The sight of yet another book about monasteries is usually calculated to induce a yawn. But not so in this case. Roberta Gilchrist has tackled the monastic parts others fail to reach.
Medieval hospitals are a case in point.
Most major towns and several minor ones were endowed with at least one hospital, usually sited on the outskirts. Equally familiar by name, as well as for their concentrically planned churches, are the Military Orders of knights, especially the Templars and Hospitallers. Gilchrist reminds us also of some obscure Orders, of which few will even have heard. Altogether, about 180 preceptories were founded in Britain by these powerful Milites Christi . As with the hospitals, it is useful to be presented with a range of plans and reconstructions, as well as an overview of the historical evidence, demonstrating how every foundation was a complex community, of which the church or chapel was but one element.