Monument record 10340 - Hospital of St John the Baptist

St John’s Hospital, outside the Northgate, was one of two medieval hospitals in Chester (the other being St Giles’s leper house at Spital Boughton, and although it survived the Dissolution, it stopped providing medical care in 1537 (11). The hospital was founded by Ranulph III, by a charter granted c1190 – 1199 to the Hospital of the Virgin and All Saints, but within a short number of years, its dedication was transferred to St John (1, 2). Documentary research demonstrates that in the thirteenth century, the community associated with the institution consisted of the poor, sick and a prior, brethren and lay servants (including a proctor, gardener, butler, groom and nurses), all living under religious rule (1, 2).

By the fourteenth century, the hospital was controlled by a master, rather than by a prior and brethren, and the hospital regularly received gifts from the leading families of the city (1, 2). It strived to take on as many of the sick as possible, but thirteen of its beds were reserved for the poor and feeble of the city (1, 2). The institutions role as a place for housing the ill and infirm saved it from the Dissolution, but it was destroyed in 1644 during the siege of Chester, to prevent the use of the buildings on the site as shelter during the attacks. They were rebuilt twice in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (CHER 10423), and none of the original buildings of the hospital survive (1, 2).

<1> Harris, B.E. (ed), 1987, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume I, 3/180-183 Harris B 1980 (Book). SCH3556.

<2> Stewart-Brown R., 1927, The Hospital of St John at Chester, 78/Ns42/66-106 Stewart-Brown R 1926 (Article in Journal). SCH5971.

<3> Wright F. G. (Reverend), 1920, Chester Blue Coat Hospital, 23/(n) (Article in Journal). SCH5679.

<4> Pevsner N & Hubbard E, 1971, The Buildings of England: Cheshire, /161/162 (Book). SCH3078.

<5> Harris, B.E., 1979, Bartholomew City Guides - Chester, /84 (Book). SCH394.

<6> Department of the Environment, 1971-2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, /5/204-205 (Report). SCH1934.

<7> Knowles, D & Hadcock, RN, 1953, Medieval Religious Houses: England and Wales, /263 (Book). SCH2177.

<8> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ46NW50 1975 (Index). SCH2487.

<9> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, Ormerod G 1882 1/350-352 (Book). SCH1389.

<10> Morris, Rupert H (Rev.), 1894, Chester in the Plantagenet & Tudor Reigns, /154-156 (Book). SCH946.

<11> Lewis C.P & Thacker A.T. (eds), 2005, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume Vii, The City of Chester - The City of Chester, Culture, Buildings, Institutions (Book). SCH6522.

<12> L - P Archaeology, 2015, Bluecoat School Chester: Archaeological Watching Brief (Client Report). SCH7841.

An archaeological watching brief leading to a mitigation excavation was undertaken between April and September 2014 at Bluecoat school, formerly the site of the Hospital of St John the Baptist. This work was carried out in response to a planning condition for the installation of a new ramp to the front courtyard and general refurbishment of the existing building. The excavation work comprised hand excavation of a discrete area in the front courtyard leading to the access passage to the rear of the building, and small scale footing excavations in front of the building for a new dwarf wall.

The earliest deposit discovered was a cobbled surface thought to pre-date the 12th century hospital. A secure date was not gained for the cobbles although they are thought to Medieval based on the form of the material above them. However, it should be noted that the Roman road leading north from the fortress of Deva lies immediately to the east of this surface and it is possible that it may represent a rough Roman track or agger from a subsiduary road although there is no finds evidence to support this.

Cut into a deposit sealing the cobbled surface were the remains of a series of sandstone walls, these are thought to represent the foundations for the eastern frontage, and also an internal division, of the Medieval hospital. The foundations comprise large, varying size sandstone blocks in ashlar bond with no mortar. The quality of sandstone suggests that the hospital may have had a timber-framed upper section. Associated with the foundations was a female burial aligned east-west but truncated by 20th century service trenches. Given that the burial occurs within the hospital building, it is thought potentially to be that of a nun contemporary with the hospital (13th to 17th century). Large quantities of disarticulated human bone was also recovered from the backfill of a service trench in this area. These bones were also assessed to be female with no obvious signs of disease or trauma. Given that these burials also lay within the hospital building they too are thought likely to be staff. However, in the rear courtyard of the building, previous archaeological excavation revealed a series of female burials showing signs of disease and osteoarthritis, these burials could represent patients of the hospital.

The hospital building was demolished in the 17th century as part of the civil war defences and the land left vacant until the early 18th century. Following the war the site was granted to the corporation of Chester and the hospital rebuilt in 1714-17. Maps dating from 1745 show the building in its current plan. In 1854 the central section of the school was enlarged and a new façade created.

Sealing the sandstone foundation walls and burial were a series of two deposits which date to the period between 1644 and 1714, this date range is supported by the finds recovered. Cut into the upper part of this 18th century deposit was a dump of architectural material and this is thought to date to the remodelling of the Bluecoat school in 1854.