WALK AROUND THE FAUBOURG DE DESSUS *
or SAINTE QUITTERIE DE LA BASTIDE*
BLUE ROUTE
SITE 4
SAINTE CROIX HOSPITAL

    The old building of the «  collège  » (secondary school) used to be a hospital until the French Revolution. It was founded by a local-born priest, de Lalanne, archdeacon of the Rivière-Basse area. It was built on the site of a previous small hospital which is mentioned in a 15th century document.

    Topped with a small clock tower looking like a cocked-hat, the hospital was U-shaped. and large. In its central part there  was a chapel with its own chpalain. According to its founder, the hospital had two missions  : to care for and help the poor and alsoteach them. So as to fulfill these two missions the hospital received the income from two farms, la borde* de Ramoussens situated in Caixon, (Hautes-Pyrénées), and Becquet in Poudraguin. Bread, broth, medecines were usually distributed to the people in need at home. However the hospital sometimes gave shelter to poor tramps.

     The board of trustees was composed of a judge, a priest, a royal prosecutor, 2 consuls and 4 inhabitants chosen by the parishioners.

    During the French Revolution Sainte Croix hospital added a new mission to the traditional ones  : it dealt with abandoned children whose number reached 37 for the area during that time. Then it also became the town's elementary school and a court of justice.

•    faubourg  : suburb
•    de dessus  : upstream
•    bastide  : a walled town in the South West of France
•    borde  : a farm