Author Topic: St Barts Hospital. Rochester.  (Read 10222 times)

Offline CAT

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Re: St Barts Hospital. Rochester.
« Reply #23 on: October 24, 2019, 03:27:33 PM »
Always worth airing caution MartinR with the accrediting foundation dates with actual structures, which is a common pitfall from the past. A foundation document does not necessarily relate to the buildings on the site. I include an inferred plan of the hospital chapel and accompanying text by Aymer Valence (a respective church authority of his time), both of which suggest the chapel, with its apsidal east end is of early twelfth-century and not late eleventh-century as a foundation document might imply.

Apart from the larger religious establishments (cathedrals and priories), it is thought that the early church builders following the Norman conquest preferred the square east end. A revival of the eastern apse, unless it was already in place prior to the Norman conquest, appears to have been favoured in the parish church from about c.1100 - 1125. Archbishop Lanfranc (first Norman archbishop) certainly didn't favour the apse in the parish church, all of which can be roughly dated to his term possess square east ends. The curving apse subsequently went out of fashion after c.1150 with numerous 'apses' being removed and squared off, these were subsequently extended in the following years. 

snodlandmalc

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Re: St Barts Hospital. Rochester.
« Reply #22 on: October 24, 2019, 01:55:21 PM »
Interesting to see a picture of the children's ward,although it does still send a shiver down my spine ! I was in there about 1958/59.I was only about 4,so don't remember to much detail of it.I recall it as being dark and dingy,so I think it was on a lower level.

Offline Smiffy

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Re: St Barts Hospital. Rochester.
« Reply #21 on: October 24, 2019, 12:07:47 AM »
If I remember rightly this was discussed on the old forum and confirmed as Lloyds paper mill.

Offline MartinR

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Re: St Barts Hospital. Rochester.
« Reply #20 on: October 23, 2019, 11:37:41 PM »
Thank you for that.  Do you know if the paper mill (and associated narrow gauge railway) was Edward Lloyd's Sittingbourne and Kemsley complex?

Offline Smiffy

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Re: St Barts Hospital. Rochester.
« Reply #19 on: October 23, 2019, 10:57:36 PM »

I thought I'd post this link for those who haven't seen it. The date says 1929 but it actually dates from the end of 1930.


Offline MartinR

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Re: St Barts Hospital. Rochester.
« Reply #18 on: October 23, 2019, 10:46:23 PM »
I stand slightly corrected.  The word "Norman" was missing.  "Very few Norman apses remain unaltered and Greenwood suggests that this may be the earliest remaining example in the country".  Greenwood, E.J. (1962), The Hospital of St Bartholomew Rochester, The Author, page 29.


Offline CAT

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Re: St Barts Hospital. Rochester.
« Reply #17 on: October 23, 2019, 09:23:49 PM »
Just a couple of pics from my collection all dated to the early 1950's. The first being a general view of the hospital, the second being a glimpse at the children's ward and a third of the operation theatre. May bring back some memories?


MartinR is on dangerous ground when describing the medieval chapel as possibly having the earliest surviving example of an apsidal east end. Think about the early Anglo - Saxon churches of Kent, or any number of early Norman examples that abound also.

Offline stuartwaters

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Re: St Barts Hospital. Rochester.
« Reply #16 on: October 17, 2019, 09:30:10 PM »
I merged the two threads about St. Barts Hospital in Rochester. All the posts about it in the Category 'Civic Buildings' are now in the thread contained in the Hospitals and Asylums Category.
"I did not say the French would not come, I said they will not come by sea" - Admiral Sir John Jervis, 1st Earl St Vincent.

Offline MartinR

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Re: St Barts Hospital Rochester
« Reply #15 on: October 17, 2019, 10:05:25 AM »
The East end is original.  Indeed it may be the earliest surviving example of an apsoidal east end.  The nave is C13, but may contain earlier work obscured by the alterations (for a similar example of burying see Rochester Cathedral).  The N aisle is 19C, as is the porch.  Stained glass is 19thC and 20thC.  There's a write up at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Bartholomew's_Hospital,_Rochester and the listing is at https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1268238  The last I heard it was being used by Granite Gym, but their server can't be contacted so that may no longer be the case.
There's an interesting report of the 1982 excavation of the (possible) hall in Archaeologia Cantiana here: https://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/arch-cant/vol/98/report-excavation-grounds-st-bartholomews-chapel-chatham

Offline Smiffy

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Re: St Barts Hospital Rochester
« Reply #14 on: October 17, 2019, 12:18:39 AM »
Yes, I meant just the chapel, I was wondering exactly how much of the original medieval structure is remaining.

Offline MartinR

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Re: St Barts Hospital Rochester
« Reply #13 on: October 16, 2019, 10:30:48 PM »

Offline Smiffy

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Re: St Barts Hospital Rochester
« Reply #12 on: October 16, 2019, 10:12:28 PM »
MartinR,


Do you know how much of it is actually original, as I believe there was quite a lot of restoration during Victorian times and sometimes they could get a bit carried away.

Offline MartinR

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Re: St Barts Hospital Rochester
« Reply #11 on: October 16, 2019, 09:52:45 PM »
1078, but what's 22 years between friends!  The hospital was the oldest continuously functioning hospital, but the buildings are from the  1863 - 1894 rebuild.  The chapel is original though, dating to between 1115 and 1124.

Offline smiler

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Re: St Barts Hospital Rochester
« Reply #10 on: October 16, 2019, 01:18:28 PM »
    Sorry just noticed this has previously been reported on perhaps admin can remove it please  :(

Offline smiler

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St Barts Hospital Rochester
« Reply #9 on: October 16, 2019, 01:02:55 PM »
    I noticed the other day a fence going up along the front of the hospital then heard from a friend it's going to be demolished, Has anybody here heard anything about this. Supposedly the oldest hospital in the country built around 1100 I believe.