Archbishop Holgate Hospital, Hemsworth, West Yorkshire
The south range, the north range, and the Master’s Lodge are listed as Grade II.
Window refurbishment work and new visitor room
The Hospital stands on rising ground to the west of Hemsworth, looking out over this rolling agricultural landscape. It was founded by Robert Holgate, Archbishop of York until deprived of the post in 1554 under Queen Mary.
The Hospital set up under his will was originally in Hemsworth itself but changes to the administration of the Trust meant that it was, by 1858, able to consider building a new hospital on land it owned to the west of the town on Robin Lane.
Designed by Robert Philip Pope of London, building began in 1859 on two ranges of almshouses, with a meeting room, chapel, and a substantial Master’s House with stables, coach house, and kitchen garden, now used as allotments by the residents.
The two blocks of almshouses both face south with an open garden between them, the southern one originally of eight single-storey houses, four each side of the entrance gateway with matron’s and porter’s lodge and boardroom above. Four further cottages were added in 1914, to match the twelve in the northern range, higher up the slope, which flank the chapel on the central axis.
The mortuary added to the north-east of the site in 1909 was extended in 2014 as a hall to provide communal space for the residents and for the wider community, too, with a kitchen and large visitor room. The houses were renovated in the 1950s and 1960s to add bathroom extensions to some cottages, to convert some coalholes to bathrooms, and to provide kitchens and central heating.
All cottages were again refurbished in the early 1990s and a programme of refurbishing windows with timber double-glazing is currently ongoing. The chapel has also been fully repaired, particularly the windows with their stained glass.
The recent window works have updated the liveability and energy efficiency of the Hospital as accommodation for older and retired people, by adaptions in character with the listed building. The balance of the setting has also been maintained by locating the visitor room loosely to balance the Master’s House, by re-using and extending the redundant mortuary. The Hospital therefore continues to provide accommodation in line with the founder’s instructions.
