Excavation of the hospital of St Giles by Brompton Bridge, North Yorkshire

Abstract

Rescue excavation between 1988 and 1990 in advance of river erosion examined a substantial part of the small medieval rural hospital of St Giles by Brompton Bridge and later post-medieval farm. Established in the latter half of the twelfth century for the infirm, including lepers, the hospital layout consisted of a detached stone chapel adjacent to the river crossing, with a timber hall to the west. This hall was destroyed by fire, and a sequence of timber buildings were then constructed in adjacent areas. By the fifteenth century these structures also included a stone building, possibly a refectory. The first small chapel was replaced in the thirteenth century by a larger structure, which went through a period of expansion and then subsequent contraction by the fifteenth century. Only in the fourteenth century were a hall, probably a guesthouse or the master's lodgings, and dovecote built adjacent to the chapel. The cemetery to the south of the chapel was partially examined. The site appears to have been a largely economically self-suffident unit with an attached farm. The hospital was abandoned during the latter half of the fifteenth century, but the site and some of the buildings were subsequently reoccupied as a farm from the mid-seventeenth century. The farmhouse underwent conversion from a long house to a house of hearth-passage plan in the early eighteenth century. The former chapel was reused as a byre and additional stables constructed. The farm was moved to its present location to the south in the mideighteenth century and the former hospital site finally abandoned. INTRODUCTION The site of the medieval hospital of St Giles by Brompton Bridge is located in the county of North Yorkshire between Swaledale and the Vale of Mowbray (Illus. 1). Situated on the south bank of the River Swale in the parish of Brough with St Giles (SE 209996), the site lies approximately 1 km west ofBrompton-on-Swale and 4 km south-east of Richmond. St Giles Farm, which retains the name of the former hospital, is located 0.3 km to the south of the site.St Giles by Brompton Bridge was a small rural hospital whose name was derived from its location by the river crossing of a former road from the south towards Richmond and Swaledale to the north-west. No evidence for the medieval Brompton Bridge survives, although the name has continued in use and now refers to a bridge across Skeeby Beck some 0.3 km north-east of the hospital site. The line of the road

The impact of climate change on archaeological resources in Britain: a catchment scale assessment

“…The impact of river incision, lateral migration, coarse-grained aggradation and active channel transformation on the archaeological record of floodplain corridors could be significant with all of these processes resulting in the erosion and redistribution of in situ remains on adjacent floodplains and terrace surfaces, a point graphically illustrated by the predicament of the small medieval rural hospital on the River Swale at Brompton Bridge, North Yorkshire (Cardwell and Speed 1996). Along the middle Trent, the reworking of archaeology during the MWP and LIA, including medieval bridges, mill-dams and structures associated with fishing activities (Cooper 2003) has been amply demonstrated.…”

The importance of animal baselines: Using isotope analysis to compare diet in a British medieval hospital and lay population

“…The hospital of St. Giles, Brough in North Yorkshire was recorded as in use from c.1181 AD to 1428 AD (Cardwell, et al, 1995). There is documentary evidence which suggests that the hospital may have been an institution for individuals with leprosy, however as few as three individuals recovered from the associated cemetery displayed skeletal indicators of the disease (Cardwell, et al, 1995). Hospitals in the medieval period served a different function to todays' institutions which focus solely on treating illnesses and disease.…”

A Late Neolithic Palisaded Enclosure at Marne Barracks, Catterick, North Yorkshire

“…The village and surrounding area is in a strategic location and consequently has a complex and varied history. The earliest evidence for human presence comes from a limited quantity of Mesolithic and later flint and chert found at Brough St Giles (Cardwell & Speed 1996) and also in fieldwalking as part of the A1(M) evaluation (Makey 1994 (Cardwell & Speed 1996).The historic periods are also well-represented in the immediate area, including a Roman fort at Catterick Bridge constructed in c. AD 80, around which developed the town of Cataractonium. Civilian settlement spread to both banks of the river and south along Dere Street and within the western limit of Marne Barracks (Wilson 1984; Archaeological Services 2005).…”

“…Later prehistoric remains include Iron Age settlements at Catterick Racecourse (Moloney et al 2003) and Brough St Giles (Cardwell & Speed 1996).…”

“…The village and surrounding area is in a strategic location and consequently has a complex and varied history. The earliest evidence for human presence comes from a limited quantity of Mesolithic and later flint and chert found at Brough St Giles (Cardwell & Speed 1996) and also in fieldwalking as part of the A1(M) evaluation (Makey 1994 (Cardwell & Speed 1996).…”