Gateshead, Hospital of St. Edmund King and Martyr

HER Number:
287

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Gateshead, Hospital of St. Edmund King and Martyr

Place:
Gateshead

Map Sheet:
NZ26SE

Class:
Health and Welfare

Site Type: Broad:

Site Type: Specific:
Hospital

General Period:
Medieval

Specific Period:
C13

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
The earliest reference is 1315, but it was probably founded by a bishop of Durham in the 13th century or before. In 1535 it owned 80 acres of land, and a close at Shotley Bridge. Since it was not dependent on a religious house it survived the Dissolution, and was refounded in 1611 as the Hospital of St. James. In 1810 a new chapel (in 1865 to become St. Edmund's Church) was built to the south of the old one, and in 1811 3 cottages were built for the brethren and the old chapel was demolished. St. Edmund's Church was demolished in the 1960s, and today the only evidence for the onetime existence of the hospital is a plaque in the wall of a house on the old site, on the east side of Old Durham Road between Cemetery Road and the cemetery.

Easting:
2590

Northing:
6235

Grid Reference:
NZ25906235

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 287 >> E. Mackenzie, 1827, Newcastle upon Tyne, Vol. II, pp. 754-5 T. Oliver, 1830, Newcastle upon Tyne TW.H. Knowles & J.R. Boyle, 1890, Vestiges of Old Newcastle and Gateshead, pp. 304-11 F.W.D. Manders, 1974, A History of King James's Hospital Gateshead 19th century, St. Edmund's Church, - Gateshead Library Local Studies Photographic Collection