History of Royal Hampshire County

Hampshire’s County Hospital was founded in 1736 by Alured Clarke, in Colebrook Street in what had been a house belonging to the nuns of St Mary’s Abbey. The Hospital moved in 1759 to a new building in Parchment Street, designed at least in part by John Woods the younger. There it stayed for almost a century, during which time its medical staff gained recognition as skilled physicians and surgeons. By the time Jane Austen came to be treated during her final illness it already had a considerable reputation as a teaching hospital.