Sherburn Hospital Chapel

The Sherburn Hospital Chapel, originally dating from circa 1181, features an early 13th-century tower and chancel; it suffered fire damage in 1864 and was largely rebuilt in 1868 by Austin and Johnson, with the addition of a north aisle. The building is constructed from squared and dressed sandstone with graduated green slate roofs. It is oriented north-west to south-east.

Architecturally, the chapel combines Romanesque and Geometrical Gothic styles. A broad, square, angle-buttressed three-stage tower rises to the west. The lower stage has a round-arched doorway on the south side and pointed lancet windows above. Blind arcades appear on the second stage, with a central lancet on the west and colonnettes with central pairs of lancets on the north and south. The short top stage also features blind arcades with six trefoil-headed arches on colonnettes. The tower has a restored embattled parapet seated on a corbel table.

The continuous three-bay nave and three-bay chancel have an original south wall with flat-buttressed divisions and round-arched windows featuring a sill string and continuous hoodmould. The windows have a square-cut inner order and a roll-moulded outer order, with roll moulding continuing along the sills of the rear arches. The restored chancel incorporates similar 1868 windows and a pair of small round-arched windows on the east ends of the chancel and aisle. Projecting eaves top the structure, together with a steeply-pitched roof and coped east gable. The north aisle, on both the nave and chancel, includes an off-centre buttress, chamfered round-arched windows, and a steeply-pitched roof.

Inside the chancel’s south wall, a double piscina is visible, incorporating damaged foliage capitals on squat shafts and three-seat sedilia with original jambs; both are framed by restored trefoil-headed arches. A north arcade with pointed arches was constructed in 1868. A small brass is embedded in the sanctuary floor, inscribed with “THOMAS LEAVER PREACHER TO KING EDWARD THE SIXTE. HE DIED IN JULY 1577.” The chapel houses 19th-century braced king-post roofs.