This year we headed of to Winchester, to the Hospital of St.Cross, the oldest alms house in England in continuous use. The 37 new first year students had the opportunity enjoy these superb medieval buildings as the morning mist slowly cleared from the meadows. They toured the buildings with two of the "Brothers", sat and drew, and finally took shelter (and tea) during the afternoons light autumn shower.
The church was started in c.1135, along side the "Hundred Man's Hall" for feeding the poor. Simple timber buildings were then added for the first "Black Brothers" (named by the colour of their cloaks). Later the magnificent 15th Century stone and flint wing was built to house the "Red Brothers". This row of apartments is punctuated by the high stone chimneys, originally reaching up high above the thatch roofs.
A charitable institution from the beginning, there are elements of the monastic and similarities with the early colleges of Oxford or Cambridge. Still occupied by up to 25 Brothers, they represent some of the best qualities of English architecture: rational planning, clear structural rhythm, appropriate local materials, while retaining an ad hoc, picturesque irregularity in details and modifications. Intelligent, economic and expressive architecture at its best. The garden is a small paradise.
