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Workers make unexpected discovery during emergency sinkhole repairs

Emergency work to repair the road outside York’s Theatre Royal in central York ground to a halt, after remains of a 12th to13th century hospital were found beneath the surface
Emergency work to repair the road outside York’s Theatre Royal in central York ground to a halt, after remains of a 12th to13th century hospital were found beneath the surface (York City Council)
  • Remnants of what is believed to be St Leonard’s Hospital, one of the largest medieval hospitals in the north of England, have been discovered in York.
  • The archaeological find occurred during emergency repairs to a sinkhole outside York’s Theatre Royal on St Leonard’s Place.
  • Dating from the 12th to 13th century, St Leonard’s Hospital replaced an earlier institution and stretched from York’s Museum Gardens to the Theatre Royal.
  • The hospital provided care for the unwell, elderly, and condemned, and also fed the poor and prisoners in York Castle.
  • St Leonard’s Hospital was largely destroyed during the Reformation, leaving York without a hospital until 1740.
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