Kepier Hospital

Kepier Hospital (properly the Hospital of St Giles of Kepier) was a medieval hospital at Kepier, Durham, England.

Founding at Gilesgate

The hospital was founded at Gilesgate, Durham, by Bishop Flambard as an almshouse "for the keeping of the poor who enter the same hospital". It was dedicated to God and St Giles, the patron saint of beggars and cripples. The first hospital chapel (now St Giles Church, Gilesgate) was dedicated in June 1112. Other than the church, the original buildings were wooden or wattle-and-daub structures. Flambard endowed the hospital with a range of lands, including the manor of Caldecotes, the mill on Durham's Millburn, and corn from fifteen of his villages. Godric of Finchale was a doorkeeper of the hospital church before settling at Finchale.

The hospital buildings (with the exception of the church) were destroyed along with Caldecotes by the men of William Cumin, Chancellor of King David I of Scotland, who claimed to be the rightfully elected Bishop of Durham, in order to prevent succour to the advancing army of his opponent, William of St. Barbara.

Kepier

Coordinates: 54°46′48″N 1°33′58″W / 54.780°N 1.566°W / 54.780; -1.566

Kepier is a location in the city of Durham, England in the parish of Belmont, close to Gilesgate and beside the River Wear. It is site of the medieval Hospital of St Giles at Kepier.

The name derives from 'Kipe weir', meaning a weir with a fish trap and the convenience of being close to a source of fish (a major part of the monastic diet) may have influenced the location of the hospital.

Kepier was also the site of a medieval corn mill which continued in use until its destruction by fire on September 24, 1870 caused by a spark from the grinding of the stone millwheels. The mill was never rebuilt; only a stone arch over the remnant of the mill race remains.

Kepier may also have been the site of a Roman crossing of the River Wear carrying a postulated Roman road, Cade's Road, which led north to Pons Aelius.

The Kepier estate previously extended over much of Gilesgate, Gilesgate Moor and Carrville.

In the 1940s, plans for Kepier power station were drafted, but the project was never undertaken.