Plumptre Hospital


Plumptre Hospital is a grade II listed building on the corner of Fisher Gate and Poplar Street. It was an almshouse founded in 1392 in the reign of Richard II and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The plaque above the door reads:

'Funded and endowed for the support of a master, a priest and thirteen poor widows by John de Plumptre in 1392. Repaired by Huntingdon Plumptre Esq in AD 1650.  Repaired by John Plumptre Esq in AD 1751.  Repaired by John Plumptre Esq, his son, in AD 1755. The first stone of the present hospital was aid on the first day of August 1823 by Rev Charles Thoams Plumptre Esq, Rector of Claypole Lincoldnshire, on behalf of his father, John Plumptre of Fredville in the County of Kent. The Master or Guardian of the said hospital and descendent of the father'.

The hospital was one of the few to be spared when Edward VI's Chantries Act of 1547 swept away charitable religious institutions. The 1823 building was designed by Edward Staveley (1768 - 1837).  In 1823 each resident received £13 10s, a ton of coal and one gown.  In the garden at the rear there is a plaque on the wall which reads 'Sufficit Meruisis' which means 'it is enough to serve'.

The building was still used as for sheltered housing until the 1980s. It was derelict for about 10 years until it was leased by the RNIB and in 2009 it was the office of the Direct Health Group.