Time: 10.15 - 2.30
Cost: £17 for members, £20 for guests
Meeting place: St Bartholomew the Great, Cloth Fair, EC1A 7JQ
We shall explore this peaceful corner of the City that developed just outside the Roman wall in the early medieval period. As an introduction to the area, the Head Verger at St Bartholomew the Great, will give us a tour/talk. The church was founded in 1121 as the church of the Augustinian Priory and was adapted after 1539 to become the parish church. Educational and medical services were developed by the canons and commercial interests followed, including the famous Bartholomew Fair. After the dissolution of the priory in the late 1530s, Henry VIII issued a new charter to re-found the hospital and we will follow its development through displays in the Barts Hospital Museum.
After lunch we shall take a self-guided visit (with audio guides) to the North Wing of Barts Hospital, with its Great Hall and staircase decorated by William Hogarth with paintings of biblical stories of healing.
TO BOOK: please send an email to rosemarythornes@yahoo.co.uk