Essex

BASILDON

Mayflower Hospital (Billericay RDC Hospital, St Andrew’s Hospital annexe) demolished TQ 666 955 102798

*25-inch OS map, revised in 1919. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland, CC-BY (NLS)*

St Andrew’s Hospital (Billericay Union Workhouse) workhouse infirmary and ancillary buildings demolished TQ 678 952 100679

*25-inch OS map, revised in 1937. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland, CC-BY (NLS)*

BLACK NOTLEY

Black Notley Hospital (Black Notley Sanatorium), demolished TL 766 201 102796

BRAINTREE

Braintree and Bocking Cottage Hospital TL 764 246 101419

The cottage hospital established by 1875 and located to the north of Bocking on Broad Road, seems to have gone out of use before the Second World War. However, the pretty building survives, now a private house on the corner of Highfield Stile Road.

St Michael’s Hospital (Braintree Union Workhouse) TL 751 231 100680

Braintree Community Hospital and a health centre have been built to the west of the former workhouse buildings, that had become St Michael’s Hospital under the NHS. The workhouse complex has been converted into a housing.

*OS 25-inch map revised 1919. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)*

William Julien Courtauld Hospital (Braintree and Bocking Cottage Hospital) demolished TL 753 227 101418

BRENTWOOD

Brentwood Community Hospital, Crescent Drive (Brentwood District Hospital). Demolished TQ 604 942 101278

*photographed in July 1992, © H. Richardson*

*Large-scale OS map, surveyed 1950. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)*

This general hospital was built as Brentwood District Hospital in 1934 to the designs of Hugo R. Bird. Of stock brick with red-brick dressings, it comprised a three-storey administration and staff building, with two single-storey wings extending north at the ends; one of these contained the kitchen, the other housed the surgical department.

A large, two-storey, flat-roofed ward wing projected south into a garden at the rear, with general wards at the end, arranged in the shape of a letter ‘T’, to limit the overall length of the block. This was to have been supplemented at a later date by two further ward wings, but these were never built. There were numerous post-1948 additions on the south side, all in similar materials and style to the original buildings .

The buildings were demolished to make way for a new PFI community hospital designed by Sheppard Robson and partners around 2009.

High Wood Hospital, Ongar Road (Highwood School). partly demolished TQ 589 946 101277

Originally built in 1904 by the Metropolitan Asylums Board (MAB) for children with ophthalmia, this hospital is better known for the forty-year period (1919-1959) when it treated children suffering form pulmonary tuberculosis (Tb). Designed on a ‘cottage home plan’, it comprised five self-sufficient groups of cottage wards – each with its own playrooms, dining-rooms and staff accommodation – grouped around two garden courts.

*25-inch OS Map, revised 1937. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)*

There was also a central group of administration and schoolhouse buildings. During the 1930s sun balconies were added to some of the patients’ blocks by the London County Council (LCC).

An Emergency Medical Scheme (EMS) hospital was erected to the west of the hospital site during World War Two. This along with much of the former hospital has been demolished to make way for a large housing development on the site.

St Faith’s Hospital, London Road (Shoreditch Industrial School). demolished TQ 587 936 101279

The main building at St Faith’s Hospital was originally built as an industrial school by the Shoreditch Trustees of the Poor in 1854. Three blocks to the east were added in 1879, resembling hospital or dormitory blocks, having large rooms with opposing windows and sanitary annexes.

The school was taken over by the Hackney Board of Guardians in 1885 as a branch for their workhouse and was later developed as a home for people with epilepsy. After 1917 the Metropolitan Asylums Board (MAB) made arrangements with Hackney for the home to receive ‘300 female epileptics’.

*OS 25-inch map revised 1895. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)*

In 1930 the hospital changed its name to St Faiths when it was passed to the London County Council (LCC). In 1948 the hospital became a part of the National Health Service (NHS) and it had closed by 1992. All the buildings were subsequently demolished and retail park built on the site.

*Large scale OS map, 1950. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)*

Warley Hospital (Essex County Lunatic Asylum) parts demolished TQ 588 923 101251

The original asylum for 450 patients was designed by H. E. Kendall and was built in 1851-3. It was extended several times, with detached villas for convalescents added in the early 1860s, a range for female patients in 1870, and a huge new complex to the north for another 450 patients in the 1880s.

*25-inch OS Map*, *revised 1895. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY NLS*

When this last extension was completed, the original buildings became the female wing and the new complex the male wing. Other additions included a new chapel in 1889, and an admission hospital and nurses’ home in the 1930s. The hospital closed in 2001.

BURNHAM-ON-CROUCH

Burnham-on-Crouch Cottage Hospital TQ 951 961 101422

CHELMSFORD

Broomfield Hospital (Essex County Hospital) TL 701 113 parts demolished

*photographed in May 1992, © H. Richardson*

*Six-inch OS map, revised 1938. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)*

Chelmsford and Essex Hospital, New London Road (Chelmsford Infirmary and Dispensary). parts demolished TL 707 065 101245

This general hospital was erected in 1882-3 as an infirmary and dispensary, and comprised a two-storey administration and ward block with, at the rear, an adjoining single-storey dispensary annexe. Both buildings were of brick, with dressings of stone, and the architect was F. Chancellor. The hospital was reconstructed and enlarged in 1909 by Keith Young, who erected a new, modern ward unit on the site of one of the original wards and greatly improved the sanitary facilities.

Many buildings were added to the site in subsequent years, including a nurses’ home and four new ward wings, transforming Chelmsford and Essex Hospital into a large general hospital.

*Large scale OS map, revised 1940. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland, CC-BY (NLS)*

The hospital is now closed and most of the site has been cleared for redevelopment, with only the original two buildings, a later X-ray department and a Grade 2 listed house remaining.

St John’s Hospital, Wood Street (Chelmsford Union Workhouse). parts demolished TL 699 049 101244

The early eighteenth-century workhouse at Chelmsford was replaced in c.1837 by a new building in Wood Street. To this was added an infectious ward in 1877, but a fire in 1886 resulted in extensive rebuilding work and it is unclear how much, if any, of the older buildings survived. The main adiministration block is on the north side of the site with the dining-hall, chapel and kitchen to the rear. Linked to this block were a series of three-storey wings which presumably contained the accommodation for the paupers.

A detached infirmary was provided in the rebuilding scheme. A further new infirmary, added in 1926 by the architects Tooley and Foster, was built to the south, with the new nurses’ home adjacent. These were both brick, three-storeyed buildings; the nurses’ home was quite attractive with half-timbered gables and swept roofs.

A number of Emergency Medical Scheme (EMS) hutted ward blocks were built on land behind the infirmary and nurses’ home. The hospital was transferred first to Essex County Council in 1930 and then to the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948 and remained in use as a general hospital into the 1990s.

*OS map published 1955, showing the war-time EMS huts to south of main complex. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)*

The hospital has since been replaced and parts incorporated in a large housing development, known as the Mary Munnion Quarter.

CLACTON-ON-SEA

Clacton and District Hospital (Clacton and District Cottage Hospital) TM 172 144 101420

The original cottage hospital, dated 1899, survives amidst numerous extensions and additions to the site. Its south elevation a pleasing domestic scale, three bays with a two storey centre bay flanked by single-storey bays. From Feeland Road the hospital presents a more confused frontage, with a 1935 Silver Jubilee extension block, perhaps an out-patients department, but looking as much like a telephone exchange as a hospital building. Many piece-meal additions from the NHS era.

*OS 25-inch map, revised 1921. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)*

*OS 25-inch map, revised 1939. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)*

Middlesex Hospital Convalescent Home, Holland Road TM 184 157 BF101423.

This convalescent home was established in 1896 for Middlesex Hospital patients. The 3-storey building is T-shaped and brick-built with corridors and staircases of cement-concrete and verandahs for 54 patients. Isolation block to NE. The building survives, converted to housing with sympathetic low-rise bungalows tucked around it.

*OS 25-inch map surveyed in 1896, showing the streets laid out ready for housing to be built there to the south. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)*

Reckitt Convalescent Home TM 187 157 BF101424. demolished

Founded by private donation in 1909 as a branch of the Royal Northern Hospital. Brick-built convalescent home for 20 adults and 5 children. Rectangular lodge housing 2-bed isolation ward. Designed by H. Edmund Mathews. The home has been demolished and the site redeveloped with housing (Reckitts Close).

COLCHESTER

Essex County Hospital (Essex and Colchester General Infirmary) TL 989 248 101417

Originally opened in 1820, with later extensions and angled sanitary towers added in 1879-80. Pale stock brick, three bay, three storey centre with portico, flanked by two-storey wings. See Great War Home Hospitals website for images and history.

The hospital closed in 2019. Some of the 1960s/70s blocks in front of the hospital were subsequently demolished.

*OS 25-inch map, revised 1896. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)*

Essex Hall Hospital (Eastern Counties’ Asylum for Idiots) TL 992 263 101600

*25-inch OS map, revised 1896. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)*

Medical Reception Station (Colchester Military Hospital) TL 995 237 100719

*Photographed in the early 1990s © Louis Holmsted*

Severalls Hospital (Second Essex County Asylum; Severalls County Asylum) TL 993 283 101579

Turner Village Hospital (Royal Eastern Counties’ Institution) TL 996 273 101578

EPPING

St Margaret’s Hospital (Epping Union Workhouse) TL 469 028 101344

GREAT BADDOW

Baddow Road Hospital (Chelmsford Joint Isolation Hospital) demolished. TL 718 055 101246

A small infectious diseases hospital, designed in 1893 by J. C. Smith of Chelmsford for the Chelmsford Union Rural Sanitary Authority. An additional ward block was built in c.1904 to designs by Pye and Bacon. Nothing now remains on the site which has been developed for housing, around Goodwin Close and Bawden Way.

*25-inch OS Map revised 1939-40, reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)*

HALSTEAD

Halstead Hospital (Halstead Cottage Hospital) TL 814 310 101413

Halstead UDC Infectious Diseases Hospital TL 809 300 102797

HARWICH

Harwich and District Hospital (Rosebank House; Harwich and District Cottage Hospital and Fryatt Memorial) TM 243 312 101421

LOUGHTON

Forest Place Nursing Home, Roebuck Lane, Buckhurst Hill (Foresthill Hospital). TQ 415 944 101336

*Foresthill Hospital, photographed in 1992 © H. Richardson*

The cottage hospital at Buckhurst Hill had been established by 1870 but moved to a new site in Roebuck Lane in 1911. It was built on a T-plan with a two-storeyed administration section and a single-storey ward wing, in a pleasant, vernacular style. Two substantial wings were added to the north in the inter-war period. Although the building is no longer in use as a hospital it survived into the 1990s with relatively few modern alterations.

MALDON

St Peter’s Hospital, Spital Road (Maldon Union Workhouse). TL 845 068 101243

A typical provincial workhouse of the early 1870s, built of red brick in a simplified Tudor style. It comprises three parallel ranges – workhouse, services and infirmary – with a small chapel and gate-lodge at the entrance. The architect was F. Peck. TL 845 068 101243

ONGAR

Ongar and District Cottage Hospital TL 553 042 101414

Ongar War Memorial Hospital (Ongar and District War Memorial Hospital) TL 552 044 101415

ROCHFORD

Rochford Hospital (Southend Municipal Hospital) TQ 873 908 101250

Municipal general hospital built by the county borough of Southend on Sea, designed by the borough engineer, Frank W. Smith and commenced in 1938. The outbreak of the war slowed but did not halt construction. Most of the hospital was brought into use between April and October 1943, but a formal opening ceremony only took place after the war, on 16 October 1947. The hospital closed in the 1990s and was converted to housing by George Traer-Clark, architects, in 1999-2000, as part of a larger housing scheme. A new hospital was built on the site of the former workhouse to the south, Devereux Architects, in 2006.

*The former TB Block, photographed in May 1992, © H. Richardson*

*OS Map surveyed in 1954*. *Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)*

Rochford Union Workhouse (demolished)

Built 1837 to designs by William Thorold. An infirmary was added in 1857-8, Henry Stock, architect, and a chapel was built around 1865. The overcrowding of the infirmary led to the erection of a large new hospital on open land to the north following the 1929 Local Government Act which allowed the newly established county borough of Southend-on-Sea to take over the workhouse and infirmary and develop a modern municipal hospital.

*OS Map surveyed in 1954, showing Connaught House, the former workhouse site*. *Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)*

RUNWELL

Runwell Hospital (Runwell Mental Hospital). TQ 760 960 101247

This large mental hospital was provided by the County Boroughs of East Ham and Southend-on-Sea and was designed in 1933 by Elcock and Sutcliffe for 1,032 patients. It was planned on the villa system, whereby the patients were accommodated in detached blocks which were designed to be as homelike as possible.

SAFFRON WALDEN

Saffron Walden Community Hospital, Radwinter Road (Saffron Walden Union Workhouse). TL 550 386 101342

The workhouse at Saffron Walden was built in 1831 for 311 people. Of local stock brick, it follows the standard Kempthorne type of cruciform plan and is largely of three storeys with round-arched windows. There have been relatively few alterations to the main buildings, although modern additions have been erected in the grounds. It became a hospital under the National Health Service (NHS) and remained in use as such in 1992.

Saffron Walden District Infirmary TL 540 360 102800

Saffron Walden General Hospital, London Road (Saffron Walden Hospital; Uttlesford District Council Offices). TL 536 379 101341

*Saffron Walden Hospital, photographed in 1992 © H. Richardson*

A fine High Victorian Gothic building, this general hospital was built in 1865-6 to designs by William Beck. A two-storey-and-attic building, it is of red brick, with dressings of gault brick and stone, and has many fine decorative elements. Subsequent additions to the hospital were demolished when the site was redeveloped as council offices in the late 1980s.

SOUTHEND-ON-SEA

Southend Hospital, Prittlewell Chase (Southend General Hospital). TQ 864 873 101249

This large general hospital, built in 1929-32, replaced an earlier cottage hospital which had been built to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887. Adams, Holden and Pearson prepared plans for the new hospital, which were notable for their departure from the standard pavilion-plan, with the beds placed parallel to the window walls.

Southend Victoria Hospital (Southend Victoria Hospital and District Nursing Institution) TQ 885 857 101416

Westcliffe Hospital, Balmoral Road (Southend Borough Sanatorium). TQ 873 862 101248

This small urban isolation hospital opened in c.1893, on the outskirts of town, was enlarged in 1895 and has subsequently been added to at regular intervals.

The site, now closely surrounded by residential property, is largely disused, and includes four single-storey brick ward pavilions (of various dates), out-buildings (c.1895), an administration block (1913) and a nurses’ home (1930-31).

STANFORD RIVERS

Ongar Union Workhouse (Ongar Hundred Workhouse; latterly Piggott Brothers &c Co. Ltd) TL 541 002 100725

THURROCK

South Ockendon Hospital (South Ockendon Colony for Mental Defectives) TQ 597 824 101370

Thurrock Hospital (Orsett JHB Isolation Hospital; Orsett JHB Isolation Hospital and Sanatorium) TQ 622 801 102799

Tilbury Cottage Hospital (demolished), St Andrew’s Road, Tilbury Docks. A small, mainly single-storey cottage hospital, provided for the poor people of Tilbury and Grays by John Passmore Edwards. It was designed by Rowland Plumbe and opened in 1896 with 8 beds. The hospital acquired the dimensions of a general hospital in the 1920s, when an out-patients’ department, operating-theatre block, nurses’ quarters and new male and female ward blocks were added. TQ 639 759 101369

WALTHAM ABBEY

High Beech Convalescent Home TQ 410 980 101425

Waltham Abbey Isolation Hospital (largely demolished), Honey Lane (Waltham Joint Hospital for Infectious Diseases). An isolation hospital comprising three single-storey ward blocks providing 24 beds, an administration building, a combined laundry and mortuary, and an entrance gate lodge, was designed jointly by Walter Stair and Herbert Tooley and erected just outside Waltham Abbey in 1902-5. A further 16-bed ward pavilion was added in 1907. The hospital was extended further in 1937 when three new ward pavilions and a cubicle block were added and the existing wards improved. At the same time the administration block was enlarged (incorporating the old laundry) and a nurses’ home, medical officer’s house, staff cottages and new service buildings were added. The architects of the expansion were Tooley and Foster. All the hospital buildings have been demolished and replaced by a new housing estate; only the house and two cottages remain. TL 401 001 101337

WITHAM

Bridge Hospital, Hatfield Road (Witham Union Workhouse). TL 815 140 101242

A typical workhouse of the Scott and Moffat type, built in c.1839 of red brick with stone dressings. The entrance block was of one storey in a handsome classical style with round-arched windows and a pedimented central archway which led through to the main workhouse building.

This was of three storeys with a characteristic four-storey octagonal tower at the centre containing the main entrance. At some time in the later nineteenth century the workhouse was transferred to the South Metropolitan School District Board. From 1901-1908 it was used by the Metropolitan Asylums Board (MAB) as a school for children with ringworm and after that it was converted by the MAB into a working colony for handicapped adolescent boys. In 1948 it was transferred to the National Health Service (NHS).

Historic Hospitals

An Architectural Gazetteer

Essex

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: