Address: Nunnery Lane, York, YO23 1AB
Description
The words “St Thomas’s Hospital Rebuilt AD 1862” are engraved in stone at the pinnacle of a grand white stone building on Nunnery Lane.
History
St. Thomas’ Hospital, once located at the corner of Nunnery Lane, was established in the 14th century to care for the poor and offer hospitality to travellers.
St. Thomas’ Hospital was one of six medieval hospitals and almshouses in York to survive into the modern era. By 1500, 11 other institutions had either ceased to exist or were repurposed before the Reformation.
Those that remained, like St. Thomas’, St. Anthony’s, and St. Catherine’s, continued to operate under the auspices of the city corporation during the Elizabethan period.
St. Thomas’ is known to have provided care for the poor as early as 1556.
However, by the 1570s, the concept of a hospital began shifting toward that of a workhouse, reflecting a broader change in societal attitudes.
The original St Thomas’s Hospital on Micklegate, founded in the 14th century Source: Explore York Archive Asset ID: 1001938
In 1860 the conditions of the building were reported as ‘low, damp, the lower rooms especially, ill-ventilated and dark, with brick floors’.
In 1863, the original structure was demolished, and a new building was constructed further down Nunnery Lane, near Victoria Bar.
The new St. Thomas’ building on Nunnery Lane accommodated 12 women, with each of the 11 inmates receiving a stipend totaling £80 in 1906.
However, in 1972, it ceased operations and was later transformed into the Moat Hotel.
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