A Priory, dedicated to St John the Baptist, and inhabited by both monks and nuns, stood to the west of the town of Wilton, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, on the edge of the present village of Ditchampton, from at least the 12^th Century. The Priory established a small ‘hospital’ (‘hostel’ in modern parlance) to house two poor men and two poor women. In 1978, the Priory was taken over by an unincorporated Trust, and became a Registered Charity, whose purpose was to provide almshouse accommodation on the site of the former priory, and to be known as St John’s Hospital.

The badge of St John’s Hospital, Wilton is based on the charity’s pointed oval seal (49.2 mm x 39.7 mm), still in use, and probably of very early design. It bears the Agnus Dei on a red (martyr’s) field, with the legend: SIGILLUM HOSPITALIS SANCTI IOHANNIS IVXTA WILTON (The Seal of the Hospital of Saint John next to Wilton).

A block of 10 flats was built in 1985, to replace a run-down existing building. In 1997, in a unique venture, St John’s Hospital combined with the College of Matrons (an almshouse charity based in Salisbury’s Cathedral Close) to build a second block of flats, 6 to be occupied by beneficiaries of St John’s Hospital and 12 by beneficiaries of the College of Matrons.

St John’s Hospital now looks after a total of up to 33 ‘almspeople’ on the site still known as St John’s Priory (21 of whom would be beneficiaries of St John’s Hospital and 12 of whom would be beneficiaries of the College of Matrons), all living independently in the various flats and cottages, albeit assisted by a resident Warden.