During the Middle Ages, many monasteries had an infirmary and a hospital where they treated the sick. This was also the case for the Augustinian Priory of St Mary Overie, later known as the Priory of St Thomas Beckett that was located where Southwark Cathedral now stands.

This Priory was destroyed by a fire in 1212, and soon afterwards the monastic community obtained a new site on the east side of what is now Borough High Street. This new site was to become Old St Thomas’ Hospital! Saint Thomas' then provided shelter for the sick, the needy and the dying for the next 650 years. Throughout this time, the hospital went through several renovations, moving away from a monastic context and creating in its wake a new identity more in tune with the concept of "hospital" that we have today. Joined in 1725 by Guy’s Hospital, these United Hospitals created a precious opportunity not only as a place of healing, but as a place of learning. Join Monica A. Walker, Ph.D. in Art History, for this fascinating journey into how Old St Thomas' Hospital firmly established London Bridge as a centre of a medical culture that still is developing as you read this.