This was erected where now the modern mansion called
'The Friars' stands, the old convent having been pulled down so lately
as 1819. A part of the ruined Chapel of the Blessed Virgin remains,
however, the choir and apse. Decorated work not much later than the
parish church, and of great beauty. Unhappily we know absolutely
nothing of the Friars in Winchelsea, except that when the house was
suppressed in 1538 it was exceedingly poor.
The Franciscans, however, were not the only Friars in Winchelsea in
spite of the agreement made at the foundation of the new town. In 1318
Edward II. granted the Black Friars, the Dominicans, twelve acres on
the southern side of the hill. This situation was found inconvenient,
and in 1357 the Dominicans obtained six acres "near the town."
Nothing, or almost nothing, remains of their house.
Besides these two religious houses, Winchelsea possessed three
hospitals, those of St John, St Bartholomew and Holy Cross.
The Hospital of St Bartholomew was near the New Gate on the south-west
of the town, and dated from the refounding of Edward. Nothing remains
of it, or of the Hospital of Holy Cross, which had existed in old
Winchelsea and was set up in the new town also near the New Gate.
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