Margaret 12th-century church buildings in England Grade II* listed buildings in Taunton Deane Grade II* listed almshouses Tourist attractions in Somerset Hospitals in Somerset Almshouses in Somerset Defunct hospitals in England Leper hospitals Saint Margarets Saint Margarets Thatched buildings in Somerset