The Leper Chapel

The Leper Chapel is believed to be the oldest surviving complete building in Cambridge. It is even older than the oldest of the Cambridge colleges.

The chapel was originally built as part of an isolation hospital for lepers, on the outskirts of Cambridge In 1199 King John granted the Leper Hospital the right to hold a three-day fair on the Vigil of Holy Cross. Rent from the stalls and booths added to the hospital's income, which was otherwise derived from begging on the roadside, and from crops which they grew. Stourbridge Fair became the largest medieval fair in Europe and existed until 1933.