Tucked along Greyfriars Lane in central Coventry, Ford’s Hospital is a grade I listed half-timbered almshouse dating to 1509. Traditionally called Grey Friars Hospital – a name drawn from its lane rather than any connection to the Franciscan Order – it was founded by the merchant William Ford (recorded in some sources as ‘Fourd’) to house six elderly people: five men and one woman. The building sits on the site of a former chapel within Greyfriars Friary, and its narrow internal courtyard, measuring roughly 13 yards by 4 yards (11.9 m by 3.7 m), is constructed with a considerable quantity of teak and original timber framing. Historians and writers have long considered it one of the finest surviving examples of English domestic architecture from the early sixteenth century.
History and Growth of the Almshouse
After William Ford’s death in 1517, the original endowment was extended to accommodate six couples living together rather than individuals alone. By 1529, a further expansion allowed five additional couples to take up residence. Writing in 1846, Coventry historian W. Hickling recorded that by that point the hospital was caring for forty women, each receiving an allowance of three shillings and six pence per week. In 1940, during archaeological work prompted by wartime damage, Coventry archaeologist John Bailey Shelton uncovered encaustic tiles beneath the building, consistent with the type typically found in a medieval chapel – supporting the known history of the site.
The Blitz, Restoration, and Later Use
On 14 October 1940, during the Coventry Blitz, a German bomb struck the building, killing the warden, a nurse, and six residents. Restoration work carried out between 1951 and 1953 used original timbers to return the structure as closely as possible to its earlier appearance. In more recent years, Ford’s Hospital gained wider public attention when it was chosen as a filming location for the 2007 Doctor Who episode The Shakespeare Code. The building has also informed academic study: Shakespeare scholars working to reconstruct the Globe Theatre have examined its doorways for evidence of Elizabethan construction methods.