And finally… York breaks ground on medieval hospital
A sinkhole that recently appeared in the city centre has revealed the possible remains of 12th century St Leonard’s Hospital.
The groundbreaking discovery was made on St Leonard’s Place, outside the York Theatre Royal, and is believed to be the remains of one of the largest medieval hospitals in the North of England, built in either the 12th or 13th century.
St Leonard’s Hospital stretched from the modern-day Museum Gardens up to the theatre, an area that was later used as the Royal Mint in post-Reformation times.
This resulted in the area being named ‘Mint Yard’, and by the 1800s the buildings were a tangle of housing, yards, and stables, all demolished to make way for the Georgian streetscape in 1836.
York is spoilt for historical findings, so while the discovery has been recorded and images have been taken for further analysis, work to repair the void has already completed.
Cllr Kate Ravilious, executive member for transport said: “We knew that there is a lot of complex archaeology in the area dating back to the Roman legionary fortress.
“Throughout the works we have been live to this, while doing all we can to get off site as quickly as possible. However these finds, while fascinating, have set our timescales back a bit.
There has been no comment on rumours that the sinkhole was caused by movements from the 12th century patients, who had finally made it to the top of the NHS waiting list.
