Monument record BSE 025 - St Nicholas's Hospital

St Nicholas' Hospital - remains of. Founded circa 1215, suppressed 1539 (S1). For summary see (S2).

St Nicholas Hospital was established on the site by Abbot Hugh II of Northwold outside the Town’s East Gate in about 1215. It was of the Almshouse type of hospital and there was a Master, Chaplin and Brothers to run it. In 1224 Henry III granted a licence for a two-day annual fair to be held at the Hospital on 8/9th May. This fair, together with income from 53 acres on land and charitable donations allowed the Hospital to survive through until the dissolution of the monastaries around in 1537.
In 1547 the Hospital site was given to William Hunnyngs, at which point we can assume it became a dwelling, or a Farm. The Warren Map of 1776 show the house with another building to the east on the Ixworth road frontage but there is no sign of the main building to the south. The Warren Map of 1791 has the building named as Chapel Farm. In 1811 the east window of St Petronilla Hospital was moved to the site by Philip Bennett, the then owner of the house.
In the walls of the house garden you can see much older pieces of stone work with some Norman carvings. The boundary walls have been constructed at different periods with some of the original Hospital walling still present but a lot of the wall seems to have been rebuilt in the 19th century when the house was remodelled and the St Petronilla window was added to the south of the garden (S3).