Almshouses and Chapel of St Mary Magdalene's Hospital is a Grade II* listed building in the Somerset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 21 June 1950. A Medieval Almshouse, hospital. 5 related planning applications.

Almshouses and Chapel of St Mary Magdalene's Hospital

WRENN ID
twelfth-chancel-spring
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Somerset
Constituency
Glastonbury and Somerton MP: Sarah Dyke (LD)
Country
England
Date first listed
21 June 1950
Type
Almshouse, hospital
Period
Medieval
Address
Almshouses and Chapel of St Mary Magdalene's Hospital, Magdalene Street, Glastonbury
OS grid reference
ST 498 386
Coordinates
51.14501, -2.71784
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: EPC · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Almshouses and Chapel of St Mary Magdalene’s Hospital date primarily from the late medieval period. Founded before 1322 to provide housing for ten poor men, the site originally included a great hall. The chapel, the east wall and gable of the hall, and a bellcote survive from the original layout, with the chapel initially opening from the east end of the hall. Following the Dissolution, the roof of the hall was believed to have been removed, and two rows of small houses were constructed facing a narrow central passage. Only the north range remains, accessed from the street through an arch at the east end.

This range comprises five houses, arranged over two storeys. The construction is of random rubble with a slate roof. A chimney stack is located at the west end. The range has five windows—paired wooden casements to the left and paired mullioned windows to the right. Five doorways are present, two of which have been blocked, and all feature arched heads with plain wooden doors.

The chapel is primarily in the Perpendicular style, featuring a single blocked lancet window in the east wall. It has a slate roof with a lower pitch and small, three-light windows with rectangular hoodmoulds. The interior contains a piscina and a boarded roof decorated with paterae. A pointed west arch provides access with double wooden doors.

Local climate

Almshouses and Chapel of St Mary Magdalene's Hospital receives an average of 840 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 56% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 63% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 30 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 65% of listed buildings. Of these, 11 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • Related listed building consents — 5 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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