St Nicholas Church

Very, very old. It was a leprosy hospital in 1084.
Oct 23rd, 2019

The Hospital of St Nicholas was founded by Archbishop Lanfranc in 1084 for the relief of lepers. Inmates supported themselves by donations from pilgrims to see a shoe of St. Thomas. Its now an almshouse with cottages for the elderly. Aphra Behn, one of the first female playwrights, was baptized here in 1640. Behind the leper hospital, west of the Church, is the Black Princes Well. For pilgrims, the well was an important watering place before the Shrine of St. Thomas. It still bears the alternative name of St. Thomass Well, he is supposed to have drunk from the well, accidentally leaving a shoe which was held by the hospital. The spring emerges at the bottom of the hill, enclosed in a stone well head. A carved stone, in the centre shows the coat of arms of the Black Prince: three feathers taken from the blind King of Bohemia at the battle of Crecy. The well was thought to be able to cure illnesses, and this is probably why the leper hospital was built in 1084 by Archbishop Lanfranc. Among pilgrims looking for a cure for this complaint was the Black Prince, who patronised the well twice: the first on his last journey to Canterbury, when he was cured, and then finally, on his death bed in 1376 when he died of syphilis. The well was then named after him. You can see the tomb of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral, with his effigy in full armour. The village of Harbledown was the last stop on the pilgrims journey to Canterbury from London, to see the bones of St. Thomas, murdered by four knights of Henry 2nd. There is a reference to the village near the end of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. In the Prologue to the Manciple's tale, the pilgrims are said to be near Bobbe-up-and-doun (Harbledown), under the Blee (Blean).
Jul 4th, 2019

Jun 14th, 2018