Bede House, founded in 1556, enlarged 1783, much restored. (1)

The Bede Houses have been demolished this year, leaving only the small Bede House Chapel standing. (2)

The Bedehouse was founded by William Philipott, a merchant of Newark, and endowed by his will 1556. The foundation was for five very aged men who were to be blind, lame or unable to work for a living. The almshouses were enlarged in 1738 and 1783 but the two-storyed, sixteenth-century part of the house built of brick can still be identified, although much restored. There is also a detached chapel. (3)

The chapel is the only remaining part of the Bede House given by William Phillipot in AD 1556 to the people of Newark. Hanging inside the building on the north wall at the east end of the chapel is an inscribed stone saved from the Bede House when it was demolished. This read 'These Almshouses were founded and endowed by William Phillipot Esquire Merchant and Alderman of this Town AD MDLVI. And were afterwards rebuilt and endowed by an increased value of the Estates AD MDCCLVI. And were enlarged and further endowed by an increased value of Phillipot's Estates AD MDCCLXXXIII'. The sitewhere the almshouses once stood is now occupied by retirement ungalows and has been since the demolition of the Bede House and courtyard in 1961. It is assumed that the chapel seen today is the original William Phillipot comissioned and funded, a task completed by the time of his will in March AD 1556 (Brown 1904, 357. there is knon to have been some restoration to the building in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. (4)

See M3640 for Chapel.

Data Held (Document). SNT2647.

(3), Parish File

<1> Pevsner N, 1979, The Buildings of England: Nottinghamshire 2nd ed., p 111 (Monograph). SNT4.

<2> Harper FR, 1962, Pers Comm (Personal comment). SNT748.

<3> Prescott, E, 1992, The English Medieval Hospital c.1050-1640, p 149 (Published document). SNT1803.

<4> A.J. Arnold, R.E Howard, R.R Laxton, C.D Litton, 2002, The Urban Development of Newark-on-Trent: A Dendrochronological Approach (Monograph). SNT1624.