Cheshire

ALDERLEY EDGE

Alderley Edge Cottage Hospital SJ 845 787 102122 demolished

Alderley Edge Cottage Hospital, photographed when completed in 1924, from The Builder, 17 October 1924, p.598

Built in 1923-4, the cottage hospital in Alderley Edge was designed by the architect Edmund Ware of Liverpool. Funds for the hospital were gifted in a legacy from Otto Baerlain, who left the residue of this estate for charitable purposes to be decided upon by the Urban District Council. The hospital was formally opened by Lord Sheffield on 13 February 1924. [The Builder, 17 Oct. 1924, pp.598-9.]

Alderley Edge Cottage Hospital, 25-inch OS map revised 1936, reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)

Extensions to provide room for X-ray equipment, treatment rooms and a sitting room for the nurses was built in 1927-8. In 1931 the operating theatre was enlarged and other alterations and improvements carried out. The hospital was transferred to the NHS in 1948, and was still functioning as a GP community hospital in the early 1990s but closed in 1994.

Ground-floor plan of Alderley Edge Cottage Hospital, from the Architects’ Journal, 18 March 1925

When the hospital was still open, there was a watercolour of the hospital hanging in the original waiting hall and a donations board inscribed:

OTTO BAERLAIN, A RESIDENT IN ALDERLEY EDGE, BY HIS WILL GAVE THE RESIDUE OF HIS ESTATE FOR SUCH CHARITABLE PURPOSES AS SHOULD BE INDICATED BY THE ALDERLEY EDGE URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL.  THE COUNCIL DIRECTED THAT SUCH RESIDUE SHOULD BE APPLIED TO THE PROVISION OF A HOSPITAL FOR THE DISTRICT, AND THIS HOSPITAL WAS ACCORDINGLY BUILT IN THE YR 1923.  THE GIFTS RECEIVED TOWARDS THE BUILDING AND MAINTENANCE OF THE INSTITUTION ARE HERE RECORDED  THE ESTATE OF THE LATE OTTO BAERLAIN £18,765  `BROOKDALE’ RED CROSS HOSPITAL £1,160  `ALDERLEY PARK’ RED CROSS HOSPITAL £609  ALDERLEY EDGE SURGICAL GUILD £300

Three blocks of flats have been built on the site. For further details and record photography from the early 1990s see Historic England Archives Building File 102122

ALDFORD

Aldford Dispensary (now Brook View) SJ 421 593 102501

Red dot marks the house Brook View on the OS 25-inch map revised in 1897 CC-BY (NLS)

ARCLID

Arclid Hospital (Congleton Union Workhouse) SJ 788 624 102127 demolished

Congleton Union Workhouse, 25-inch OS map revised 1897, CC-BY (NLS)

The Congleton Union was formed in 1837 comprising 32 townships. The union had inherited various pre-Poor Law Amendment Act workhouses and poorhouses, but all but two (Congleton and Biddulph) were considered unsuitable for adaptation to meet the requirements of the new legislation. Congleton workhouse had been built in 1810 on Mossley Moor, near Park Lane Head, to replace an earlier workhouse that had been established in the old Lower Chapel in Congleton in 1730. However, by 1841 it had been decided to build a new workhouse at Arclid, closer to Sandbach. Plans were commissioned from Henry Bowman of Manchester that yaer, for a workhouse to accommodate 250 paupers. The design to be similar to the Stockport Union workhouse that had been completed around 1840. After some delay, revised plans for a larger workhouse were drawn up by Bowman and work commenced in 1844, completed the following year. A separate fever ward was added around 1847.

Congleton Union Workhouse, OS map revised 1908 showing the infirmary to the north CC-BY (NLS)

A larger separate infirmary was added in 1899-1900, Alfred Price of Elwarth being the architect, and a water tower added in 1902. During the First World War the workhouse was used for military casualties. Following the 1929 Local Government Act the workhouse was taken over by Cheshire County Council and was renamed Arclid Hospital, mostly looking after the elderly. On the outbreak of the Second World war five hutted ward blocks were added, and a hut to accommodated nurses, as part of the Emergency Medical Scheme. The wards were used for civilian patients evacuated from other hospitals. The hospital was transferred to the NHS in 1948, but closed in 1993. The buildings have since been demolished to make way for a housing development. For further details and record photography see Historic England Archives Building File 102127 and workhouses.org

Arclid Infectious Diseases Hospital SJ 788 626 102165 largely demolished?

Small isolation hospital, presumably built by the local authority. One ward block appears on the 1896 OS map, to which another and an administration block had been added by 1907. The ward blocks and ancillary buildings have been demolished but the admin block seems to survive (now Inglewood).

Arclid Infectious Diseases Hospital, OS 25-inch map revised in 1896 CC-BY (NLS)
Extended hospital on the 1907 revised map. CC-BY (NLS)

BARROW

Barrowmore Hospital (East Lancashire Tuberculosis Colony and Sanatorium) SJ 475 691 102718

Barrowmore Hospital, 6-inch OS map published in 1954

Barrowmore Hall was acquired by the East Lancashire Joint Committee of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and the British Red Cross Society in 1920 and a sanatorium built to the east. The Hall itself was destroyed during the Second World War. In 1948 the sanatorium passed to the NHS and developed as a general hospital. It closed in 1983, having latterly accommodated specialist departments in ENT, gynaecology and orthopaedics. See Barrowmore.co.uk for more detaisl and photographs of the site.

CHESTER

Chester Royal Infirmary SJ 401 664 102132 part demolished

Chester Royal Infirmary, photographed in 2008 by John S Turner, from Geograph

Chester Infirmary was built in 1758-61 to designs by William Yoxall. It was a quadrangular building set around an open courtyard, of three storeys over a basement, with large wards along two of its sides on its two upper floors. In 1830, to designs by William Cole, junior, the wards were subdivided and a gallery, nurses’ rooms, bathrooms and toilets inserted in the courtyard to improve circulation in the building.  A fever hospital was built in the Infirmary grounds in 1867-8, with pavilion wards flanking a central administration block. 

Chester Infirmary and fever hospital, OS 25-inch map surveyed c.1873 CC-BY (NLS)

The Humberston Wing was added in 1892, with outpatient facilities on the ground floor and staff accommodation on the first floor.  The opening of a new Corporation Infectious Diseases Hospital at Sealand in 1899 enabled the fever hospital to be converted into a nurses’ home in 1902.  The outpatients’ department was extended in 1903-5, and again in 1911 a major programme of expansion was drawn up by W T Lockwood of Chester.  This involved the construction of a pair of pavilion ward wings (the Albert Wood Wards), an operating theatre, nurses’ home extension, staff accommodation extension and partial heightening of the old Infirmary, much of it built by 1913 but not necessarily complete. The hospital became the Chester Royal Infirmary in 1913. 

Chester Infirmary from the 1908 revised OS map CC-BY (NLS)

A new pathology laboratory was opened in 1931, and nurses’ home extensions were begun in 1934. The hospital continued to serve as a general hospital after transfer to the NHS but was eventually replaced by new buildings on the Countess of Chester site. It closed in the 1990s, and all but the original quadrangular range demolished.

Countess of Chester Hospital (Cheshire County Lunatic Asylum; Deva Hospital) SJ 401 687 102131

Cheshire Lunatic Asylum, 1831, Wellcome Library, London.

Cheshire County Lunatic Asylum was built in 1827-9 at Upton, on the outskirts of Chester, on a ten acre site purchased from the Rev. Sir Philip Egerton. It was designed by the local architect William Cole, junior, (1800-92) following a competition. Construction of the asylum, which was to accommodate 90 patients, began in March 1827 and the building was completed for the reception of patients in September 1829.  It consisted of a lodge at the entrance from Liverpool Road and the main U-shaped block with service buildings to either side of a central entrance court. By 1849, when two new wings were added to the asylum, the centre part of the original building had been extended to the rear to provide a chapel. The new wings at the north and south ends of the original building provided accommodation for a further 80 patients, but was still overcrowded with inadequate ancillary departments. In 1852 Arthur Holmes, architect, of Liverpool, was commissioned to prepare a scheme to make improvements. These works, completed in 1856, extended the kitchen and laundry. Around this time a house was also built for a resident medical superintendent. A new detached chapel was also built in 1856, the original chapel becoming a recreation room. The following year new blocks were added for male and female patients who could be employed in the workshops or laundry. In the later 1870s the main building was extended with the construction of two wings projecting from the main front.

Cheshire County Asylum, OS 25-inch map revised in 1898, CC-BY (NLS)

A major expansion of the asylum took place in the 1890s to the north and west of the original building. This provided accommodation for another 400 patients in five separate blocks linked by covered ways to the existing buildings and a new administration block, water tower and staff accommodation. Heating and ventilation were designed on the plenum system. The architects were Grayson and Ould, of Liverpool, and the extension was officially opened on 31 October 1898. It could then accommodate over 1,000 patients. Even so, further extensions were soon contemplated

Cheshire County Mental Hospital, OS map revised in 1936 CC-BY (NLS)

In 1907, the County Architect, Harry Beswick, drew up a scheme for an infirmary annexe with its own admin block, house for the assistant medical officer, an isolation hospital, nurses’ home, more workshops, and other improvements. The works was modified and carried out in phases from 1911, commencing with a block for patients with epilepsy on the site of the chaplain’s house (built 1911-12) and the large infirmary annexe (built 1911-15). The second phase was begun during the First World War, comprising the isolation hospital, workshops, new mortuary and alterations to form a central dispensary and pathology laboratory.

Countess of Chester Hospital, OS Map published in 1968, the name of the hospital was changed to Deva Mental Hospital by the NHS CC-BY (NLS)

In the 1930s two occupational therapy pavilions were added (1934) and a nurses’ home (1938-9), the plans drawn up by the new County Architect, F. Anstead Brown (or within his office).

St James’s Hospital (Chester Union Workhouse; St James’s House) SJ 420 670 100155

Sealand Isolation Hospital (Chester Isolation Hospital) SJ 383 668 102133

CONGLETON

Congleton Cottage Hospital SJ 861 629 102125

Congleton War Memorial Hospital SJ 866 624 102126

West Heath Isolation Hospital (Congleton Joint Isolation Hospital; West Heath Sanatorium) SJ 837 635 102124

CRANAGE

Cranage Hall Hospital (Cranage Hall Colony) SJ 752 682 102135

CREWE

Crewe Isolation Hospital SJ 708 566 102167

Crewe Memorial Cottage Hospital SJ 685 558 102166

Railway Hospital  SJ 706 554102169

DAVENHAM

Davenham Day Centre (Northwich, Middlewich and Winsford Joint Isolation Hospital; Davenham Isolation Hospital) SJ 653 713 102137

ELLESMERE PORT

Ellesmere Port Hospital (Ellesmere Port Cottage Hospital) SJ 393 749 102504

GRAPPENHALL AND THELWALL

Thelwall Grange SJ 659 864. 

A large Victorian country house probably dating from the mid-late 19th century. In the 20th century the building became a convalescent home and c.1983 became a residential nursing home. The building is of two storeys, with attics, and has large late 20th century extensions to the left side and rear. It is built of grey brick with hipped and pitched slate roofs.

GREAT WARFORD

High Grove Nursing Home (Ancoats Hospital Convalescent Home; Ancoats Children’s Unit), Ancoats Road SJ 805 775 BF102120. 

Built in 1902-4 as a convalescent home for Ancoats Hospital, Manchester. Used as a military hospital during WWI and as the Ancoats Children’s Unit of Mary Dendy Hospital from 1967-88. It is now a private nursing home.

Mary Dendy Hospital (Sandlebridge Boarding Schools) SJ 809 773 102119

Warford Hall (Mary Dendy Hospital) SJ 817 767 102121

KNUTSFORD

Cranford Lodge Hospital (Altrincham Union Workhouse; Bucklow Union Workhouse) SJ 748 784 102116

Knutsford War Memorial Cottage Hospital(Knutsford and District War Memorial Cottage Hospital)          SJ 743 786 102117

LITTLE WARFORD

The David Lewis Centre (The David Lewis Manchester Epileptic Colony) SJ 810 767 102134

MACCLESFIELD

Fence Hospital (now Fence House) SJ 921 736 102008

Macclesfield Infirmary SJ 913 740 102000

Moss Lane Smallpox Hospital (Macclesfield Smallpox Hospital) SJ 908 718 102005

Parkside Hospital (Cheshire County Lunatic Asylum) SJ 900 739 102006

West Park Hospital (Macclesfield Union Workhouse) SJ 909 739 102007

Weston Park Nursing Home (Macclesfield Infectious Diseases Hospital; Moss Lane Hospital) SJ 907 720 102004

MANLEY

Crossley East Hospital (The Manchester (Crossley) Sanatorium; Crossley Sanatorium for Consumptives) SJ 528 734 102140

Delamere Manor Private Nursing Home (Liverpool Sanatorium, Frodsham; Crossley Hospital West) SJ 522 735 102141

NANTWICH

Alvaston Isolation Hospital (Nantwich Joint Business Park) SJ 657 537 102714

Infectious Diseases Hospital; now Alvaston Barony Hospital (Nantwich Workhouse; Nantwich Union Infirmary) SJ 654 533 102128

NETHER ALDERLEY

Soss Moss Hospital SJ 823 766 102118

NORTHWICH

Northwich Union Workhouse (now Salt Museum) SJ 658 731 102136

Victoria Infirmary (Verdin Park) SJ 654 740 102130

RUNCORN

Victoria Memorial Cottage Hospital (Runcorn Cottage Hospital) SJ 510 790 102505

TARPORLEY

Tarporley War Memorial Hospital  SJ 555 626 102139

WARRINGTON

Warrington District General Hospital (Warrington Infectious Diseases Hospital) SJ 595 886 102715

Warrington Infirmary and Dispensary SJ 604 885 102502

WEAVERHAM

The Grange Hospital (Hefferston Grange Sanatorium) SJ 604 734 102138

WIDNES

Crow Wood Hospital (Widnes Isolation Hospital)     SJ 527 867 102716

West Bank Hospital (Widnes Accident Hospital) SJ 510 850 102503

WILMSLOW

Styal Cottage Homes SJ 844 828 102123

WINSFORD

Albert Infirmary SJ 668 659 102168

WINWICK

Winwick Hospital (Lancashire County Lunatic Asylum) SJ 600 925 102598

WRENBURY CUM FRITH

Wrenbury Private Nursing Home (Wrenbury Hall Tuberculosis Colony) SJ 600 486 102129