BOSTON

Boston General Hospital (Boston Cottage Hospital; Boston Hospital) TF 329 434 102555 (demolished)

Built in 1874-5 to designs by W. H. Wheeler. The Illustrated London News carried an engraved view and brief account of the hospital in 1875, noting how the hospital was intended to ‘afford an asylum near to the homes of those requiring assistance, where they could obtain such surgical appliances as their cases might require, and at the same time good nursing and nourishment, medical treatment in rooms properly ventilated, with freedom from the noise and harassing cares which are inseparable from a small house full of children’. [ILN, 9 Oct. 1875, p.355.]

The first steps towards establishing the hospital were taken in 1871 with the formation of a committee and subscriptions being raised that allowed the leasing of two cottages in the town. Six beds were initially provided there. Two years later the decision was taken to build a new hospital. Boston Corporation gave the site, next the the river and adjoining a new recreation ground. The building contractor was a Mr Sherwin, while W. H. Wheeler was a civil engineer and the honorary secretary of the hospital committee. The new hospital was officially opened in May 1875. It was constructed of white Ewerby brick with re brick dressings, blue Staffordshire tiles on the roof, and over the entrance porch encaustic tiles with the legend: Cottage Hospital, 1874′.

The entrance led to a small waiting hall with more encaustic tile decoration, with ‘Rest and be thankful’ on one side and ‘Work is worship’ on the other, a tiled floor and walls to dado height, over which sat more homilies: ‘Peace be to this house and all that dwell therein’ and ‘In God is our hope and our strength’. On the ground floor there was a convalescent room – south facing and opening on to a veranda – two wards for accident cases with two beds each and matron’s room. The walls were ‘distempered with a light blue tint’ and featured further homilies and Christian texts. On the first floor were four more wards, two each for men and women and staff accommodation.

The hospital was praised by Sir Henry Burdett in his book Cottage Hospitals… for its excellent planning and arrangement, which he credited to the combined efforts of the medical staff, committee and architect. Burdett recommended it as a model for anyone contemplating building a new cottage hospital, and noted that special care had been given to give the wards an air of comfort and brightness. Though there was a caveat, in the misplacing of the water closets, which were not placed beyond the requisite cross-ventilated lobby. The important distinction was made by Burdett between a general, voluntary hospital and a ‘cottage hospital’ which was to be ‘as nearly like a comfortable home as the circumstances of the case would permit’ and unlike the ‘large dreary-looking places formerly known as infirmaries’. A cheerful appearance was held to be a great aid to curing sickness, by diverting the mind from pain. ‘A pleasant aspect’ and ‘a beautiful look-out from the windows’ was coupled with the decor within the wards, which included pictures (from the illustrated press and the Tract Society) as well as the improving texts. As well as repeating much of the text from the Illustrate London News, obviously supplied by the Boston committee, Burdett included a full account of the ventilation, including the sash-and-hopper windows, hoppers above doors, ventilating flues to extract foul air etc.

The original building was greatly extended over the years. Early additions included a new operating theatre and a porter’s lodge. In 1887-9 a new ward was added, while in the inter-war years an out-patients’ department was added in 1926, a nurses’ home in 1934 and maternity wing in 1936.

Pilgrim Hospital, Sibsey Road TF 336 456

The Pilgrim Hospital was designed as a new post-war district general including a psychiatric unit, in line with Ministry of Health policy of bringing psychiatric medicine on to the same site as general medicine. It was commissioned by Sheffield Regional Hospital Board, who appointed John Murray Easton to adjudicate an open competition in 1960. [The Hospital, March 1960, p.204.] The chosen architects were the Building Design Partnership, led by George Grenfell-Baines, appointed in 1961. The main construction was divided between two consecutive phases built between about 1967 and 1976. The first phase was completed in about 1971, providing 115 beds, outpatients and casualty departments as well as the boiler house, although some parts were brought into use in 1970. Phase 2 was commenced in 1971 including the ten-storey slab block. Princess Anne officially opened the hospital in June 1977. A psychiatric unit was added in the 1980s, opened in April 1989, and a medical education centre in the early 1990s.

BOURNE

Bourne Hospital (Bourne Rural District Isolation Hospital: ) TF 102 189 102728 (demolished)

The infectious diseases’ hospital was established in 1915. A TB pavilion was added in 1925. The hospital transferred to the NHS in 1948 and developed into a 53-bed medical and surgical unit with a chest X-ray department.

Bourne Hospital closed in 1998 and was demolished around 2001-3 to make way for a new housing development centred on Holloway Avenue. An ambulance station that had been built on the site around the 1980s remains on the site. [Sources: Rex Needle, ‘Remembering Bourne Hospital 100 years on’, Lincs online, 8 Dec. 2015.]

BRACEBRIDGE HEATH

St John’s Hospital (Lincolnshire County Asylum; Bracebridge Asylum) SK 981 676 102247

Soon after the County Lunatic Asylum Act of 1845 a committee was appointed to establish an asylum for Lincolnshire. A competition to design the new building was held a few years later which was won by the architects J. K. Hamilton and Medland. The building contractor was George Myers. The asylum opened in 1852, and numerous additions were made in 1855, 1860, and 1880, then an additional storey was added to the wings in 1887 along with two rear wing extensions. There were further additions in 1916.

A new admissions hospital was built about 1930 to the east of the main range, designed by H. S. Hall, and the large courtyard-plan nurses’ home was added around 1937. Under the NHS the hospital was renamed St John’s, but in line with many of these large former asylums it closed around 1990. The buildings stood empty for many years before redevelopment of the site for housing began around 2014.

CAISTOR

Caistor Hospital (Caistor House of Industry; Caistor Union Workhouse) TA 012 013 100837

GAINSBOROUGH

Foxby Hill Hospital (Gainsborough Infectious Diseases Hospital) SK 821 885 102729

Gainsborough Union Workhouse (subsequently Oakdene) SK 819 885 100838

John Coupland Hospital SK 808 913 102433

GRANTHAM

Grantham and Kesteven District Hospital, Manthorpe Road, SK 914 368 102554 (follow link Grantham Hospital for blog post)

The original stone-built cottage hospital was still empty and boarded up in May 2025. It sits surrounded by the present Grantham and District Hospital, making it more difficult to dispose of to a private developer who might hope to turn it into housing. It would be a sad loss, as it is a relatively early purpose-built cottage hospital, having been constructed in 1874-6 to designs by the well-known architect Richard Adolphus Came – most closely associated with the elegant development of Woodhall Spa. The hospital had an interesting plan to match its handsome exterior, with T-shaped wards in the wings to either side of the central gabled entrance section. It provided 14 beds, seven in each ward, with the services, staff accommodation, a board room and room for convalescent patients in the central block.

By the mid-1930s the hospital had been enlarged to provide 33 beds. At this date a larger extension was built to designs by the local architect, F. J. Lenton of Traylen and Lenton, bringing the total number of beds in the hospital up to 76. Its services were extended to the wider district, a new entrance formed to the south of the original building, and new ward blocks of the latest ‘verandah type’ featured along with provision for private patients, an isolation block and a new operating theatre. The new extension was low rise, flat-roofed and of brick. The Grantham Journal was probably quoting a press release when it noted that ‘present-day designers always have in mind that their building should not be monumental, but sufficient for the present, and of a type that can be readily altered or adapted to the possible requirements of the future. [Grantham Journal, 27 Jan 1934, p.5]

After the new extension had been completed the original hospital was adapted to provide more staff accommodation and a maternity unit. In 1948 the hospital was transferred to the NHS. It then had 100 beds and considerable extension had already been contemplated before the war, but not carried out. New blocks were built to the rear of the 1930s ward blocks in the mid-to-late 1960s, including a new maternity unit. A larger extension was added to the south around the later 1980s to early ’90s, this is in similar style to the 1930s blocks, in buff-coloured brick and mostly single storeyed.

GRIMSBY

Grimsby District General Hospital (Grimsby Union Workhouse; Scartho Road Institution) TA 263 073  100841

Grimsby and District Hospital TA 265 097 102485

Grimsby Corporation Isolation Hospital for Infectious Diseases (Scartho Sanatorium) TA 256 056 102680

Grimsby Maternity Hospital TA 270 090 102570

Laceby Smallpox Hospital TA 220 056 102679

HORNCASTLE

Horncastle Cottage Hospital TF 266 703 102434

Horncastle War Memorial Hospital (Horncastle Public Dispensary; Horncastle War Memorial Cottage Hospital) TF 261 698 102435

HUNDLEBY

Swan Memorial Cottage Hospital TF 392 662 102559

IMMINGHAM

Immingham Hospital (Immingham Isolation Hospital) TA 192 150 102677

LINCOLN

Lincoln County Hospital (The New Lincoln County Hospital) SK 987 718 102431

Little now remains of the ‘new’ Lincoln County Hospital built in the 1870s to replace the original hospital in Drury Lane. One ward block and some of the ancillary service buildings remain, but the a new district general hospital was built to the east of the Victorian complex in the 1980s. There is also a 1960s maternity hospital on the site and handsome nurses’ home.

The decision to rebuild the original county hospital had been taken in 1874, and once the site had been chosen in 1875 a building committee was appointed to procure designs for the new hospital by means of a competition. The architects submitted their plans anonymously, and those signed ‘Experience, in Red’ were selected and forwarded to Timothy Holmes for his expert opinion. ‘Experience’ was the pseudonym adopted by Alexander Graham, a London-based architect who had previous experience in hospital construction having designed Swansea Infirmary. The new hospital was to have 120 beds and include a chapel. The estimated cost was £22,000, but as so often happened, when the tenders were received the costs were considerable higher. The plans were amended and fresh tenders taken and that of Barnes and Wright of Lincoln being the lowest was accepted.

Towards the end of July 1876 the foundation stone was laid, beginning with a service in Lincoln Cathedral. Earl Brownlow, Lord Lieutenant of the County, performed the ceremony assisted by the Bishop of Lincoln. A lunch was given in a marquee on the site attended by the great and the good of Lincolnshire. It took two years for the building to be completed. Before the first patients were admitted in the autumn of 1878 a fund-raising bazaar was held in the new hospital over three days in early August. As these preparations were underway an account of the history was published, written by Thomas Sympson, senior surgeon to the hospital. Sympson drew attention to the importance of good ventilation (purity of atmosphere, in his words), and a plan that was designed for efficient nursing, including good supervision of the patients. The wards were situated so as to benefit fully from sunshine, and unusually were to include day space at the end of the ward where patients could take their meals. The standard of nursing had been improved in recent years a the hospital, and the new matron, Miss Elizabeth Vincent, had trained at the Nightingale School for Nurses at St Thomas’s Hospital London. [Sources: Thomas Sympson, A Short Account of the Old and of the new Lincoln County Hospitals, 1878.]

Lincoln County Hospital (latterly Lincoln Theological College) SK 976 718 102430

The county hospital in Lincoln began life in 1769 converted premises on the south side of the Witham near Broad Gate Bridge. Originally it had just ten beds for in-patients and also treated a limited number of out-patients. Plans for a new hospital were drawn up by John Carr of York and the building opened on 19 October 1777 and had the capacity of four wards with twenty beds each for men and women, and eight smaller rooms for accident cases. In addition the hospital had a committee room, rooms for physicians, out-patients, the matron, a sitting room for the apothecary, kitchens, hot and cold baths, a top-lit operation room, mortuary, and staff accommodation. In its first few years it did not function at full capacity, providing only 24 beds in total.

In the first half of the nineteenth century Lincoln gradually grew in prosperity and the population increased, as did that of the wider county. Surrounding tenements were purchased and pulled down to improve enlarge the grounds around the hospital. By 1845 the hospital was able to provide 64 beds. The following year alterations and additions were carried out, but not enough to meet rising demand for beds. In 1854 plans were prepared by the architect Michael Drury to enlarge the hospital to provide a further 30 beds, a building committee was appointed and an appeal made for funds. A new wing was built to the west, which also had a new operating room. A further enlargement was made around 1860 to designs by a Mr Goddard which involved extending the wings to the south and raising the ceiling height of the upper floor wards by extending into the attics. A wash-house and laundry were also added.

Despite the extensions, the inherent defects of the building and its cramped central site in the city inevitably led to its replacement. The need for a new building had been accepted by the early 1870s, and was backed up by an independent report commissioned from Dr J. S. Bristowe, a physician to St Thomas’s Hospital, London, who with Timothy Homes had conducted a major survey of hospital in the United Kingdom for the Privy Council. Bristowe’s report was put before the General Quarterly Board in April 1873 along with recommendations that a new hospital should be built.

Support was not unanimous, and a fresh report on the state of the existing hospital was commissioned from Captain Douglas Galton. In his view, at least £9,000 needed to be spent on the existing building to bring it up to modern standards, while a new hospital would cost between £20,000 and £25,000. Finally, at the Quarterly Meeting in January 1874 a majority voted for rebuilding on a new site. By January 1875 the committee appointed to look for a new site had considered seven possible locations, including rebuilding on the existing site. The report of the sub-committee on the various sites is reproduced in Sympson’s Short Account of the county hospitals published in 1878. [Sources: Thomas Sympson, A Short Account of the Old and of the new Lincoln County Hospitals, 1878.]

Lincoln General Dispensary SK 970 710 102558

Lincoln Union Workhouse

St George’s Hospital (Lincoln City Hospital; Lincoln City Hospital and Dawber Sanatorium) SK 964 730  102730

The Lawn Hospital (Lincoln Lunatic Asylum)

This early asylum opened in 1820 in a purpose-built hospital designed by Richard Ingleman around 1818. The building more closely resembled a neo-classical country house than a hospital, with a grand three storey central section fronted by an Ionic portico. Two storey wings on either side projected forwards at the end, while two wings projected from the rear.

It was run on a subscription basis and accepted patients that were placed in one of three ranks based on the patients’ means – or their family’s. This was reputedly the first asylum to abandon mechanical restraint completely, in 1838 under its resident medical officer, Robert Gardiner Hill. In 1894 additions and alterations were carried out to plans by William Sconer including new administrative quarters, dining- and recreation room on the first floor, and new dormitories in the patients’ wings. A nurses’ home was built to the north in the 1930s. The hospital closed in the mid-1980s and subsequently served as a conference centre run by the City Council. It was sold in 2016 and has been redeveloped as a wedding venue, cafe, restaurant and theatre.

LOUTH

Louth County Hospital (Louth Union Workhouse) TF 325 877

Louth Hospital (Louth and District Hospital and Dispensary) TF 320 800  102556

MABLETHORPE AND SUTTON

Lincolnshire Seaside Convalescent Home TF 513 845 BF102590  demolished

Convalescent home of 1871 by James Fowler. A bath house was added in 1875 supplied with both salt and fresh water.

SCUNTHORPE

Brumby Hospital (Brumby Isolation Hospital) SE 900 097 102666

Scunthorpe General Hospital (Scunthorpe War Memorial Hospital) SE 890 100 102576

Scunthorpe Maternity Hospital (Scunthorpe Council Maternity Home) SE 900 097 102605

SKEGNESS

Derbyshire Miners’ Convalescent Home, Winthorpe Avenue TF 658 574 BF 91077. 

Miners convalescent home, purpose built by F.H. Broomhead of the firm of Percy B. Houfton and Company for the Miners’ Welfare Fund. Completed in 1927. Restrained neo-Georgian style.

Skegness and District Hospital (Skegness Cottage Hospital) TF 561 634 102436

National Deposit Friendly Society Convalescent Home (now Skegness Town Hall), North Parade TF 560 630 BF102589. Built in 1925-1927 to designs by W H Ansell. It closed circa 1948 and became the town hall in 1964.

SLEAFORD

Rauceby Hospital (Kesteven County Asylum; Rauceby Mental Hospital) TF 041 440 102553

SPALDING

The Johnson Hospital TF 246 224 102437

STAMFORD

Stamford and Rutland Hospital (Stamford and Rutland General Infirmary) TF 037 075 15576

WILLINGHAM

Reynard Hospital (Willingham Hospital) SE 872 844 102557

WOODHALL SPA

Alexandra Hospital (Alexandra Cottage Hospital) TF 198 632 102438