RICHMOND:
database file source="h:/!Genuki/RecordTranscriptions/NRY/RichmondGuide.txt"
Robinson's Guide to Richmond (1833)
Part 8
St. Nicholas's
St. Nicholas's
ST. NICHOLAS'S, A Hall or Mansion House, erected about the
time of Elizabeth, or James I. on the site, and probably out of
the remains, of the ancient HOSPITAL of ST. NICHOLAS. The date
of its original foundation is unknown, it is supposed to have
been built by one of the first earls, but in the year 1448, the
building and its revenues having both fallen into a ruinous condition,
it was repaired and re-endowed by Sir William Ayscough, one of
the judges of the court of common pleas. It was inhabited by a
few monks of the Benedictine Order, under the government of a
master, and combined the various uses of a house of entertainment
for wayfaring men and of an infirmary for the sick. There are
few remains of the ancient Hospital, but the detached building
nearest to the road, is said to have been the Chapel; and there
has lately been found the ponderous stone Mortar, in which the
brethren of the establishment pounded and mingled those multifarious
messes which the physicians of that age dignified with the astounding
titles of "Mithridates" and "Catholicons."
There is also to be seen, the ancient Bell which summoned the
inmates to their devotions. The modern building is in tolerable
repair, the wings being both inhabited; but the entrance hall
in the centre, with the apartments over it, are in a more neglected
condition. There are some remains of ancient moulded cornices
and carved wainscoting; and the Grecian Corridor in front, is
in a very perfect state. The whole building bears a good deal
of resemblance to Fountains Hall, which was erected much about
the same time, out of the ruins of the adjoining abbey.
On again entering the town, we pass the sites of the ancient
Hospital, or Maison-Dieu, which gives name to the street; and
of a Cell, formerly the abode of an anchoress, from whom the rising
ground to the right has acquired the nautical name of Anchorage
Hill.
A little further, screened from the road by a row of dwarfish
elms, is Hill House, the residence of H. W. Yeoman, Esq.; and
continuing our route towards the Market-place, we approach THE FRIARY:
Data transcribed from:
Robinson's Guide to Richmond (1833)
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