The Poor Priests’ Hospital

By supporting this ambitious project, you can help restore one of Canterbury’s most important historic buildings, reconnect people with its remarkable stories and create new opportunities for children, young people and communities across Kent.

The Marlowe Theatre is undertaking an ambitious £8.5 million capital project to restore and reopen the Poor Priests’ Hospital — a Grade I and II listed medieval building within Canterbury’s city walls — as a major new heritage destination and creative hub for the region.

The project will carefully restore and re-present the building’s uniquely important historic spaces, from the Great Hall to the 13th century St Mary’s Chapel, using commissioned artworks, performance and imaginative interpretation to bring centuries of stories to life.

Once complete, the Poor Priests’ Hospital will reopen as a free public space with a riverside café, heritage events, performances, creative activity and spaces for community use and public hire. The project is an example of how a theatre can play a central role in regenerating a city, connecting young people with heritage and giving historic buildings a new future through creativity.

At the heart of the restored building will be The Hive — the Marlowe’s new creative learning centre for young people.

Designed with young people, The Hive will provide dedicated studio and breakout spaces that support creativity, participation, wellbeing and belonging, creating a permanent home for the Marlowe’s work with young people.

The project will create:

• Beautifully restored medieval spaces, from the Great Hall to the 13th century St Mary’s Chapel, brought to life through commissioned artworks and imaginative interpretation.
• Free entrance for visitors to the beautifully restored and interpreted interiors celebrating the stories of the building and the people who inhabited it.
• The Hive, a dedicated creative learning centre with studio, breakout and creative spaces for young people.
• A programme of immersive experiences, heritage events and creative activity, including History Lates, schools projects and performance events in the Great Hall.
• The new home of the Marlowe’s Writers’ Room in the historic Solar Room.
• An inviting riverside café and welcoming public spaces for events.
• Sensitive restoration and environmental upgrading of a nationally significant heritage building currently on the Heritage At Risk Register.

A game-changer for young people in Kent

The Hive will allow the Marlowe Theatre to significantly expand the scale and range of its work with young people across Kent.

The project will enable the Marlowe to:

• Increase participation from around 4,000 children and young people annually to over 20,000.
• Welcome more than 60,000 visitors annually to the Poor Priests’ Hospital site.
• Work more flexibly and creatively with schools across Kent.
• Expand our oversubscribed Youth Company and increase bursary support.
• Provide dedicated studio space for Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures Cygnet School, reinforcing the Marlowe’s role as the national home of the Cygnets.
• Grow the Marlowe Academy for the Performing Arts (MAPA) and vocational training opportunities.
• Expand the Marlowe’s Writers’ Room, giving more young people opportunities to write and perform their own work.

Young people helped shape every aspect of The Hive, from its name to the kind of spaces and opportunities it will provide. Inspired by the building’s history as a place of healing and sanctuary, The Hive is designed to be somewhere young people feel creativity, inspiration and belonging.

Making it happen

We need to raise £8.5 million to fully restore and transform the Poor Priests’ Hospital.

Thanks to National Lottery players, we have secured a transformational £4.4 million grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, alongside significant support from trusts, foundations, philanthropists and the Marlowe Theatre’s own investment in the project. We also worked with Canterbury City Council on their Levelling Up bid to fix urgent repairs on the roof in 2025.

However, we still need to raise the remaining £2.2 million over the next two years to fully realise the vision for the Poor Priests’ Hospital and The Hive.

There are many ways to support the project — through personal giving, business sponsorship, trust and foundation support, or by helping us champion the project to others who may wish to get involved.

If you would like to discuss supporting the project or find out more, we would love to hear from you.

Please contact Kate Bierman, Capital Campaign Director via email at kate.bierman@marlowetheatre.com or by phone at 01227 935767.