Called in to see the Master of the Houses while out the other day and he kindly let me have a little walk round the gardens, giving me chance to test my new little Fuji x10.
Planning a follow up visit soon, hopefully will be allowed access into the chapel.
This is a live 'hospital' with residents on site, so permission visits are the only way to go.
History is a bit patched together from different bits of info I could find.
Archbishop Robert Holgate:
Robert Holgate from a Yorkshire family, was educated in Cambridge and entered the Gilbertine order as a canon. He played an important role in the life of the community before the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Considered to be a protégé of Thomas Cromwell, Holgate was appointed president of the Council in the North in 1538, a post he held for 11 years. He lived in the house of the former abbot of St Mary’s Abbey in York, which has survived as King’s Manor.
Following the death of Archbishop Lee in September 1544, Holgate was named his successor and was consecrated as Archbishop of York at Lambeth in January 1545, renouncing papal authority.
From then, the tenets of Protestant theology were regularly expounded in the Minster for the first time, and organ music was abolished. He instructed that the Minster Library be furnished with new Protestant commentaries on the Bible by theologians like Calvin.
Archbishop Holgate founded three grammar schools in 1546, one at his birthplace of Hemsworth in the West Riding, one at Old Malton and one in York. He required his headmasters to be skilled in Hebrew, Greek and Latin and to take his pupils to the Minster on Sundays.
In order to prove his Protestantism to the sceptical Duke of Northumberland, in 1550, aged 68, the Archbishop took a bride when he was 68 – local gentlewoman Barbara Wentworth. This was a year after an Act of Parliament removed the duty of celibacy from the English clergy.
But when Queen Mary came to the throne in 1553 and returned England to Catholicism, Holgate was sent to the Tower then stripped of his post for breaking his vow of celibacy.
Having paid the crown £1,000 for his ‘crimes’ Holgate was set free in January 1555 only to die that November in London.
The Hemsworth school established in 1548 was demolished and rebuilt in 1868, but the Holgate Grammar School Endowment was moved to Barnsley in the 1890s. The Hemsworth school site, Holgate House, then became the foundation for the Sacred Heart Parish Church.
In his will he left instructions for a hospital to be built for the poor, this was the start of the Holgate Alms Houses. The original instruction was to provide for 10 poor men and 10 poor women of the old.
I can't find details of the original site, but believe it was in the central Hemsworth town area near the market place. It was then moved to the rear of St Helens church on crosshills around 1770. It later moved again to it's present site in 1860.
The Trust is a church based charity, but runs with the help of donations by trustees.
Set in 13 acres of woodland and gardens the site now has 24 cottages for married couples or single people over the age of 60. Although it's still called a hospital, no nursing care is given on site due to it being run by volunteers. Direct lines to health care are in place if it's needed.
This place is so tranquil, it's unbelievable. Quite rightly so, considering the residents are basically enjoying their last years here.
Anyway, a few snapperoonies.
Archbishop Holgate Hospital. 1555 by mthompson1, on Flickr
Gothic Arch by mthompson1, on Flickr
Holgate Coat of Arms by mthompson1, on Flickr
Mono Arch by mthompson1, on Flickr
Tree Lines by mthompson1, on Flickr
Archbishop by mthompson1, on Flickr
Vintage-esque by mthompson1, on Flickr
Blue Skies by mthompson1, on Flickr
Through The Trees by mthompson1, on Flickr
Across The Lawns by mthompson1, on Flickr
Where's Mario? by mthompson1, on Flickr
Steps by mthompson1, on Flickr
Happy Mushy by mthompson1, on Flickr
Peaceful by mthompson1, on Flickr
Old Stables by mthompson1, on Flickr
Masters House by mthompson1, on Flickr
Masters House Side by mthompson1, on Flickr
Cheers for lookin!