This detail from a map of 1559 marks the site of Bethlem clearly. It is the only known view of the hospital buildings in its early days on this site.
Bethlem was founded in 1247 as a priory. It was built just outside the north walls of the City of London, just east of Bishopsgate, on land owned by a City merchant Simon FitzMary. FitzMary gave the land to the monks of St Mary of Bethlehem, to found a priory.