Building sliding towards river deemed 'at risk'

Caretakers of an 800-year-old almshouse that is slowly moving towards a river say they have successfully secured a place on the register of at-risk buildings.

Eastbridge Hospital, built in Canterbury as accommodation for pilgrims in 1180, needs more than £100,000 to avoid collapsing into the river underneath, its charity has said.

The BBC understands efforts to add Eastbridge Hospital to the Heritage at Risk Register were successful and the site will be formally added to the list in November.

Nigel Fletcher-Jones, a trustee of the building's charity, said the decision "reinforces the national importance of Eastbridge Hospital".

It sounded "a little odd that we are very pleased to be at risk", he told BBC Radio Kent.

But he said the status would "open up new opportunities for getting grants to support the work we need to do, in order to make sure that the building is safe for generations to come".

The designation recognises that the building's undercroft, where pilgrims once slept while visiting the tomb of murdered archbishop Thomas Becket, is at risk of collapse.

Historic England architect David John said the register was a "positive way of identifying heritage at risk so that action could be taken".

Eastbridge Hospital was "of high significance and of great interest historically and architecturally", he told the BBC.

John said he thought structural problems with the building might have started "soon after it was built and never really been fully resolved".

The hospital's clerk and receiver Louise Knight previously told the BBC that costs for required extensive repairs were "beyond the charity's means".

The Grade I listed property has historically served various purposes, reportedly including a schoolroom where playwright Christopher Marlowe was taught.

It became an almshouse, offering housing for elderly people, about 100 years ago and rents some rooms as holiday lets, as well as continuing to offer stamps to visiting pilgrims.

Members of the public used to be able to visit for a small fee but the property has been closed for about a year for safety reasons.

Its Franciscan gardens remain open.

John said: "We'll work with the owners, and hopefully in time we'll be able to see progress and have the building removed from the at-risk register."

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