Notes on the hospital of St. Bartholomew, Rochester.

Date:
[1896?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on the hospital of St. Bartholomew, Rochester. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the building as a “ precious archaeological and historical relic, the pre¬ servation of which is of the utmost importance.” The whole of the walls are ancient, save the west front and north aisle. The windows in the south side of the nave have flat wooden lintels,- probably on account of the hospital cloister, which abutted. At the S.E. angle of the nave the wall has been cut into to obtain space for an altar against the chancel arch. The broken wall was supported by a chalk half¬ arch, and the spring of the arch that formed the canopy of the altar remains. Some colouring on the wall, and the recess of the aumbry, are still preserved. On the south side of the chancel is the old priest’s door, leading to. the vestry, in which is the Norman piscina. The most interesting feature is the domical apse, with its own arch. This is rare even in the earliest Norman churches. In the respond of the apse arch on the south side a thirteenth century sedile has been inserted. The small arch above it has no key-stone, but is formed of two large stones, held together by a stone dowel. In the east side of the arch of the side chapel a consecration cross is marked. This side chapel is perhaps the oldest part of the church, its quoins being of Tufa. The work of restoration has been long and costly, having involved an outlay of more than As,ooo. The ancient walls have been care¬ fully underpinned, and every stone preserved and replaced. The Church is in the H igh Street, exactly at the junction of Rochester and Chatham, and is well worthy of a visit, as being one of the very oldest and most interesting Norman buildings that remain, and because to it the whole neighbourhood is indebted for the preservation of Bishop Gundulfs endowment, by which the present valuable hospital is largely maintained.