The former medieval hospital with a haunting legacy in the middle of the city

The festive season is here, the recognisable Christmas tunes are back on the radio, the Christmas markets are in full swing and of course, the sales are beginning. In Bristol there sits nothing more appropriately named than the Christmas Steps.

Located just off the city centre between the Bristol Hippodrome and Lewins Mead, the Christmas Steps provide a piece of history and culture whilst also entertaining the locals. Some of this history is well-documented, including how the Christmas Steps got its name, but the festive name hides a haunting tale and a burial ground which has been linked to ghosts.

Located at the bottom of the Christmas Steps sits a historic building, now home to a cake shop known as Ahh Toots. It used to be a fish and chips shop, but the history of the building may not appear obvious at the first glance, nor the second.

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Nearly a thousand years ago, this was the site of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, a medieval monastery hospital founded by Sir John la Waar in 1240. Before then, it had been a townhouse with links to the 1100s.

The hospital, a religious hospice for the sick, became notable in 1285, as the Bristol Post reported on October 8, 2012. The article said: “In 1285 the Master, elected from local priests, was killed by two chaplains from nearby St. James’ Priory.”

The establishment also formed part of a church, hence the monastery links. It would remain as a hospital for several hundred years until 1532, at which point it became Bristol Grammar School from 1532 to 1767. When the hospital was taken over, current residents were allowed to remain there for the rest of their lives.

It would later become Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital (the city school) in 1767 until 1847, but following this period, the former medieval hospital was turned into town houses. In the 1970s, an excavation of the former hospital was carried out, which was documented in a 1998 research report by Roger Price with Michael Ponsford. The excavation was done to learn more about the site ahead of a proposed redevelopment.

St Bartholomew’s Hospital was found to have had male and female dormitories, dwellings, a bakehouse, granary and a burial ground. It was said that the women’s dormitories were situated right next to the burial ground itself.

Whilst excavating the site, between 1976 and 1978, pottery, furniture, coins and materials were found. The burial ground was recorded to have had 45 burials, of which 15 were of “disarticulated bone” (singular bones or parts of bones) and researchers found that only six of the remaining 30 graves had skeletons which were two-thirds complete or above.

It was found that there were a minimum of 26 adults and seven children, although the incomplete burials meant that many of the skeleton remains were unidentifiable. Some of the disarticulated bones were found to belong to an infant, a two-year-old child and a child of either six or seven years old.

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It is, perhaps, unsurprising that the St Bartholomew’s Hospital site is rumoured to be haunted. After the buildings were restored in the 1990s, reports of a ghostly presence and an act of violence generated headlines in 2003.

On September 10, 2003, the Bristol Post wrote: “The Sugar Loaves pub on Christmas Steps [then also known as the Three Sugar Loaves and now renamed Christmas Steps] is also thought to be haunted. The cellars beneath the building lead towards what was once the St Bartholomew's Hospital.

“Most sightings have been of a monk moving through the cellars, but shadows have also passed across a mirror. In the last century, a visitor had his throat gripped by an unseen hand.”

So as the Christmas season approaches, perhaps there is a bit more truth to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol than what it first seemed. There truly is a ghost of Christmas past after all and it is located within Bristol city centre.

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