The Hospital of St Thomas, Canterbury

This article is probably based on text from Edward Hasted's survey of Kent c. 1800.



The Hospital of St. Thomas the Martyr of Eastbridge is situated on the King's-bridge, near the Westgate, in Canterbury. It was built by Thomas á Becket (a clergyman of the Middle Ages) who was most famous for being assassinated in his own cathedral. After his death, Canterbury Cathedral became a site of pilgrimage, and the hospital provided accommodation for the pilgrims.

For many years, no special statutes were enacted, nor were any rules laid down for the treatment of pilgrims, till the site devolved to the jurisdiction of Stratford. During the reign of Edward III, he created certain ordinances, as well as a code of regulations to be acted on concerning pilgrims. He also appointed a master in priest's orders, under whose guidance a secular chaplain served. He ruled that every pilgrim in health could rest in the lodgment for one night at the cost of four pence, that weak and infirm applicants were to be preferred to those with better health, and that women "upwards of forty" should attend to the bedding and administer medicines to the sick.

This institution survived the general suppression of monasteries and buildings of its cast during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI. Afterward, it alternated between the possession of private families and that of brothers belonging to the establishment. By 1827, it was being used as a school.