The remaining ruins of St Michael's Leper Hospital, a mediaeval hospital, lie in a patch of scrubland in the Saltisford area in the north of the town of Warwick, England, and are of the last remaining leper hospital in England.[1] The hospital, which was founded by Roger, Earl of Warwick in about 1135, is classified by English Heritage as a scheduled monument.[2] The remains of two of the hospital buildings can still be seen on the site - a chapel and the 15th century, two-storey Master's House. They are both grade II* listed buildings.[3]
The hospital was founded by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in the vicinity of a church of the same name towards the end of the reign of Henry I of England, in about 1135.[4] The warden was a priest. In the 15th century the chapel was probably rebuilt after its parish was merged with the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick.[5] The half-timbered, two-storey Master's House was also constructed around this time.[6]
In 1978 the then owner of Warwick Castle renovated the chapel had plans to move the buildings to the castle site but this was never realized.[7] The structural problems of the surviving Master's House mean that it is listed on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register as 'very bad'.[8] In 2018 it was announced that after lying unused and covered up for "almost four decades"[9] £530,000 would be allocated to the site to use it for supported housing, preserving the older buildings in their current condition as best as possible.[10]
On January 15 2021, Warwick District Council announced a Compulsory Purchase Order had been served on the owner of the site of the hospital to enable the scheme to proceed.[11] On 13 July 2025 it was announced that the buildings would be converted to affordable housing, following the award of a £2.8 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.[12]
Architecture
The two-storey "Master's" (or "Priest's") House stands furthest back from the road. It is timber-framed, although some additions have been made with bricks and concrete.[3]
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