St Peter's Hospital, Bristol

St Peter's Hospital, Bristol could be found to the rear of St Peter's church until it was destroyed in the Bristol Blitz in 1940.

St Peter's Hospital
A group of Jacobean style timber frame buildings with steep pitched roofs, tall chimneys and projecting bay windows. The central building has an over-hanging upper storey and there is a small grassed area and pathway in front, with part of a church tower visible to the right.
Watercolour of St Peter's Hospital, Bristol, former headquarters of the Bristol Corporation of the Poor, 1894
St Peter's Hospital, Bristol is located in Bristol
St Peter's Hospital, Bristol
Location within Bristol
Former namesThe Sugar House, The Mint
General information
Architectural styleJacobean
Town or cityBristol
CountryEngland
Coordinates51°27′19″N 2°35′22″W / 51.455174°N 2.58951°W / 51.455174; -2.58951
Construction startedSeventeenth century
Demolished1940, Bristol Blitz
ClientRobert Aldworth
Technical details
Structural systemTimber frame

History

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A house had stood on that site since approximately 1400 and the hospital was a timbered, gabled mansion. In 1607 the building was bought by a rich merchant named Robert Aldworth who went about completely rebuilding it. In later years (circa 1634) it passed into the ownership of Thomas Elbridge and later still for a short period of time the building was the Bristol Mint.[1]

The old Bristol Mint was then bought by the Corporation in 1696 for £800 to be used as a workhouse for the Bristol Corporation of the Poor and it is in this role as a paupers' workhouse that the building is much better known. It was later called St Peter's Hospital as in 1820 85 inmates looked after 306 sick ones. After the cholera outbreak of 1836, the corporation of the poor rented the defunct prison at Stapleton, thereby founding Blackberry Hill Hospital.[2][3] St Peter's Hospital was destroyed in the Bristol Blitz in 1940.[4]

St Peter's Hospice, established in 1969, is named after St Peter's Hospital.[4]

Archives

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While many of the registers and records of St Peter's Hospital were destroyed when the building was hit by an Incendiary device during the Bristol Blitz other papers, photographs and documents related to the site and the institution survive, and are held at Bristol Archives.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Manco, Jean (September 2006). "History of St Peter's Hospital, Bristol". Bristol Past. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  2. ^ "Blackberry Hill Hospital". BBC West. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  3. ^ Richard Prior (April 2010). Fromeside - Developing Safe and Secure Mental Health Services (PDF) (Report). Bristol City Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 January 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  4. ^ a b Staff writer (12 May 2009). "St Peter's hospice at Evening Post business awards". Bristol Evening Post. Bristol News and Media. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  5. ^ "Bristol Archives". Retrieved 26 October 2018.
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