| Ford's Hospital | |
|---|---|
 Watercolour painting of Ford's Hospital by William Hough (1857–1870) | |
 | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Coventry, England, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 52°24′23″N1°30′38″W / 52.4064°N 1.5105°W |
| History | |
| Opened | 1509 |
| Links | |
| Lists | Hospitals in England |
Ford's Hospital, Coventry, traditionally known as Grey Friars Hospital, is a grade I listed [1] 16th century half-timbered almshouse in Greyfriars Lane, Coventry. [2] It was founded by the merchant William Ford (or perhaps 'Fourd') in 1509 to provide accommodation for six elderly people: five men and one woman. [3] Despite the earlier name of "Grey Friars", it bears no relationship to the Franciscan Order but was so named because of its location on Greyfriars Lane. [4]
The building houses a narrow courtyard measuring 13 yd × 4 yd (11.9 m × 3.7 m) [5] and has been considered by historians and writers to be a particularly fine example of English domestic architecture of the period. [6]
In 1517, following Ford's death, the endowment was extended to allow six places for couples to live together. In 1529, it was extended further to allow five more couples to stay. [3] According to W. Hickling, a Coventry historian writing in 1846, by then it was serving forty women, each of whom received an allowance of three shillings and six pence per week. [6]
During the Coventry Blitz, the building was hit by German bombing, like many other parts of the city. A bomb dropped on 14 October 1940 killed the warden, a nurse and six residents. [3] It was restored with original timbers between 1951 and 1953. [1] The building is located on the site of a chapel within Greyfriars Friary. In 1940, John Bailey Shelton, a Coventry archaeologist discovered encaustic tiles typical of those found in a chapel. The building was built with a considerable amount of teak. [7]
In 2006, the building was used as a location for the episode of Doctor Who called The Shakespeare Code . [8] [9] In attempting to reconstruct the Globe Theatre, Shakespeare scholars have used Ford's Hospital to understand Elizabethan doorways. [10]
