What Hospitals were there in Medieval Norwich?
During the period following the Norman Conquest in 1066, Norwich was vibrant and expanding, but it also had a growing influx of malnourished, destitute and physically disabled paupers. These were catered for in its hospitals, which began to appear in the last years of the eleventh century. The still imposing stone leper house of St Mary Magdalen, for instance, was one of the first; this was followed by the hospital church of St Paul, which had been erected to care for needy travellers as well as the ‘sick, infirm, and child-bearing’. Over the next century, a further four (out of an eventual five) small communal leper houses were built on the roads leading into Norwich (see map). Indeed, hospitals were mainly suburban developments, located just outside or immediately within city walls, on the outskirts of expanding centres such as York and Norwich. Practical considerations dictated this choice of site, as land was often cheaper, and there was more space for gardens and food production.
