The Eleanor Bowes Hospital

This list entry was subject to a Minor Enhancement on 25 May 2021 to amend the description, correct the name and address and to reformat the text to current standards

NZ 1701 SE 4/10

ANCHORAGE HILL (east side) No 8 (The Eleanor Bowes Hospital)

(Formerly listed as No 7 (The Eleanor Bowes Hospital), ANCHORAGE HILL)

1.8.52.

GV II* Almshouse founded in 1607 by Eleanor Bowes for three widows, the building incorporating the remains of the C12 chapel to St Edmund the King.

MATERIALS: uncoursed rubble stone with ashlar buttresses. Stone slate roof.

EXTERIOR: the single storey building is divided into three bays by C12 ashlar buttresses. The gables are raised and coped. The south side has a C17 doorway and a second modern doorway along with C19 windows. The east gable-end has a blocked two-light C14 window with ogee tracery to its arched head. Set just above sill level there is a deep string course incorporating circular medallions. The west gable, rebuilt 1607, has an externally projecting ridge stack that incorporates a panel set within a moulded frame, the panel bearing the arms of Bowes impaling Musgrave. The kneelers supporting the gable coping stones are shaped and carved with coats of arms, Bowes to the north and Musgrave to the south. The gable end includes two windows flanking the chimney, that on the north side being blocked and set higher than that on the south side, this having a sash window divided into very small panes. Extending south from the gable is a tall boundary wall with a moulded cornice and a simple Tudor-arched doorway.

INTERIOR: the west wall has an early C17 fireplace with a modelled plaster frieze set above. The east wall has a similar frieze in two portions, each showing a coat of arms supported by cupids. The details of the coats of arms are indistinct but are thought to be those of the Bowes and Musgrave families.

Listing NGR: NZ1757401284