YORK, ENGLAND—When archaeologists were called to investigate a sinkhole that opened up in the city of York, they were surprised to find traces of a medieval hospital, according to a report by The Independent. The team encountered walls hidden just beneath the city streets that they believe once belonged to the twelfth- or thirteenth-century St. Leonard’s Hospital. The institution was built just after the Norman conquest and replaced the earlier St. Peter’s Hospital, which was founded by the Anglo-Saxon King Aethelstan. Stretching from what is now York’s Museum Gardens to the Theatre Royal, St. Leonard’s was one of the largest hospitals ever built in the north of England. It was a place for caring for the unwell, elderly, and the condemned, but also served as an orphanage, helped feed the poor, and provided meals for the prisoners in York Castle. Like many other religious establishments in England, it was destroyed during the Reformation under the reign of Henry VIII. “One of the consequences of living in a beautiful historic city like York is that when something like this happens, when we have a sinkhole, there often are some exciting archaeological remains to be looked at. Which is exactly what has happened here,” said York Councillor Kate Ravilious. For more on archaeology in York, go to "Off With Their Heads."
