Patrick Comerford
The Great Hospital is a mediaeval hospital or almshouse with a continuous presence in Norwich since the 13th century, and the Great Hospital, with Saint Helen’s Church on Bishopgate, it is one of the historical sites we visited during our recent overnight stay in Norwich. The Great Hospital stands on a 2.8 ha (7 acres) site at a bend on the River Wensum, and close to Norwich Cathedral and the Cathedral Close.
Over 1,000 hospitals of this kind were founded in medieval England, including also Saint John’s Hospital in Lichfield. Yet very few of these hospitals survived the upheavals of the English Reformations. Indeed, only the Great Hospital in Norwich, also known as Saint Giles’s Hospital, now a retirement home for the elderly, has retained both its mediaeval fabric and a major archive.
The archive is said to have no rival anywhere in Britain, and it has been described as the ‘fullest and by far the most important set of British mediaeval hospital records to survive the English Reformation.’ It has a lengthy record of continuous care and most of the extensive mediaeval buildings in the hospital grounds are still in use to this day.
The Great Hospital in Norwich was founded in 1249 by Bishop Walter de Suffield. It was originally known as Saint Giles’s Hospital, and the first Master was Hamon de Calthorpe, who was appointed in 1256.
The original beneficiaries of the new hospital were aged priests, poor scholars and sick and hungry paupers. At the time, priests were unmarried, so they had no families to support them in their old age. The poor scholars – boys chosen on merit from local song schools – were to receive a daily meal during term times, and this was to continue until the boy had achieved a good grasp of Latin. With this help, bright but poor boys were given the chance to train as choristers or even to enter the priesthood.
Thirty beds at the west end of the church were allocated for the sick poor, and 13 paupers were to be fed at the hospital gates each day. As well as the Master of Saint Giles’s, the foundation had four chaplains, a deacon and a sub-deacon.
The hospital was modelled on the Rule of Saint Augustine, which discouraged excessive liturgical ritual so more time could be devoted to charitable works. Nevertheless, the master and the chaplains were bound to sing three Masses a day, including one for Bishop Suffield’s soul, as well as a weekly mass in honour of Saint Giles.
The chancel ceiling in the hospital was lavishly decorated in the late 14th century with 252 panels, each depicting a black eagle. The ceiling was thought to have been painted in honour of Anne of Bohemia, who visited Norwich in 1383 with her husband, King Richard II, and it now forms the ceiling of Eagle Ward which has been preserved.
The internal appearance of the church was radically altered in the 16th century when the east and west ends were partitioned off and divided horizontally to provide two wards at either end. The central area of the church was retained and used for worship as it still is today, being both the chapel of the Great Hospital and the Parish Church of Saint Helen.
Since the mid 19th century, living accommodation has been constantly improved to meet residents’ needs. Five cottages were built in 1849; a sick ward followed in 1889; a further 12 cottages in 1906; and another 17 dwellings in 1937. The 17 cottages built in 1937, now called Suffield Court, were later changed to single-person dwellings.
Substantial changes were initiated by Jack Davies Shaw, Master from 1965 to 1980, when the Great Hospital was modernised, ensuring it was a model community for the elderly going into the 21st century.
The old sick ward was replaced in 1972 by Elaine Herbert House, where an improved form of nursing care was provided. The lodge was finally demolished in 1975. Prior Court opened in 1980 and has 18 single and six double flats designed to accommodate people who need regular support. Saint Helen’s House was converted into eight residential flats in 1986. A new group of cottages were built behind Suffield Court in 1999.
Plans were made to demolish the 12 cottages built in 1906 and replace them with a new two-storey block with 18 flats, Holme Terrace, and six additional flats were added to Prior Court. Saint Helen’s House is currently used as the nursing home, but is not part of the Great Hospital as it was originally a residence separate from the Hospital.
The Great Hospital has one of the smallest monastic cloisters in England; a fine mediaeval refectory; Saint Helen’s House, with excellent examples of Georgian decorated ceilings said to be the work of Angelica Kauffman; an 18th century swan pit; and a large Victorian hall.
In all, the Great Hospital has nine listed buildings: Birkbeck Hall; the Cloisters and West Wall of the former Chapter House; the former Chaplain’s House; the former Master’s House; part of the former Master’s House; the Refectory and part of the former Master’s House; the Lodge; the East Wards; and the White Cottages.
The hospital has had 64 Masters. The first female Master was Dorothy North in 2000-2007, and Gina Dormer is the current Master. The charity nurtures a vibrant and peaceful community of over 60s, supporting the residents to live independently.
The Great Hospital is included in the ‘Norwich 12’, one of the finest collections of individually outstanding heritage buildings in the UK, spanning the Norman, mediaeval, Georgian, Victorian and modern eras.
Further reading:
Carole Rawcliffe, Medicine for the Soul: The life, death and resurrection of an English Medieval Hospital, St Giles, Norwich, c1249-1550 (1999)
Elaine Phillips, A Short History of the Great Hospital, Norwich (1999)
