More information : [TF 33144489] Almshouses [G.T.] (1)
The hospital of St. Leonard, for ten poor people was established at Skirbeck c 1220. It was given to the Knights Hospitallers c 1230 and became known as St.John the Baptist's Hospital. In 1338 it sustained 20 people in the infirmary and 40 at the gate. The house was later united to the Preceptory at Maltby. In 1542 it was granted to Charles, Duke of Suffolk. The hospital appears to have continued as an almshouse, as in 1608 St. Leonard's Hospital and beadsmen are mentioned. The manor of St. John and the Bede of St. Leonard is mentioned in 1656. According to Thompson (4) the site of the hospital was on the west side of Maud Foster drain, immediately opposite Hospital Bridge [TF 33114492]. The bedehouses on the east side of the drain which was cut in 1568 - see TF 34 N.W. 1] consist of ten small tenements, each with its small garden.
An old house, known as Jerusalem House (not shown on O.S. plans) appears to have been built of materials from the hospital, rather than to have formed part of the original buildings. (2-5)
Mr. H. Fishwick (Solicitor. Clerk to the St. Leonard's Trust) states that the deeds refer to the present Bedehouses as standing on the site of the original hospital, and he considers Thompson (authy.4) to be incorrect. Jerusalem House is mentioned in the deeds without siting information, and Mr. Fishwick is of the opinion that it was demolished with other Trust property in the late 19.c. The present almshouses (still in use as such) are dated 1874: there is a modern extension to the east known as St. Leonard's Close. (6) |