Berkshire History for Kids: Leper Hospital

Where the Monks looked after Lepers

This was a special hospital for people with leprosy. They are called Lepers.
It was more like a modern care home. The lepers could sleep in the hospital and walk in the garden.
Leprosy is a very nasty disease which eats away at your flesh. Because the victims became very deformed, people were afraid of them. They always kept themselves covered up.
People thought you could catch leprosy from touching a leper. This isn't true.
Lepers were chased from their homes. No-one wanted to know them. The monks looked after them though.
Because people disliked lepers so much, the leper hospitals were usually out of town.
Reading Abbey was quite unusual because the hospital was inside the abbey walls. The building was still kept separate and behind a high wall though.
The hospital had its own chapel, so that the lepers didn't have to go to the main church to pray. This was often dedicated to St. Giles, the patron saint of lepers.
By the end of medieval times, leprosy was dying out. The leper hospital at Reading closed down.