Winsley Sanatorium was built on the outskirts of Winsley, a small village between Bath and Bradford on Avon. It first opened in 1904, and was transferred to the NHS in 1948. Originally established to treat tuberculosis, as vaccination and antibiotics led to a decline in the need for such specialist hospitals it developed into a specialist chest hospital. Few additions were made in the post-war period, and it continued use into the early 1980s. After closure the site was developed as Avonpark retirement village. The original building (pictured above) was retained in the redevelopment, but plans this year have been put forward for further development on the site which would see this building demolished. The planning application stressed that ‘little heritage interest’ survived as most of the former sanatorium buildings had been demolished, and this one had been ‘significantly altered’. It had not been so altered for its original appearance to have been lost.

Winsley Sanatorium’s foundation was in large part due to the efforts of Dr Lionel Weatherly of Bath, chairman of the Gloucester, Somerset and Wilts branch of the National Association of for Consumption. The promoters were delighted by the site, which was conveniently placed between the three counties. It had been the site of Murhill Quarry, the local stone being used in the construction, looking out over the Wiltshire downs and the White Horse at Westbury. The design was inspired by the sanatorium at Hohenhonnef on the Rhine, but the plans of all the principal Continental sanatoria were consulted in the design stage and their leading features adopted.

The perspective view (below) shows a three-storey building, with a butterfly plan in which the outer ends of the building were angled to create a sheltered sun-trap. On the north side – not shown on the perspective view – the wings were angled more sharply, at 90 degrees. The main entrance was also positioned on the north side, while a detached building was to house the kitchen, offices and patients’ dining-hall. Typically the patients’ rooms faced south, accessed from a corridor that ran along the north side of the main range, but with rooms on either side of a central corridor in the angled end wings, as in Hohenhonnef Sanatorium (see illustrations above). Open-air treatment was to be facilitated by a wide veranda, or ‘liegehalle’, along the south side of the building and wrapping around the wings.

It was an ambitious project, but the funding was initially precarious. There seem to have been hopes that it would be chosen as the site for the King’s Sanatorium for which Sir E. Cassell had promised the handsome sum of £200,000, but after the site was inspected by members of the King’s advisory board, it was found to be too small. The projected cost of the proposed sanatorium was £20,000, but by March 1902 they had only raised about £5,000. [Lancet, 29 March 1902, p.930.] That year the Bristol Medico-Chirurgical Society Journal reported that the site had been levelled and a large quantity of good building stone had been prepared and stacked ready for use as soon as the Committee had sufficient money in hand to justify commencing building operations.

The foundation stone was laid on 4 June 1903 by Lady Dickson-Poynder, a ceremony attended by many of those involved with establishing the sanatorium, including Dr Weatherly, and local dignitaries, including the Bishop of Bristol, Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice M. P. and Sir John Dickson-Poynder, M. P. [Lancet, 13 June 1903, p.1693.]

The first buildings of the sanatorium were constructed in 1903-4, the first patients being admitted in December 1904 and a formal opening taking place the following year. The architects were the local firm of Thomas Ball Silcock jr and Samuel Sebastian Reay, and the builders were Jacob Long & Sons of Bath. The lack of funds meant that the original design for the principal block had to be scaled back: the angled wings were lopped off and the height reduced from three storey plus attics to two storeys with attics. [Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health, City of Gloucester, 1905: The Builder, 1 Aug. 1906, p.56.]

In addition to the principal block there was a separate ‘bedroom block’, although there were also 26 bedrooms for the patients in the main building which also had a central reception room featuring a broad bay window, a suite of rooms for the doctor, and accommodation. The ‘bedroom block’ was three storeys high with 34 patient rooms. All the interior walls were finished with hard plaster. Corners and angles that might harbour dirt and dust were avoided by curved covings. The bedroom floors were finished with floorcloth (not unlike linoleum, this was manufactured in large sheets of oiled canvas). The architects designed or specified the furniture for the sanatorium which included bedsteads, washstands, wardrobe a dressing chest, bedside table and a single chair that were all enamelled white with nickel-plated fittings. The only piece of soft furnishing in each room was an armchair.

Rainwater was captured and stored in a large tank on the site to serve the laundry, housed in a detached building. Electric lighting was employed, the contractors for the electric lighting being Edwards & Armstrong of Bristol, with an ‘electric light station’ on site near the laundry building. The hospital was only connected to the national grid in 1950.[Bath Chronicle, 18 March 1950, p.12.] Heating was by a mix of hot-water pipes and open fireplaces.

There was also a detached rest shelter or ‘liegehalle’, measuring 100ft in length, that formed a link range between the principal and the bedroom blocks. This seems to be the timber structure pictured above that was in a state of dereliction in the early 1990s (pictured above). It was highly unusual with its thatched central portion, and definitely a picturesque element of the sanatorium. The idea of a rest hall or ‘liegehalle’ came from open-air treatment practised in Germany where patients were encouraged to spend as much time as possible out in the open air, or in a shelter such as this, that offered some protection from the worst the weather might threaten, but were thoroughly ventilated by plentiful window openings.

Within a year of opening the sanatorium’s finances were in a mess. It was £15,000 in debt and its annual income well short of its outgoings. There were accusations of extravagance on the initial outlay on building, but also misgivings about the efficacy of the treatment offered. Support was generally lacking. Its 60 beds were barely adequate for its populous catchment area, centred on Bath, but without financial support expansion was impossible. Some of the immediate difficulties in 1906 were countered by raising some £7,500 on mortage.[The Medical Press and Circular, 19 Sept 1906, p.295.]

An extension was completed in 1934 which comprised a new admin block, nurses’ home, and a recreation and rest room for women. Additional beds were thereby provided in the original main block. The new admin block was situated at the western end of the original main block and was designed ot harmonise with it. At the west end of the new admin block was the women’s recreation room, which enjoyed a fine view across the valley. It comprised two large rooms, and was flat-roofed, with generous glazing and french windows opening out on to a croquet lawn.[Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 20 Oct. 1934, p.5.]

By the end of the 1930s the sanatorium had expanded to provide 135 beds. In 1948 the sanatorium was transferred to the National Health Service and in 1950 changed its name to the Winsley Chest Hospital. An article in the Bristol Observer published in December 1950 described the life of the patients there, whose average stay in the hospital was nine months. ‘They live… that kind of friendly community life that in the outside world is being killed by the ever-quickening tempo of modern life.’ Here, ex-servicemen found the comradeship they knew in the Services. To help the patients structure their day and fill their time was the occupational therapist – the first full-time OT appointment had been made in 1942. Handicrafts were encouraged, particularly of articles that the patients would find useful in their own homes. They were supplied with materials at cost price to make rugs, woven ties and scarves, tapestries, cushion covers, soft toys etc. Special workrooms were provided, but patients also worked while in bed. Entertainments included whist drives, lectures and concerts. The patients also produced a magazine, which had begun in 1936, was suspended during the war, and started up again in 1949 when it changed its name from the ‘Winsley Sanatorium Magazine’ to the ‘Winslonian’.[Bristol Observer, 2 Dec. 1950, p.3: Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 17 Sept. 1949, p.7.]

For around forty years, between 1930 and 1970, Dr A. J. P. Alexander served as the resident consultant physician to Winsley Sanatorium. He witnessed the revolution in the treatment and prevention of tuberculosis, and steered the hospital in the new direction of specialising in other diseases of the chest, including lung cancer. Dr Alexander established the league of friends, which raised funds to improve patient amenities, paying for a new hall that was named after the Alexander. [Somerset Guardian, 3 July 1970, p.7.]

The hospital closed in 1982, and put up for sale in 1988. Since then most of the buildings on the site have been demolished to make way for housing development. The original principal block, together with its western extension, were retained – for a while as accommodation for the elderly, but plans have been passed recently by the local planning department to allow this remnant of the former sanatorium to be demolished.

Further reading: Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre have a good set of records of the hospital. A history of the hospital was published in 1992 written by John Willet, a former hospital administrator, Hospital Diary, The History of Winsley Chest Hospital. See also Bradford on Avon Museum’s website for further information and photographs.]