In 1989-90 I undertook a survey of Scottish Hospitals, funded by a grant from the Scottish Research Council. This resulted in an unpublished gazetteer and formed the basis of a short book, published by Historic Scotland in 2010 entitled Building up your Health – available free as a PDF here.
I thought it was high time that the gazetteer should be both updated and shared more widely and so I started this blog. There are pages covering each area of Scotland in which there is a list of the hospitals, past and present. I am slowly updating the original gazetteer entries and adding maps and illustrations. This is a work in progress, so will change and grow over time. In addition I have been writing occasional posts, highlighting particular sites or building types.
I would also like to share some of the work that I was involved in for the Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments of England’s survey of hospital buildings undertaken in 1991-4, and which resulted in a large body of work deposited in Historic England’s archives at Swindon and a book published in 1998 English Hospitals 1660-1948. A team of six worked on the hospitals project, based in the RCHME offices in York, Cambridge and London. Robert Taylor in the Cambridge office produced a monthly newsletter which he circulated amongst the team, entitled the Hospitals Investigator. Here you will find extracts from the newsletter in occasional blog posts.
Between 1991 and 2018 I worked on the Survey of London, latterly on Oxford Street, and contributed to the volumes on Knightsbridge, Clerkenwell, Battersea and South East Marylebone. I moved back to Scotland, and am now a PhD student at Edinburgh College of Art researching post-war hospitals in Scotland. I am also an honorary research associate of the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.
At the moment I am in the process of revising this site, which went a bit pear shaped after some WordPress updates, so I apologise if some of the pages look a little odd. Please do get in touch if you spot mistakes, have anything that you would like to contribute, or have any questions. You can leave a comment or email me at Harriet.Richardson@ucl.ac.uk
Historic-Hospitals.com © 2020 by Harriet Richardson Blakeman is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Dear Harriet,
Please get in touch re. the RHfSC Edinburgh. I’m trying to compile a bid whereby the buildings are not lost to public use – cultural and arts like Summerhall – and maintaining a history of the place.
yours,
Robert
Summerhall
Dear Robert,
Happy to help if I can, you can email me at Harriet.Richardson@ucl.ac.uk
best wishes,
from Harriet
Can you tell me where the Lennox Castle Hospital in located. I’m doing research for a school project. This would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
The Hospital was to the north-west of Lennoxtown. None of the hospital buildings survives, apart from some staff houses on Netherton Oval. New housing was built in 2009-10 on the site of the maternity hospital (Castle Circle) and Celtic’s Lennoxtown training ground is on the site of the former institution. The castle itself is in ruins.
good luck with your project,
best wishes from Harriet
Been trying to find a hospital that looked like a airbase there was three barracks that was changed into a small hospital and a tower was there two it was outside Dumfries.
Isobel, dont know if this would help. During the 2nd. WW I was evacuated from Glasgow to the Dumfries area. We were put into an old country mansion named BROORIGG HOUSE on the banks of the River Nith. Across the river was an aerodrome. I dont know where Broomrigg House is, neither can I trace the aerodrome.
Joe McIvor, BEM (East Kilbride)
My grandparents lived at Broomrigg House in the mid 1950s -late 1960s after my grandfather retired from Royal Navy, perhaps after it was vacated as a military billet
Should read Broomrigg House (was close to a railway or railway station.
Hi Joseph
No idea if you’ll ever read this, but there’s a Broomhill House at 55° 05′ 46.69″ N,003° 36′ 53.28″ W. Sits in between the old railway and the River Nith. The aerodrome may be RAF Dumfries, which lies about a mile and a half east by south from there.
jon
Sorry – that should also read Broomrigg House (not Broomhill!).
I found this purely by accident and the hours this must have undertaken is amazing. The details in the article are fascinating to say the least. I live close to Bangour Village Hospital and it’s truly amazing. The locals here love it too and sad to watch the elements and vandals slowly destroy our history…
Hi Joseph
No idea if you’ll ever read this, but there’s a Broomhill House at 55° 05′ 46.69″ N,003° 36′ 53.28″ W. Sits in between the old railway and the River Nith. The aerodrome may be RAF Dumfries, which lies about a mile and a half east by south from there.
jon
Spent one year as a medical student in Kingseat hospital in Newmachar in late 1980s. The staff accommodation was in the main building, and I would do venepuncture on patients in the evenings for routine tests. I remember walking from one cottage to another to locate the patients. Each cottage had a name attached. Recall the patients were very cooperative! Saved enough to buy a very used car to drive to Aberdeen for classes.
Good morning. I am after any info I can find on Calverley Isolation Hospital. I was a patient there in about 1949-1950 with Meningitis yet I can find very little trace of it although I find that you have listed it in Bradford Hospitals. Do you have any further info on it please such as location, etc
Many thanks
This is a fascinating site, and thank you for all your hard work on it. I was born in the Rankin Memorial Hospital, Greenock, and spent my early childhood living in the gatehouse (not sure that’s quite the right term) at Bridge of Weir Hospital. You’ve brought back a lot of memories!
I can’t find out much about Dr Greys Hospital in Elgin. My aunt was Matron there, 1950s/60s. Where can I get information?
The records for the hospital should be in Aberdeen with the NHS Grampian archives – the archivists there are really lovely and helpful so do get in touch. The usual spelling is Gray rather than with an ‘e’, and there are always arguments as to whether it is just Gray’s Hospital or Dr Gray’s – but it is such a lovely building, however you spell it! I wrote a tiny bit on it here: https://wp.me/P62Hk2-3u and you could contact Elgin Library too.
The contact for Grampian health services archives is grampian.archives@nhs.net
I hope that helps.
Spent two months on a surgical rotation at Dr Gray’s Hospital in the 1980s. It was named after a surgeon. Somewhat like the Gray’s Anatomy book, not the TV show! Hospital is located in the middle between Aberdeen and Inverness. A96 passes nearby, saw it again in 2015 for a class reunion gathering. Part of NHS Grampian.
Hello Harriet – I’m trying to find information on my Grandfather, who’s name was Henry Charles Holladay Tanner. He was admitted to Medway union on June 30th, 1913, then transferred to Barming on July 3rd, 1913. Can you give me any further information on him, or tell me where I can search. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Both institutions were in Kent, Barming being Oakwood Hospital at Barming Heath near Maidstone, originally the Kent County Asylum. You may find some information on Ancestry, as they have admission and discharge registers that cover 1913 – see http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Medway/ for more information. Kent Archives hold records for Oakwood Hospital.
Ancestry was where I found the information provided in the first email. There was nothing further. I also tried the Maidstone & Kent County Asylum records with no luck. I will try Oakwood Hospital at Barming. Thank you.
I am trying to find out details of the Covalence Home in Chatham – I think it is now my house. Do you have more details please
Sorry to have taken so long to reply. There was a convalescent home in Maidstone Road, Chatham. I have updated the Kent page with the few details that I have found. I hope that helps. See https://historic-hospitals.com/english-hospitals-rchme-survey/kent/ or search for Chatham.
Am trying to locate the hospital in Kirkcaldy where my Dad was treated for Spanish flu while he was a soldier.
It may have been the burgh infectious diseases hospital in Kirkaldy, on the site of the Victoria Hospital. Try Fife Archives to see if they have case records. Cameron Hospital another possibility.
I am trying to find information on my great grandmother’s sister who was a District Nurse in St. Andrews, Scotland, sometime in the 1890 – 1910 period. Her name was Sarah Pettigrew (1837-1920) known as Nurse Pettigrew who rode her bike around to her patients.
Hi Eunice, have you tried contacting Fife archives? They are very helpful and knowledgeable and if they don’t have the answers may well have advice on where to look. I assume that you have looked at the census, and you might find something in local newspapers through the British Newspaper Archive if you haven’t tried that. Cupar library also has a local history section, so they might be worth contacting too.
Thank you Harriet, that is very helpful. As I live on the other side of the world it is difficult to know where to go. I do have an article from the St. Andrews Library, but will try the others. Thank you so much.
Eunice Bold-Edwards
Until the 1970s there were a number of hospitals in the Greenock, Port Glasgow and Gourock towns (since 1974 all in the Local Authority area of Inverclyde). In Port Glasgow, Broadfield and Broadstone Hospitals. In Greenock, Greenock Royal Infirmary, Larkfield H, Gateside H, Rankinemorial H, Eye Infirmary, Ear Nose and Throat H and Ravens Craig H. In Gourock was the Duncan McPherson Hospital. All long gone. There was also a Cholera Hospital in Sinclair St. Greenock, however, I have no recollection of it.
Thank you Tam – I will investigate the cholera hospital. I hope you found the blog post on Greenock’s lost hospitals https://historic-hospitals.com/2016/06/25/greenocks-lost-hospitals/
My son was born in the Ayrshire Central Hospital in 1956..a Dr Desoldenhof was in charge of the Midwifery department then..very strict, Russian heritage I remember, Any information would be appreciated.
What a fabulous record of our historic hospitals. I worked at Napier when they acquired the beautiful Craighouse … cannot believe they have now sold out to putting housing there.
Hi!
Would anyone know where a patient who died in Claybury Hospital in 1950 would have been buried?