More information : (SP33387930) Grammar School [NR].(1)
Grammar School, formerly St John's Hospital, founded 1154. It was a grammar school from 1557, and is now used as a church hall. See
GP.(2)
SP333792. St John's Hospital, (The Old Grammar School).
Scheduled: W Midlands No.30.(3)
Additional references.(4,5)
St John's Hospital, C12th-1540. Free Grammar School 1556-1885.
Church Hall 1885-1941.
The only surviving building of St John's Hospital represents
the remains of its C14th church. In its original form, the church
consisted of an unaisled chancel, aisled nave and NW tower. The
South aisle has disappeared, and ca.10' was removed from the West
end of the nave and tower during road widening in the C18th.
Internal alterations during the C16th and later are the result of its
conversion to a schoolroom. The nave and chancel are structurally
undivided.
The hospital was probably founded in the third quarter of
the C12th, and in 1794, the piers of the earliest church were
discovered during excavations at a considerable depth below the floor
of the present building. Little is known of the layout of the hospital buildings, although it is believed that there was a quadrangle to the South of the church. An infirmary existed 'inter pontes' in 1385, and its location is given as opposite, and a little to the South of, the junction of Well Street with St John's Bridges in 1410-11. There is also reference to a hall on the South side of the hospital, with three tenements between it and the R. Sherbourne. Hales Street would now cover the site of any such buildings, but some part of them may have survived until 1794 in the library wing of the Free Grammar School. Human bone found to the North and East of the church probably indicates its cemetery. The master's lodging, which was later occupied by the master of the grammar school, also stood NE of the church. In 1444, a reference to a bed in the nave of the church may indicate that the chancel was only used for sacred purposes. Thirty beds for the poor were being maintained in 1522, when the hospital was being run by a master, three priests, three clerks, and five sisters. Following the Dissolution, the site was converted to a Free Grammar School. As part of the school, the church is listed Grade I.(6,7)
(For the subsequent history of the building, see SP37NW117) |