Outside the Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. Not sure why, but the main doors feature Madonna lyrics painted in gold! 
Outside the Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. I think Keats would have been astonished by the Shard! 
The Guy’s Hospital courtyard during renovations. 
The Keats statue at Guy’s Hospital. 
The Keats statue at Guy’s Hospital. 
Guy’s Hospital. 
Stainer (formerly Dean) Street, Southwark. 
Stainer (formerly Dean) Street, Southwark. Display showing the location of the first railway lines in 1836. Dean St runs up along the left of the new station concourse. 
Stainer (formerly Dean) Street, Southwark, looking towards Tooley Street. 
The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. 
The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. 
The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. 
The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. 
The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. 
The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. 
The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. 
The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. 
The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. Display on Keats. 
The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. “Miseratione non Mercede” means “For compassion not for gain”. 
The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. It’s easy to imagine Keats here when looking at such old timbers.
Guy’s Hospital, Southwark, London
John Keats studied medicine at Guy’s Hospital and qualified as an apothecary.
The Keats Connection
Keats completed his medical apprenticeship with Thomas Hammond, a doctor in Edmonton, in mid 1815. He then began studying as an apothecary-surgeon at Guy’s Hospital in Southwark, London. Guy’s Hospital was (and still is) a teaching hospital, associated with St Thomas’ Hospital.
Keats registered at Guy’s as a surgical student on 1 October 1815, and began working and studying there on 15 October. He qualified as an apothecary, but ended up deciding to quit medicine in late 1816, without becoming eligible to qualify as a surgeon.
Today
The courtyard entrance to Guy’s Hospital would still look very familiar to Keats, especially now it is pedestrian only (it used to be a car park).
If you walk across the courtyard and through the further colonnade, you’ll find two more squares opening up to either side. On the left, there is a statue of Keats himself, by Stuart Williamson, installed in 2007. I have sat there in the little shelter a few times, in search of peace.
Details
- Address: St Thomas Street, London SE1
- Tube: London Bridge on the Jubilee and Northern lines
- Opening hours: You can visit the statue during daylight hours. However, please be respectful of the hospital’s staff and patients!
Links
Nearby
- Keats lodged nearby at 8 St. Thomas Street and at 8 Dean Street
- Keats wouldn’t have known The Old Operating Theatre, but it would have been familiar to him, and he might have known the herb garret