Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Durham Cathedral

  • St. Godric and the lost leper hospital of Darlington

    Stephen MartinUK In the late 1100s, the English monk Reginald of Durham wrote an account in Latin of the hermit St. Godric, whom he knew personally.1 Reginald attributed over two hundred healing miracles to him, with detailed descriptions including the patient’s name and origin.2 Reginald’s book deserves to be better known as a rich catalogue…

  • The medieval hospitals of County Durham

    Stephen MartinCounty Durham, UK County Durham in the northeast of England is rich in the atmospheric remains and documented history of medieval hospitals, all connected with the church. Looking at the whole group has some interesting new lessons. Durham Cathedral Durham City’s Benedictine Priory, later the Cathedral, ran two infirmaries.1 One, for “lay folk,”2 with…

  • The memorial of Thomas Johnson, eighteenth-century barber surgeon

    Stephen MartinDurham, UK, and Thailand In the churchyard of St. Brandon in Brancepeth1 village, County Durham, UK, is an unusual headstone monument.2 (Fig 1) Dating to the very last year of the eighteenth century, it has three sections, including the name and dates, and then a cryptic verse pertaining to judgment. Carved in relief within…