Doorway in north wall. The stone is from Quarr on the Isle of Wight
Foundation of St Cross - TrustNews Dec 13
Today when you visit The Hospital of St Cross what you see is the result of Cardinal Beaufort's 15th century foundation — The Almshouse of Noble Poverty, which added a second charity to the Hospital that was already over 300 years old. The only building above ground that may date from Henry of Blois' original foundation of the 1130s is the small vestry building to the south of the south transept of the Church — which itself probably wasn't started until the 1150s.
Between 2007 and 2010 WARG, the Society for Winchester Archaeology and Local History, carried out a summer archaeological dig in the area called the Park, to the South of the quadrangle. This, amongst other things, uncovered the foundations of the buildings that closed the quadrangle to the south, and were demolished in 1789/90, and identified a large rectangular feature in the ground, the basis for a great deal of speculation, as the wall of the garden for the south range. It also uncovered an intriguing water feature which is evident in a map of 1750. A geophysical survey and a test pit also showed the foundations of a large unknown building to the east of the Church, under what is now the Bowling Green and the Brother’s graveyard. As the Bowling Green is used for wedding receptions and other events there was no chance to follow this up until late last year when we learned that there was to be significant building work on the church using the Bowling Green as the site area.
Todays Brothers learn about Henry of Bois' foundation
The Trustees and the Master of St Cross kindly agreed to an excavation of this important building and WARG received a grant from the Heritage Lottery fund that allowed it to carry out an intensive two-week dig in September 2013. This uncovered the foundations of a building at least 50m long and around 14m wide with an interior wall running the length of the building. At the northern end had been an imposing doorway of Quarr stone, placing it firmly in the early 12th century as the source was worked out by 1140. This allows us to be confident that we have uncovered Henry of Blois' first building. What was its function is less certain, but it could well be the dormitory and living quarters for the “thirteen poor men... feeble and lacking in strength…” that were the original Brothers.