Medieval hospital with 800-year-old history hits market

An 800-year-old hospital where sick travellers, including royalty, were once treated could be yours for $6.7 million. 

Now a grand country house, this eight-bedroom property in England was first built around 1199 by a group of knights. 

They designed the building as a commandry – a place where travellers could rest for the night, and where the sick and poor could receive care. 

Thankfully, the days of bloodletting and barber-surgeons are long since gone from this property.

Today, the moated house is a private residence. 

“It’s an electrifying, fascinating, inspiring place with a long history of caring for people,” owner Giles Brown, a medieval history specialist, told Mansion Global. 

“Great kings passed through here, including King John and Henry III.” 

Brown has lived in the home with his wife, art historian Liz Drey-Brown, for nearly 30 years. 

The pair have now listed the house for sale with an asking price of £3.25 million ($6.75 million).

The sprawling heritage-listed house is located in Sutton-At-Hone, a small rural village in Kent. 

In addition to the main house, there is an ancient chapel, a bridge, a working moat and 24 acres of landscaped grounds. 

The light, airy rooms feature a host of historic features, including 18th-century sash windows, panelled walls, fireplaces and a grand staircase.

In a nod to the property’s history, a garden of medicinal herbs has been planted near the main house. 

The house is on offer with a 97-year lease from the National Trust, who own the land. 

Leasehold properties are common in the UK, and allow buyers to purchase ownership rights to a property for a set period of time.