artford’s leper hospital was known as the Spital House or the Lazar
House
(after St Lazarus, the patron saint of lepers). It was
established some time before
1330 and was dedicated to St
Mary Magdalene and St Laud.
The hospital was sited at the top of Spital Hill (West Hill) outside the boundaries of medieval Dartford.
The hospital building was owned by the priory of St. John of Jerusalem and was staffed by a prior and lay brethren. Income from land
in Dartford and from bequests helped to pay the running costs. Dartford’s leper hospital accommodated men and women. It was reported,
"some are weak, lame or infirm, and some blind and leprous, and they have nothing whereby they may live except by the helping hand
of the faithful in Christ." A license was issued to Thomas Gybson of Dartford in 1485. Those making donations of money or goods to
the hospital were granted indulgences (remission of punishment for sins) by the pope against time that would later be spent in
