Description

ALTON C.P. CASTLE HILL ROAD (North side)
SK 0642-0742
13/4 Hospital of St. John (Formerly
3/1/67 listed as "The Hospital and
School")
GV II*

Hospital, now convent and school. 1840 to circa 1847. By Augustus Welby
Northmore Pugin. Ashlar with edged herringbone tooling; shaped tile roofs with plain tile bands and crested ridge tiles; ashlar ridge stacks with
octagonal shafts and crenellated caps. 3 attached ranges grouped around
a roughly square courtyard, entrance (east) range aligned north-south
facing west, north and south ranges aligned east-west, projecting to
the west, warden's house attached to the west end of the north range
linking it with the Chapel, now the R.C. Church of St. John the Baptist
(q.v.). Entrance range: central 2 storey gabled porch with diagonal
buttresses, the right hand side of the range has 2 storeys and an attic
with storey bands, the left hand side has one storey and attic and
single-storey lean-to gallery; 7 bays marked by buttresses, square-
headed ground-floor windows with one to three cinquefoil-headed lights,
first floor and attic windows to the right are mullioned and of 2
lights, cambered attic windows to left with 2 cinquefoil headed lights,
all attic windows within gabled dormers; central pointed door and oriel
window above. Left hand range: one storey, 3-bay range with 3-light
windows and buttresses at the bay divisions, terminated to the left by
the 3-storey tower of the warden's house; the tower has 2 storey
buttresses to left and right flanking a central 4-centred doorway. The
Chapel, now the R.C. Church of St. John the Baptist (q.v.) is set back
to the left. Right hand range: main block of 2 storeys and attic
and 6 bays with a slightly lower 2-storey bay attached to the left and
a 2-storey gabled tower attached to the right, surmounted by a bellcote
with pyramidal steeple; the bay divisions are marked by buttresses,
the ground floor windows of the main block are of 3 ogee-headed lights
with short supermullions rising to a flat arch, the 2-light first-floor
windows are of a similar character but have cambered arches, hipped
attic dormers. The Hospital of St. John is part of an important
complex of buildings designed by Pugin for the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury.
B.O.E. pp. 59-60; C.L. November 24, 1960, pp. 1226-1229.

Listing NGR: SK0738642428

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17531185

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)