The Hospital of St John the Baptist was a hospital in High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England between 1180 and 1548. It was situated on the main road that ran from Oxford to London (what is now the A40) east of the town centre. The Hospital In the 12th century hospitals were used as almshouses for the poor or infirm. The Hospital of St John the Baptist was founded by the Catholic church. The foundation date is not recorded, but the surviving capitals suggest a date in the 1170s or ‘80s. The founder was perhaps one Adam Walder, as in an inquisition of 1245 it was recorded that the brethren and sisters of the house were to pray for his soul. The hospital was run by a Master (normally a monk or other religious figure) and a small community of brothers and sisters (other members of the church) who cared for the people who came to them for help. Three further beds at the hospital were also set aside for other poor or infirm people who were passing through on the road either to London or to Oxford. The earliest known Master was Brother Gilbert who, in 1236, wrote to Pope Gregory IX in Rome asking for permission to establish a chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist at the hospital. This permission was granted by Papal decree in 1239 and the chapel built shortly after. It is not known whether the hospital took on the name of St John the Baptist at this time, or whether it had already received that dedication. In 1245 a study found the brothers distributed bread to the poor annually on Lady Day (25th Martch). By 1344 the hospital was in the patronage of the mayor and burgess of Wycombe. The hospital continued to run until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the mid 16th century when all property belonging to the Catholic church was seized by King Henry VIII. Officially the property of the King from that point in history, the hospital struggled to survive and eventually closed in 1548. The last recorded Master was Charles Chalfont, who ran the hospital from 1541 to 1548. The school In 1550 the buildings of the hospital were acquired by the mayor and burgesses of the town who wished to establish a school. The school took in boys by subscription and trained them in academic studies such