Have you got a connection to Barts hospital?
Perhaps you were born there, or saved there, or even fell in love there. Maybe you plunged several storeys from the rooftop to fake your own death (no, wait, that wasn't real).
St Bartholomew's Hospital in Smithfield is the oldest working hospital in the UK, and will celebrate its 900th anniversary in 2023. To mark the milestone, it has a rather special community project lined up. Illustrator extraordinaire Adam Dant will sketch the stories of 900 people connected with the hospital onto one of his hyper-detailed maps.
Will Palin, Chief Executive of Bart's Heritage, says: "Dant's map will be populated with 900 stories as told by the people of Barts and those across the capital and the country (past and present), whose lives have been touched by this famous institution, together with tales uncovered from hospital archives. Adam’s unique eye (and ear) for the curious, the humorous and the tragic will bring to life 900 years of Barts history in all its beautiful (and occasionally bloody) glory.”
A limited edition print version of the map will go on sale from January 2023, in support of Barts Heritage and the Sharing Historic Barts project. The latter is a £9.1 million plan to fund repair and conservation of the hospital's North Wing — the bit that's famous for its Hogarth murals and great hall.
If you have a story about St Bartholomew’s that you would like to share, please email barts900stories@gmail.
