The History of St Cross
Legend has it that the Hospital’s foundation originated in a walk that Henry de Blois, a grandson of William the Conqueror, took in the Itchen Meadows. He was supposedly stopped by a young peasant girl who begged de Blois to help her people, who were starving because of the civil war. The parallel with the Virgin Mary was not lost on de Blois, who was so moved by the girl’s plight that when, a little further along the river, he discovered the ruins of a religious house, he resolved to use the site to establish a new community to help the poor. How much of this is fact is unclear, but we do know that Henry de Blois was young, wealthy and powerful: a monk, knight and politician in one. Appointed Bishop of Winchester in 1129 at the age of 28, he founded the Hospital of St Cross between 1132 and 1136, creating what has become England’s oldest charitable institution.
The Hospital was founded to support thirteen poor men, so frail that they were unable to work, and to feed one hundred men at the gates each day. The thirteen men became the Brothers of St Cross. Then, as now, they were not monks. St Cross is not a monastery but a secular foundation. Medieval St Cross was endowed with land, mills and farms, providing food and drink for a large number of people – don’t forget the water was unfit for drinking so copious amounts of ale and beer were needed!
In the fifteenth century, Cardinal Beaufort added to the St Cross buildings and is widely regarded as giving St Cross the look it has today.
External picture gallery
Other external websites have some interesting photographs of the Hospital and Parish. It might be worth taking a look.
LIFE
Engraving by William Byrne from drawing by Thomas Hearne picture taken in 1807
Sir Benjamin Stone, outside the porters hatchway 1907
British Library – There are several images of the hospital to view
Winchester Musem has several photographs taken around 1870-80 taken by photgrapher William Savage
- Brethren’s Hall at St Cross Hospital
- Brothers outside the Hospital of St Cross
- Inside the Chapel of St Cross
- A brother outside the porters lodge
- Another photograph inside the chapel of st Cross
- St Cross from the Quadrangle
Further Reading
Winchester Museum (Picture of the Chapel of St Cross c1865)
Further Research
If you you find yourself at a loose end and wish to research the Hospital in greater detail, more information can be found below.
Hampshire Records Office (Winchester)
Including a pamphlet called ‘A Scheme for the Interim Management of the Hospital, St. Cross, Winchester’ (1857)
(i) Master and brethren of St. Cross Hospital, Winchester
(ii) The Charity Commissioners
English Heritage National Monuments Record (Swindon)
1 6×4 Halftone (General/ordinary paper)
4.25 x 6 Ins
