page_title: Hospital of St John Baptist without the Barrs
section_title: 1495 – 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Hospital of St John Baptist without the Barrs / History / 1495 – 20th century
caption_attribution_description: English: The Chapel of St John, Hospital of St John Baptist without the Barrs. ) This is a photo of listed building number 1218231.
context_page_description: The Hospital of St John Baptist without the Barrs is a sheltered housing complex with adjacent chapel in the city of Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building.
  The building has ancient roots, once providing accommodation to travellers outside the southern city walls who would arrive in Lichfield after the gates had closed for the night. The distinctive eight chimneys fronting St John’s Street date back to the Tudor period when the hospital served as an almshouse for elderly gentlemen in the city.
context_section_description: By the middle of the 15th century the city gates had fallen into disuse and would be left open. When William Smyth was appointed Bishop of Lichfield he aimed to put St John’s to better use. In 1495 Bishop Smyth refounded the priory as a hospital for aged men. It was ordained that there should be “thirteen honest poor men upon whom the inconveniences of old age and poverty without any fault of their own, had fallen”. 
  In addition to their lodging the men would receive seven pence a week. Bishop Smyth initiated the rebuilding of the Canons hall. A three storey Masters Hall was built to the west of the chapel and a new wing was added south of the chapel.  The new Tudor building with its row of eight chimneys provided a great advance with each resident having his own room and fireplace. This is the building we see today fronting St John’s Street currently.  In 1720 the Masters Hall was rebuilt once again by Edward Maynard to keep with modern Georgian architectural tastes. The stone tablet above the doorway also dates from 1720.
  By the end of the 17th century through neglect the chapel has fallen into a ruinous state. Throughout the 19th Century under the care of Philip Hayman Dod, the master of the hospital, the chapel was restored.  In 1829 an aisle was built on its north side, the former wall being replaced by a three bay arcade, a stone bell-cote containing one bell was placed above the east end of the north aisle. The gallery in the north aisle was removed, and the arcade was rebuilt in a more orthodox Gothic style. Medieval windows in the south wall of the chapel also appear to have been renewed. The chapel was reseated, and most of the 17th- and 18th-century fittings, which had included a three-decker pulpit, were cleared away. In 1870 the walls and nave were raised, buttresses were added to the outside of the south wall and a new high pitched roof was installed.
caption: The Chapel of St John
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