Former leper hospital of St Bartholomew

Image: © Tiger Taken: 22 Sep 2012

Reached by a narrow lane off the Cowley Road and leading to the Oriel College sports grounds, Bartlemas is the remains of the leper hospital founded by King Henry I in 1126 and built with materials left over from construction of the royal palace of Beaumont in Oxford city centre (now completely vanished and recalled only in the name of Beaumont Street). "It formed part of the main building of the hospital and was rebuilt by Oriel College in 1649, the earlier building having been destroyed in the siege [of Oxford in the Civil War]. It forms a long range originally divided into four tenements. On the south front [seen here] the two doorways have four-centred heads and the windows are of four lights; the north front has similar doorways and single-light windows. There are two three-light windows in the east wall. Inside the building [a private residence and not open to the public] the timber framing is exposed and there are some original fireplaces with four-centred heads. There are several original doorways with four-centred arches in square heads and initials in the spandrels [including] IS, P (for John Saunders, Provost 1644-53); and OC (for Oriel College)." Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, City of Oxford (1939) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriel_College,_Oxford#Bartlemas

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