Description

1.
944 HIGH STREET
(South West Side)

Nos 25 & 26
(Eastbridge Hospital)
TR 1457 NE 4/18

I GV

2.
Founded in 1180 for the needs of poor pilgrims to the shrine of St Thomas
Becket. Restored 1927-1832. 12 pilgrims were accommodated here each night
and were charged 4d for board and lodgings. In the C14 a chantry chapel
was added, and after the Dissolution the building was turned into almshouses.
The exterior is built in 2 portions. The left side is 2 storeys high faced
with knapped flint and having stone quoins. Tiled roof with crenellated
parapet. 3 early Perpendicular windows with reticulated tracery set in stone
surrounds. 4 arched C14 door set in an earlier round-arched C12 door. The
right hand side is a timber-framed building but with an early C19 facade
to the High Street. 3 storeys red brick with crenellated parapet. 4 lancet
windows, some double, some triple with diamond panes. Brick plinth. The
rear elevation of this part is C17 and tile humg. 2 to 3 storeys with a
slate roof in hips and restored sash windows. The hall and undercoft date
from about 1180. The undercroft was originally the dormitory and is groin-vaulted
It is 5 by 2 bays on short round piers with round ball caps and moulded bases.
This is a form which was first introduced in 1179 in William the Englishman's
crypt. There is C13 mural on the north wall of a seated figure of Christ
in an almond-shaped surround with the symbols of the 4 Evangelists. The
south wall has late C16 painted panels with strapwork and shields of arms.
The chapel upstairs has a fine crown post roof.

Nos 25 to 29 (consec) & Cottages situated to south west of main Eastbridge
Hospital Building form a group.

Listing NGR: TR1478857916

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Eastbridge Hospital of St Thomas the Martyr, Canterbury at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q5329834

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

• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)