St John's Hospital
By the time we'd dragged ourselves away from the beautiful ruins of the Abbey, we just about had time to nip across town to get on the final tour of Canterbury's Medieval Toilet. However, the hidden gem in St John's wasnt just this old loo, but what they claimed was the last old wooden headstone in England. It was surprisingly well preserved, but we'll get to that later.
What we didn't know was that St John's is still in use, it's just that it is now a residential home and not a hospital. This is why visits to the historical artefacts are so rare.
St John's hospital was founded in 1084 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc. He was the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury for those who dont know. To summarise, it was an infirmary for those who would be considered disabled, but the labels used back then were 'weak, lame, and infirm'. There was a prior, reader, 15 brothers, 15 sisters who resided here to assist those who needed help and they were paid £8 a year. The almhouses were built to fit around 80 patients and they would have been cared for by the priests and the sisters. More information on this building can be found below directly from the source, but otherwise there isn't a lot out there on this hidden gem.
**Source for information on this site St Johns Hospital, Northgate, Canterbury as well as provided during our tour, although we have been made aware that our tour guide may have gotten certain bits wrong.
From our own visit we found that once you'd passed through the unsuspecting Tudor dated entrance, you are lead into a small complex complete with the Medieval Toilet hidden at the end of the garden occasionally used for Bowls. There's also a lavender garden, small chapel and graveyard which is what houses the wooden headstone.
The other buildings are reserved for residents understandably so we couldnt exactly go fishing around, but the entire complex looked like it was plucked from ye olde times. The stone walls were weathered, the garden well kept. It felt like we'd experienced another time loop. These were from the 19th century, but the remnants of the original hospital were nearby, all that survived being the toilet.
The guide led us to the toilet and told us how it was used. It was literally just a case of expelling waste into what used to be a stream. We learnt that the hospital used to own a fair bit of land which includes Sainsbury's car park which they loan off the hospital. Typical of Medieval times, they weren't exactly sanitary, its just a hole which leads into the now dry dip.
Sadly the tour wasn't massively informative and a member of our party kept correcting him so we didn't take much on board. That and he was eager to move onto the next bit before we'd had a chance to see the bit we were on, so we didn't really learn much at all. The tour lasted about 10 minutes, wasn't very informative, but we got to visit a usually closed off bit of history.
He advised us that the wooden gravestone was recently uncovered and that it was so well preserved due to the overhanging tree above it. Whether this is the last Medieval Wooden Gravestone in the UK is yet to be challenged but to be fair we doubt it. Although this method of gravestone were popular for paupers and those who were simply not well liked, the cheap and cheerful method was widely used and although most would have decayed by now, in the right conditions there would be more out there. This one was in very good condition, but in our view if it was the last one there would be more notoriety regarding it, instead we cant find much on the internet about it at all. What we did find was that wooden headstones were still a popular monument that you can have today! So neither that rare or unique, but still a very interesting historical spot.
We would have loved to have learnt more about this spot, but it's going to have to be one we revisit on another opening day and learn more about in the moment from someone a bit more clued in. To be fair to him, he was young and looked like he'd been chucked in the deep end so we cant blame him for a little embellishing.
Was it haunted? Undoubtedly. There isn't a hospital in the world that doesn't leave a trace of something behind. The rain had stopped during our visit and although everything was dark and damp which added to the foreboding atmosphere, there's just something about hospital sites that give you the creeps no matter what. We didn't see anything and there is fat chance of finding any stories online, but it's an opportunity to chat to some locals and see what we can find. There's a charming pub just by the entrance so that's a shout for more information in future.
DISCLAIMER: Now for the official bit. This blog does not receive any paid promotions from the places mentioned above. We have not been approached to promote or act as spokespersons for any attraction mentioned within this post and this is simply a post intended to act as a day in the life of a couple on a cute date. All photos included are taken by ourselves and as such the rights for these images our ours, no links, brands, or companies mentioned otherwise belong or are associated with Phantom Adventures UK. We are responsible only for this blog. Opinions are our own and not influenced by any third party source..
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