OSPRINGE 165 



Just where the hilltoj) rises and looks down hi the 

 direction of Ospringe, the wisdom of the Faversham 

 authorities has planted a Hospital for infectious 

 diseases. It fronts the road, and has a very large 

 door with '' Isolation Hospital " painted on it in very 

 small letters. Tramps and beggars passing by see 

 a large house where possibly something may be begged 

 or stolen. They go up to the door, and, after reading 

 the legend painted there, may be seen to proceed 

 hurriedly on their way. Without standing on the order 

 of their going, they go at once. Omne ignohim jyrn 

 magnifico : they don't know what " isolation " means, 

 but they hurry off, lest they should catch isolation and 

 die of it. And so they come, stricken with a mortal 

 fear, into Ospringe, down a dusty hill. A Maison Dieu 

 that stood here in olden times would perhajDS have 

 received them then., but to-day the few fragments of it 

 that remain are part of the " Red Lion " inn, and 

 tramps find no encouragement there. 



The Knights Templar and the Brethren of the 

 Holy Ghost held this Hospital for travellers for many 

 years, from the time of Henry the Second, and they 

 exercised a lavish hospitality, extended to all, from 

 the King downwards. King John had a room here — 

 a camera 7'egis—a.nd other monarchs frequently made 

 this a haltuig-place on their way to or from Dover. 

 Very few records are left of the f eastings and jolli- 

 fications that took place in this semi-religious, semi- 

 secular retreat, and Ospringe has no longer any Royal 

 visitors. The village consists of a long street beside 

 the highway at the foot of Judd's Hill, and of a shorter 

 street, called Water Lane, that runs off at right angles 

 where the remains of the Maison Dieu stand beside the 

 stream to which Ospringe owes its rather pretty name. 

 At one time this stream flowed openly across the road- 

 way, but it is bridged now, and Water Lane, which 

 had a raised footpath on either side, while the lane 

 itself was occupied by the stream, through which 

 horses and carts splashed, has now been drained dry. 



