Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for CROSS (St.), or Cross-Hospital (St.)

CROSS (St.), or Cross-Hospital (St.), an extra-parochial place in Winchester district, Hants; on the river Itchin, 1 mile W of Winchester. It has a post office under Winchester. Pop., 36. House, 1. An hospital here was founded, in 1132, by Bishop de Blois, and renovated, in 1444, by Cardinal Beaufort; has now an income of £1, 088, besides large fines on renewal of leases; maintains 13 poor men, who wear each a long black gown and a silver cross; gives weekly and general doles to other poor persons; and comprises a grand group of ancient buildings. The great gateway is surmounted by a statue of Beaufort. The entrance-court has some ancient offices, now used as a stable, and remains of a large building, called the Hundred Men's Hall. The refectory, on the south side of the great quadrangle, has an old timber roof and a minstrel's gallery, and contains a triptych of the adoration of the Magi. The ambulatory, on the east side of the quadrangle, is 135 feet long. The church, on the south side, is cruciform, partly early English, chiefly transition Norman, with a central tower one story high; measures 150 feet from east to west, and 120 along the transepts; and has Tudor stalls, encaustic tiles, stained windows, a fine brass of Archdeacon Campden, and a monument to Mr. Speaker Cornwall.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "an extra-parochial place"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Hampshire AncC
Place: St Cross

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