London, England/london2J-007
Previous | Home | NextThis is the layout of the area about St. Thomas Hospital before the arrival of the railroads, and thus is the appearance during Crawford's time. This assemblage of buildings was erected by Thomas Cartwright at the end of the 17th century; he was Master Mason to Christopher Wren (1632-1723), the famous designer of St. Paul's Cathedral in 1710. The courtyard opens westward to The Borough (now Borough High Street). A new hospital, Guy's Hospital established in 1721, lies to the south; this hospital accepted the "hopeless" cases from St. Thomas. Note the burying grounds surrounding the hospitals.
Talbot Inn, only 200 meters south of the hospital on the map (lower left corner), was the historic site of Taberde Inn (now demolished) where pilgrims stayed in Southwark in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, written in the 1380-1390s. As the London Bridge was the only crossing point of the Thames in London, a steady stream of pilgrims passed by the "St. Thomas Spitil," as it was known at that time, and it was ordained that it open its doors to pilgrims traveling to and from Canterbury who needed lodging or hospice care.
