page_title: Holy Jesus Hospital
section_title: The Hospital (1646–1825)
hierarchical_section_title: Holy Jesus Hospital / The Hospital (1646–1825)
caption_attribution_description: English: The front of the Holy Jesus Hospital.
context_page_description: The Holy Jesus Hospital is a working office Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in the care of the National Trust. It is a Grade II* listed building.
  The site of the hospital has been in use for 700 years helping the townspeople. There was an Augustinian friary on the site from the thirteenth century, then an almshouse for housing retired freemen, then a soup kitchen was built next to Almshouse in the nineteenth century, before the site acquired its current function as a working office. The building also serves as the basis of the Inner City Project of the National Trust. This project takes people of ages 12–25 and over 50 out to the countryside in order to increase appreciation of the city's natural surroundings.
  The building is of architectural interest because it still retains architectural elements from many previous centuries, including a 14th-century sacristy wall and 16th-century tower connected with the King's Council of the North. It is also one of only two intact 17th-century brick buildings that survive in the city, the other being Alderman Fenwick's House.
context_section_description: The Holy Jesus Hospital was built in 1681 by public subscription to house retired Freemen, their widows or unmarried sons or daughters. The hospital was commonly known by local people as the "Freeman's Hospital" and the "Town's Hospital" but on 26 March 1684 the building was incorporated by the name of the master, brethren, and sisters of the Hospital of the holy Jesus. The Mayor, alderman and Common Council of Newcastle were appointed as visitors and charged with setting the rules for the hospital.  Shortly afterwards the founders bought a quay and garden, in the Close for £700 and an estate in Edderly, County Durham for £1610, and another estate at Whittle, Northumberland for £1300 and the master and brethren of the hospital were settled across these properties.  The building itself was constructed using brick construction which was then a relatively new method (brick was usually used as an infill for timber-framed buildings).  Indeed, the structure is one of only two 17th-century brick buildings in Newcastle upon Tyne, the other being nearby Alderman Fenwick's House in Pilgrim Street.  To be allocated a room, one had to meet the committee's criteria and once were admitted one had to abide by the master's rules. It remained in use until 1937, when the new hospital was built at Spital Towers. Strict rules governed the "inmates" including being locked in their rooms at 9 pm and having their doors unlocked again at 6 am. There were no children allowed, and the inmates were instructed to attend church each week and take the sacrament. Each year the residents would have been given a free suit of clothing, a measure of coal and, if the charity allowed it, some pocket money (Alms).
  The first master of the house was a man named Thomas Lewen, a merchant by trade.  The master's seal had a cross engraved on it and bore the words "Sigillum Hospitalis Sancti Jesu in Novo Castro."  The original allowance for the inmates of the hospital was 20 shillings per 'quarterly', while the master would get 30 shillings. On 2 January 1752, the council decreed that forty 'fothers' of coal  be given to the hospital annually and, on 18 December 1769, the master was required to be paid £8, and each inmate sister £6 per annum. By the early 19th century this allowance had increased to £13 for each inmate per annum, four fothers of 'best Benwell' coals as well as providing clothing. In addition to this the inmates were required to see the Mayor at the Guildhall once each quarter where grievances would be heard.  The inmates could also receive money from charities, and this was often called escutcheon money.
  In 1705, the inmates of the Newcastle House of Correction were commissioned to produce 'purple and grey cloth' for the uniforms of the widows of the Holy Jesus Hospital.
  
  There is an inscription in Latin on the front on the building. Roughly translated it reads; 
    
    "Hospital for poor people by the expense of the citizens and leaders of Newcastle upon Tyne in the year of salvation 1683. Built by Timothy Robson, Mayor, John Squire Sheriff, but now only remains the three of Faith Hope and Charity, and the greatest of these is Charity." 
  In 1646, the council allowed the Barber Surgeons to build their hall just east of the site: this agreement was given on 15 March 1647. In 1648, the plot of land was leased to the barber surgeons on condition that they constructed their hall within two years and that part of the site was to be laid out as a garden for medicinal herbs. A second hall built in 1730 disappeared under the railway viaduct in the 1840s. The most aged claimants were preferred for placements at the Hospital and on 22 March 1779, the Mayor and common council of Newcastle ordered that several candidates produce certificates to prove their respective ages, to be filed in the town-clerk's office.
caption: Entrance to the Holy Jesus Hospital
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