St Andrews, Fife Scotland UK
[Roman Catholic]
St Nicholas Hospital, with chapel and graveyard, served as a home for lepers from around 1178 to at least 1438. It was probably one of the first leper houses in Scotland and may have been founded by the Prior and Canons of St. Andrews. It lay outside the town on the coastal route. The small complex was taken over by St. Andrews Blackfriars (Dominicans) in 1529. At the time leprosy was dying out and it then served as a poor house. Archaeological investigations have been carried out as the land has been developed for the leisure centre, coast guard station, laying of pipes and housing. More then thirty skeletons have been found and medieval pottery, animal bones, and other items. It is believed that the chapel was near the cemetery under the later steading buildings.Illustration of the St Andrews Leper Hospital
