Lazar House

Lazar House is a former leprosy hospital, originally known as the Magdalen Chapel, dating from the 12th century. It later functioned as an almshouse until the 17th century. The building was restored in 1906 by Sir Eustace Gurney and has since served as a branch library and is currently a day centre for people with learning disabilities. The structure is made of flint rubble with stone and some brick dressings, topped with a pantiled roof.

The building is now in an L-plan shape and has two storeys, mostly open to the roof, with a six-window range that runs at right angles to the street. A Norman doorway is located in the gable end, featuring attached shafts with cushion capitals and roll-moulded voussoirs. Above this doorway is a renewed round-headed window, flanked by two small blind slits and two oculi with brick dressings at the top of the gable. The right side of the building has a damaged Norman door and another blocked door with a four-centred brick arch. The early 20th-century restoration included red brick reconstruction with two- and three-light mullioned and transomed windows, along with a single-storey wing at right angles that has a projecting porch.

Inside, the building features medieval window splays and dressings, including two round-headed arches with earstone dressings in the west gable. Most of the roof timbers have been replaced. The hospital was founded before 1119 by Herbert de Losigna, with the nave serving as the hospital and the chancel functioning as a chapel for the inmates.