Featured

July News in August

August 10, 2025August 10, 2025 / Harriet Richardson / Leave a comment

July was not my most productive month, but I have enjoyed being side-tracked by a few enquiries. These have had me investigating the birthplace of Vivian Stanshall – the musician, writer, and co-founder of the Bonzo Dog Doo-dah Band (born in Oxford’s Radcliffe Maternity Home, which is not in Shillingford as given in his Wikipedia entry); hospitals built by E H Burgess Ltd (later E H Burgess & Son Ltd) on which Frederick Charles Kent (1883 – 1951) was the foreman; identifying a nursing home in Glasgow at No.6 Claremont Street (established around 1915 and still going in the 1960s); and failing to identify a chapel that may or may not have been part of a hospital.

Mystery Chapel

The Chapel was photographed in the 1950s, by someone who at that time was living in St Paul’s Cray, near Orpington, then in Kent now in the London Borough of Bromley. He suffered from TB and was in hospital from late 1953 to the Spring of 1956, latterly at Eversfield Hospital, Hastings. So far I have drawn a blank on the chapel’s identity, so if anyone recognises it, please get in touch. It may have nothing to do with a hospital, and could be a private chapel, but, though small and apparently isolated, it looks plain and simple in a manner that would be fitting for a hospital or children’s home. There is a glimpse of what might be a water tower on the left. This suggests that this might have been one of the large asylums built in the later 19th and early 20th century that once fringed outer London, but to me the chapel looks too small for that. It doesn’t match any of the ones that I know of in Kent, Sussex or Surrey.

Uppingham

As well as enquiries, I have also received some interesting and useful information. Out of the blue, I was sent a piece of research into a former Humphrey’s isolation hospital in Uppingham. The building was demolished in the early 1990s. It had been put up around 1892-3 by the Rural District Councils of Uppingham, Hallaton and Gretton which combined to form a joint hospital committee and purchased a ‘temporary iron hospital’ from Humphrey’s of Knightsbridge. The hospital was erected on land leased from the Earl of Gainsborough, on the north side of the town, not far from the gas works.

Although it seems that the hospital was primarily intended for smallpox cases it was only ever used on a handful of occasions, mostly for scarlet fever cases. The first time it was used was September 1899 following an outbreak of scarlet fever in Uppingham when five patients were admitted. The 1912 annual report of the County Medical Officer of Health for Rutland noted that the ‘small iron isolation hospital at Uppingham’ had frequently proved useful in emergencies but was inadequate to meet the needs of the district. It was situated in a grass field with no approach by road. The horse-drawn ambulance had to drive through fields to get to it. Constructed of galvanised iron raised on blocks to a height of about 1 ft off the ground, it contained two wards, each about 19ft long, 12 ft high and 12ft wide, with boarded floors and walls lined with matchwood. A small room off one of the wards was used as a bedroom by the nurse, and there was also a store room, kitchen and scullery, and two ‘pan closets’. (Bed pans had to be taken through the kitchen to the scullery for cleaning and disinfection.) Two tortoise stoves provided heating in the wards, and the windows which provided the only ventilation could not be fully opened. The isolation hospital continued to be used on an ad hoc basis until the mid-1920s when the land was sold and the Rural Council given notice to quit. The hospital was put up for sale in 1929 and subsequently converted into a house.

*Uppingham’s isolation hospital in 1993 shortly before it was demolished ©️ Mark O’Brien* *for composite photograph based on photography ©️ Beverly Hubbard all (rights reserved)*

Historic Hospitals in the Highlands of Scotland

*Lawson Memorial Hospital, Golspie, photographed in June 2025 ©️ H. Blakeman*

July saw the publication of the latest in the History of Highlands Hospitals‘ series. This volume is the seventh that Jim Leslie has researched and written with his son Steve. It covers the hospitals of Sutherland, an area that I passed through on the way to pick up the ferry to Orkney in June. On that trip we had stopped in Golspie to take some snaps of the Lawson Memorial Hospital and had broken our journey at Helmsdale where I took a walk up the hill to find the former General Pope Maternity Hospital. I have started revising the Highland page, adding in some recent photographs, and the new book will help add in some more information there.

*The former General Pope Hospital in Helmsdale, viewed from across the allotments, photographed in June 2025 ©️ H. Blakeman*

The next volume in the series will cover Caithness. On our trip north we also did a tour of (most of) the surviving hospitals in Wick – the main centre for the hospital services in the county. I was particularly interested to see that the old Bignold Hospital has been converted into housing – it was empty and boarded up when I first visited the site in about 1989.

*Former Bignold Hospital, Wick, photographed in June 2025 ©️ H. Blakeman*

Lincoln County Hospital

The Lincolnshire page on the website is one of the many pages that is sorely lacking in information. I was prompted to start revising the page following a wander round Lincoln County Hospital on a brief trip south in July.

*The former County Hospital, dating from the 1770s, photographed around 1878 at the time that the new hospital was built. Reproduced from Thomas Sympson’s ,* Short Account of the Old and of the new Lincoln County Hospitals, *1878* [Internet Archive]

The original hospital is amongst the earliest to be established in England outside London, first opening in 1769 in adapted premises and moving to a new purpose-built hospital in 1777 designed by John Carr of York. This building continued in use until 1878, and then became known as the Bishop’s Hostel having been converted to a theological college. It was renamed Chad Varah House in the 1990s (after the founder of the Samaritans and former student at the college) when it was acquired by the University of Lincoln. Appropriately, it housed the department of Conservation and Restoration, and History of Art and Design. That did not last, however, and the building has since been converted to apartments, named Bailgate Court, with a new infill building on the north fronting Drury Lane (in place of a 1960s extension). This adaptation, by Jonathan Hendry Architects, gained an RIBA East Midlands Conservation Award in 2021.[RIBA, Architecture.com accessed 8 Aug. 2025]

*The new county hospital photographed in 1878 when it was newly completed. Reproduced from Sympson’s* Short Account… *1878.*

The replacement for Carr’s building was built further out of the city in 1876-8 to designs by Alexander Graham who was appointed following an architectural competition. Only a small fragment of the Victorian hospital survives on the present site, much of it having been demolished in 2011. The present hospital mostly dates from the 1980s.

Lincoln County Hospital, main entrance, photographed in July 2025 *©️ H. Blakeman*

The 1870s hospital was designed on the standard pavilion plan that had become the norm in the 1860s, in this instance comprising a central administration block connected to ward pavilions on either side by cross-ventilated corridors. The administration block also had a small ward for the reception of accident cases and two eye wards. Here too were the operating theatre and associated ward, the out-patients’ department and dispensary, board room and staff accommodation.

*Ground plan of Lincoln County Hospital, as originally designed, published in 1878* *in Sympson’s* Account.

When the hospital opened in 1878 only the southern ward pavilions had been built. The OS map from 1904 (below) shows this arrangement with an additional block on the west side, which opened in 1892, and the laundry and boiler house added to the north-east in 1901. These additions and alterations were constructed to the designs of William Watkins, architect and surveyor to the hospital.[Stamford Mercury, 10 June 1892, p.6.: Lincolnshire Chronicle, 12 July 1901, p.8.]

*Lincoln County Hospital from the 25-inch OS map revised in 1904-5 CC-BY (NLS)*

*South end of the eastern ward pavilion of the original hospital, the only fragment of the 1878 hospital that remains on site. Photographed in July 2025 ©️ H. Blakeman*

In 1911 a new ward was opened. This seems to have been an extension northwards of the original eastern ward pavilion and is broadly similar in design. During the First World War it was used for military personnel returning to civilian use in 1919. After the war, the Red Cross distributed some of their surplus funds from donations etc to hospitals that had been used for military casualties. Lincoln County Hospital received around £4,000, which provided a welcome addition to funds.[Louth and North Lincolnshire Advertiser, 22 Feb. 1930, p.2.]

To the left is the ward extension built in 1911, with the earlier ward pavilion and segment of the link-corridor to the right. Photographed in July 2025, *©️ H. Blakeman*

A separate nurses’ home was added in 1914-15 designed by Watkins in a handsome neo-Georgian style. It is probably the most attractive of the surviving pre-war buildings on the site and is now a listed building. Originally it comprised the eastern H-plan block and had 52 bedrooms, ten of which were slightly larger, had bay windows, and were allocated to the nursing sisters. There was no dining-room as the nurses took their meals in the administration block of the hospital [The Builder, 18 June 1915, p.563. Historic England listing gives the architect as H. G. Gamble, citing the Pevsner architectural guide as their source.]

North front of the Nurses’ Home, there is a matching left-hand projecting wing out of shot, photographed July 2025 *©️ H. Blakeman*

*Lincoln County Hospital Nurse’ Home, architectural perspective from* The Builder, *1915*

*Ground- and First-Floor-plans of the new nurses’ home at Lincoln County Hospital built 1914-15, from* The Builder, *1915*

The home was extended to the west in the 1930s in sympathetic style, the extension having a lively west front with a row of canted bay windows topped by moulded decoration. There were plans for a similar extension on the east side, but this was never built. The architect was William Watkins’s son, William Gregory Watkins, who had taken over his father’s practice in 1918. Linked to the extension further west is a single-storey recreation hall, probably dating from the 1950s or early ’60s.

*Lincoln County Hospital, Nurses’ Home, viewed from the north west, photographed in July 2025 ©️ H. Blakeman*

The Red-cross funds were put towards building a new ward in 1923-4. However, it remained unopened until December 1926 as the hospital could not afford the running costs.[Lincolnshire Echo, 10 April 1924, p.4: Stamford Mercury, 25 Dec. 1926, p.4.]

*Lincoln County Hospital on the OS map revised in 1938 CC-BY (NLS)*

The nurses’ home extension was part of a wider scheme of redevelopment at the County Hospital made possible by an improvement in its income following the institution of ‘voluntary contributory institutions’. Often known as the ‘penny in the pound’ schemes these involved local businesses and employers contributing a small portion of their employees’ wages in return for which their employees would have access to treatment in the hospital. This method of generating a regular income became a vital life-line for voluntary hospitals at this time.

*The early 1930s ward wing, photographed when it was no long in use in 2006 ©️ Richard Croft from Geograph*

By 1928 plans were being formed to increase the number of beds, extend the out-patients’ facilities, replace the operating theatres and generally modernise the hospital. An appeal was launched in 1930 and tenders put out the following year for the first section comprising two new wards in a two-storey wing to the north of the original western ward block (containing Dixon and Johnson wards). The ward wing was completed in 1933, but, like the earlier new ward, could not be opened straight away. This time opening had to wait for the completion of a new boiler house, the extension to the nurses’ home, and the new kitchen, in order to provide the necessary services for the increased number of patients. It had only partly opened by the beginning of 1937. [Lincoln Leader and County Advertiser, 21 April 1928: Lincolnshire Echo, 16 May 1931, p.1; 5 Jan. 1933, p.6: Stamford Mercury, 19 Feb. 1937, p.11.]

Lincoln County hospital, boiler-house. The tall brick chimney probably dates from the 1930s, but the boiler-house in front is part of the post-war redevelopments on the site. Photographed in July 2025 ©️ H. Blakeman

When the hospital was visited as part of a national hospital survey conducted by the Ministry of Health during the Second World War (as part of its planning for post-war hospital services), it had 206 beds, 28 of which were in extensions that had come into use after 1938. The published report noted that the buildings were for the most part old, but that the out-patients’ department had only recently opened. The new X-ray department had not been completed when the surveyors visited the hospital. Their report concluded that although the buildings of the hospital were for the most part old-fashioned, they were serviceable.[Ministry of Health, Hospital Survey. The Hospital Services of the Sheffield and East Midlands Area, HMSO, 1945.]

*Maternity Unit, Lincoln County Hospital, photographed in July 2025 ©️ H. Blakeman*

Just to the east of the nurses’ home is the maternity unit, which was formally opened by Princess Margaret on 4 December 1968. The architects were Adam, Holden & Pearson in association with Watkins, Croombes and Partners. The design provided 78 consultant beds, 26 GP beds and 8 private beds along with a special care baby unit with 21 cots, ante-natal clinic and midwifery training school. The wards were planned on the race-track plan – where the wards encircled a central service core. [The Hospital, January 1969 p.30.] The 1980s redevelopment of the site was part of the NHS long term planning for Lincoln County Hospital to take over all the acute work in Lincoln from St George’s Hospital – with the intention that St George’s would be rebuilt as a geriatric unit.[NHS, Hospital Plan for England and Wales, 1962.] The first phase of the new hospital was completed in 1985 and officially opened by Princess Diana. Phase two was fully opened in 1993 and officially opened by Princess Anne.

April News

April 18, 2025 / Harriet Richardson / Leave a comment

The weather here in Scotland has been so lovely in late March and early April that I have been outside as much as possible. However, I have also had time to do a little work on Historic Hospitals and have had some interesting enquiries. So here is a summary of this month’s progress.

The mysterious case of a TB patient at Arlesey Hospital, Bedfordshire

A lady contacted me about the whereabouts of the Arlesey hospital to which her father had been admitted as a TB patient in the late 40s or early 50s. Having looked up Arlesey on the Historic Hospitals website the only reference she found was to Fairfield Hospital at Arlesley, the large psychiatric hospital that was founded as the Three Counties Asylum. She was understandably confused – as was I.

*The former Three Counties Asylum, later Fairfield Hospital, Arlesey, photographed in December 2018 ©️ H. Blakeman*

There was a severe shortage of beds for TB cases after the Second World War, so I wondered if some accommodation had been taken over at Fairfield Hospital for that purpose. A bit of research revealed that during the Second World War the London Chest Hospital established a country branch at Arlesey in the hutted annexe built in the grounds of Fairfield Hospital. This made perfect sense, as the patient was from London.

*City of London Chest Hospital*, *photographed in 1992 ©️ H. Blakeman*

The Chest Hospital was severely damaged during bombing in 1941 hence the need to evacuate to the country. During his stay as a patient, the lady’s father, David Tatch, composed the following poem:

With Apologies to Rudyard Kipling
If you can take your strep and P.A.S. and multicoloured pills,
And swallow them, and still can smile, in spite of all your ills,
If you can sit precariously upon a bedpan chill,
With screens agape, and then can wait, while Ingrid has her fill.
If you can take a gastric tube, and still with sickly grin,
Say "Nursie dear, I didn't feel the blessed thing go in".
If you can stand "Bomb Happy" and say she's sweet and kind,
And listen to the row each night, and still retain your mind,
If you enjoy the country air, and don't mind losing weight,
If you can eat with relish the "bangers" on your plate,
And dine on stew, that's far from new, oblivious of the smell,
Then come to Arlesey, my son, PERHAPS you will get well.
a poem by David Tatch

One of the hutted ward blocks built on the Fairfield Hospital site at the beginning of the Second World War, *photographed in the 1990s © Louis Holmsted*

Developments in Devon

I also had an enquiry about the Bideford Isolation Hospital (North Devon) from someone who had been a patient there in 1954 with suspected polio. He recalled that he stayed there for most of the school summer holiday, and for about half that time was the only patient in the entire hospital. He also remembered that the hospital comprised ‘three bungalow style wards – each with about 6-10 rooms’. He got on well with one of the sisters, who informed him that not many summers prior to his stay, the place would be overflowing into the corridors with diphtheria cases, but vaccinations had put a stop to that. He also remembered the name of one of the doctors as either a Dr Hewitt or Hewitson.

*Kingsley Hospital, Bideford, on the large-scale OS map revised in 1957 CC-BY (NLS)*

Unfortunately, the Devon page on this site is another one that has very little on it. A little bit of investigating revealed that the North Devon Joint Isolation Hospital at Bideford was renamed the Kinglsey Hospital in 1955. This was probably in response to changing use with the decline in the need for isolation hospitals once vaccines dramatically reduced the incidence of measles, scarlet fever and diphtheria. I was delighted to find that the buildings are still extant, though now named Kinglsey House, a residential centre for people with autism run by the National Autistic Society. I have not yet tracked down any photographs of the buildings, which mostly seem to date from the 1920s and ’30s, of one and two storeys, in white-painted render with slate roofs. I would be very grateful if anyone had any that I could post on the website.

*Dean Clarke House, the former Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, photographed in 2017 ©* *Derek Harper from Geograph*

Devon is particularly rich in historic hospitals. Exeter has the earliest purpose-built voluntary hospital in England outside London. It is no longer a hospital, but the building is still extant having been converted to offices, named Dean Clarke House. Devon also nearly had a cottage hospital designed by the Modernist architectural husband and wife team of Jane Drew and J. T. Alliston. They won a competition to design a replacement for the Dawlish Cottage Hospital held in 1937, but the outbreak of the Second World War led to the scheme being laid aside.

*Dawlish Cottage Hospital elevation and plan, from* The Builder, *28 May 1937, p.1136 (from the Internet Archive)*

James Thomas Alliston and Jane Drew were married in 1933 and their architectural partnership lasted from 1934 until 1939, when the couple’s marriage was dissolved. Drew subsequently married Maxwell Fry. Their architectural partnership is perhaps best known today for its work in West Africa and India, which included housing and public buildings, including hospitals.

James T. Alliston and Jane Drew, *from* The Builder, *28 May 1937 (from the Internet Archive)*

A Start to Revising Cumbria

Apart from dabbling in Devon and Bedfordshire, I have also started to tackle the hospitals in Cumbria. Earlier this month I began to add in some historic maps, photographs and potted histories. This work is very much in its early stages, but the highlight so far has been Brampton War Memorial Hospital. It is a particularly good example of the handsome cottage hospitals built after the First World War. It was designed by the Carlisle architect and photographer, Samuel W. B. Jack, and built in 1922-3.

*Brampton War Memorial Hospital photographed in 2018 ©️ Rose and Trev Clough from Geograph*

Ten Years Ago This Month

Finally, as it is ten years since I first launched the Historic Hospitals site, I thought I would look back at some of the earliest posts that I wrote. The very first one was on Airthrey Castle Maternity Hospital. Since then I have visited the site, which is now on the University of Stirling campus, so I have updated the post and added some maps and photos. Lots of people who were born there have commented on the post, though only a very small fraction of the 2,050 babies born there between 1941 and 1945, and no doubt many more thousands from 1945 up to about 1969 when it finally closed.

Garden front of Airthrey Castle, Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire, that was a maternity hospital from 1941 to 1969. Now part of the University of Stirling campus. Photographed in *August 2018 ©️ H. Blakeman*

Ovenstone Hospital, Fife

March 10, 2024March 21, 2025 / Harriet Richardson / Leave a comment

*Former Ovenstone Hospital, photographed February 2023*, *© H. Blakeman*

Ovenstone Hospital opened in 1896. It was a small infectious diseases hospital built on rising ground about two miles to the north of Pittenweem, in the East Neuk of Fife. It was established by the St Andrew’s District Committee of Fife’s County Council, and designed by the local St Andrew’s architect David Henry. The total cost was around £2,500 including furnishing. [Dundee Courier, 18 Jan. 1896, p.5.] The two-storey building at the centre provided accommodation for the nursing and domestic staff as well as the main kitchen and stores. The wards occupied the wings on either side and are set at right-angles to it. Each ward was on the standard pattern with central duty room and a small ward at each end.

*Ovenstone Hospital from the 25-inch OS map revised in 1912, reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY (NLS)*

Having been completed and furnished by the end of 1895, opening was delayed because of dampness. On the instruction the architect, fires had been kept lit in order to get the rooms dried through the latter part of January. Dr Pirie of Pittenweem was appointed visiting medical attendant, and the first patient was admitted in February 1896: a farm servant from the Mount Melville district suffering from scarlet fever. [East Fife Record, 21 Feb. 1896, p.4; 20 March 1896, p.4.]

*One of the former* *ward block, photographed February 2023 © H. Blakeman*

The hospital opened the year before the Public Health Act of 1897 which made the provision of hospitals for infectious diseases by local authorities mandatory. The burden on the rates of contributing to the upkeep of permanent hospitals was often a bone of contention amongst local councillors. The Provost of Anstruther argued against the Town Council contributing to the Ovenstone Hospital and thereby having the use of it for infectious cases in the town. He favoured the purchase of a ‘small iron hospital’ which might be bought for £40 or £50, put up and taken down whenever suitable, and stored in the old washing-house when not in use. [East of Fife Record, 28 Feb. 1896, p.6.]

*South elevation of the ambulance garage and disinfection range, February 2023* *© H. Blakeman*

As well as the central administrative block and the two flanking ward wings, a detached block to the south accommodated the ambulance and disinfector. There was probably a mortuary in this building too. The architect had visited a hospital in Whitehaven, in the north of England, with the County Medical Officer, Dr Nasmyth, on the strength of which a Reck’s disinfector was acquired for the hospital. The ambulance carriage that conveyed patients to the hospital was made by Holmes of Derby.

*Ovenstone Hospital, c.1920-30 © Courtesy of HES (Francis M Chrystal Collection)*

An extension of the hospital was carried out in 1910-11 for which David Henry was again the architect, the hospital was closed for a while during building works. The original horse-drawn Haynes’ ambulance was still in occasional use in the early 1930s, although by then it was felt to be something of a museum piece. [Fife County Council Annual Report, 1933, p.90.]

*View from the south-west, February 2023*, © *H. Blakeman*

By 1942 Ovenstone Hospital had 16 beds, the patients being under the care of one of the local general practitioners. By this date the hospital was judged to be in need of some modernisation: there was no electric light, the wards being lit by oil lamps and heating by an open fires that also heating a pipe running round the edge of the ward. The hospital was not connected to mains sewage but to a cesspool in the grounds. The cooking arrangements were also not up to scratch. It was therefore not deemed suitable to continue as an infectious diseases hospital after the War, but with its substantial buildings, pleasant situation and garden, might be adapted as a home for the elderly and infirm or ‘other similar purpose’. [Department of Health for Scotland, Scottihs Hospitals Survey Report on the South-Eastern Region, 1946, p.84.]

*Probably the former ambulance garage, disinfecting room and mortuary*, *photographed February 2023 © H. Blakeman*

Paraffin lamps were still the only source of lighting in the wards in 1947. The County Council appealed to the Scottish Secretary of State to have electricity installed, and the Dundee Courier seized the opportunity to publish a photograph of a young nurse carrying two oil lamps with the caption ‘Lady of the Lamps’. [Dundee Courier, 21 Jan. 1947, p.3.] Around this time the hospital accommodated convalescent children. It did not transfer to the NHS in 1948, but remained a convalescent home run by Fife County Council. In the 1960s it developed into a residential school for children with a range of additional support needs. Initially it was known as Ovenstone Children’s Home, and by the mid-1970s as Ovenstone Residential School. It was still operating in the early 1990s.

*Ovenstone Hospital on the OS map revised in 1968 CC-BY (NLS)*

The building to the east of the original hospital buildings was added some time in the later 1950s or early ’60s, perhaps as a classroom.

*post-war addition to site, photographed February 2023 © H. Blakeman*

In recent years the former school was turned into an arts centre: Cobalt Contemporary Art Gallery.

The Architecture of Isolation

May 2, 2020October 29, 2021 / Harriet Richardson / 2 Comments

Recently I wrote a short post on this topic for the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain for their website. This is a slightly revised and extended version of that piece.

*Interior view of NHS Nightingale, London. Photographed on 27 March 2020 by No.10 Reproduced under Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND 2.0*

The conversion of exhibition centres to temporary hospitals in our major cities mimics earlier measures to cope with hospitals overwhelmed by cases of infectious disease. Though nothing on quite that scale, as far as I am aware. The last major pandemic that occurred in Britain, the ‘flu that ran rife after the First World War, completely overwhelmed the systems in place to deal with infectious diseases which included a nationwide network of isolation hospitals. These hospitals had been built in response to a series of earlier epidemics, which had given rise to a sequence of Public Health Acts, variously aimed at improving environmental health, preventing the spread of disease, and containment when disease did occur.

*Old leper Hospital of St. Bartholomew, Oxford*. Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Some of the earliest hospitals were provided for the purpose of isolating those with infectious diseases. Colonies for lepers were established on the outskirts of settlements from the late 11th century to the early 13th. When the Black Death arrived in England in 1348 land was set aside for cemeteries in which to bury plague victims. Later epidemics led to the establishment of Pest Houses – these were mostly isolated dwellings for those who could not be isolated in their own homes. By the 17th century these were commonly administered by the local parish, a nurse would be employed to occupy the house and care for patients sent there.

*The Bills of Mortality from 1664. Reproduced from Paul K. BibliOdyssey Bogspot*

In London, the course of the Great Plague was documented by those who lived through it, most notably Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn. Statistics which charted the rise and fall of epidemics began in the late 16th Century with the Bills of Mortality, printed and published weekly giving the numbers and causes of deaths. Isolation remained the main way of dealing with contagion.

*Aerial photograph of the Lazaretto Vecchio, from Chris 73 Reproduced under Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 3.0*

Ports were the vulnerable points for introducing infectious disease – and most had some form of quarantine station. Lazarettos, or Lazar house, close to a harbour or on an island were more often permanent and purpose built. The Venetians were perhaps the most efficient at setting up a network of lazarettos to protect their trade interests throughout their territories. The Lazzaretto Vecchio on Santa Maria di Nazareth, an island in the Venetian Lagoon, was established in the early 15th century for both plague victims and as a leper colony. These hospitals were maintained and continued to serve their original purpose for centuries.

*The Fortress of Clissa, from* Les bords de L’Adriatique et le Monténégro, *Charles Yriate 1878*

In 1757 when Robert Adam journeyed to Spalatro (modern day Split, then a Venetian territory) to explore and record the Roman antiquities of Dalmatia, he was initially put up at the governor’s residence in the lazaretto by the harbour. He recorded how traders bringing goods from Bosnia and the neighbouring parts of Turkey were escorted by soldiers from the Fortress of Clissa (now Klis) to Spalatro to prevent them from ‘Scattering or Mixing with the People’ until their goods had been purified in the magazines of the Lazaretto and the traders themselves spent time in quarantine there. [National Records of Scotland, Clerk of Penicuik Papers, GD18/4953.]

*Edward Jenner vaccinating patients against smallpox.* Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Although various remedies were experimented with to treat disease, medicine was first used successfully in the realm of prevention, with inoculation and vaccination against smallpox. Inoculation was introduced to England in the 1720s from Turkey, and vaccination discovered by Edward Jenner at the end of the century. Despite the success of the vaccine, public uptake was not sufficient to prevent further epidemics. The first purpose-built smallpox hospital in England was in Cold Bath Fields, Clerkenwell, built around 1753. At that time three such hospitals were in existence in London: one in Islington was for those convalescing from the disease, one in Shoreditch was for those who had smallpox although they had been inoculated, and so had a milder form of the disease, while that in Clerkenwell was for the severest cases – those who had never been inoculated.

*View of the Coldbath Fields smallpox hospital in 1823, by which time it had been replaced by a new hospital in St Pancras. The redundant hospital was subsequently used as a distillery.* Reproduced from the Survey of London, volume 47 original in Islington Local History Centre

As the onus on action was placed at local level, and legislation advised on measures that could be taken, rather than dictating what must be done, responses to epidemics varied across the country and often took too long to be truly effective. With inadequate existing hospital accommodation, outbreaks of smallpox and cholera saw houses, factories and barracks commandeered. In Aberdeen a disused match factory was turned into a temporary hospital by the City Corporation after an outbreak of smallpox in the early 1870s. In most cases once the outbreak subsided the temporary hospitals closed and any plans to build permanent isolation hospitals were abandoned. But at Aberdeen a permanent hospital was begun in 1874, designed by the City Architect, William Smith II, and unusually constructed of concrete. This was chosen on the principle that the wards could be hosed down and disinfected after use. Even the floors were of concrete. Later, timber floors and panelling were inserted to soften the rather prison-like interiors.

*View of one of the ward blocks at the City Hospital, as altered and enlarged to designs by John Rust in the 1890s* https://canmore.org.uk/file/image/1374923

*Detail of a plan of the City of Aberdeen from the Post Office Directory of 1879, showing the ‘Epidemic Hospital’ on the outskirts of the city.* Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

Until about the 1860s there was no consensus regarding ideal hospital design. Of the few purpose-built fever hospitals erected in the 18th and early 19th centuries, some had small wards arranged on either side of a corridor with the idea that smaller groups of patients limited the risk of cross-infection, others large open wards with twenty or more beds. The presence of such a hospital – often optimistically dubbed a ‘house of recovery’ – on one’s doorstep was understandably unpopular. When one was set up in a house off Gray’s Inn Lane the neighbours threatened legal action to have it closed. It decamped northwards, and eventually became the London Fever Hospital, designed by Charles Fowler and built in 1848-9 on Liverpool Road, Islington. Here a mix of small, large and back-to-back wards seems evidence of a lack of confidence in any one system.

*Coloured engraving of the main front of the London Fever Hospital*. Reproduced from the Wellcome Collection https://wellcomecollection.org/works/pspzgh6a

*Plan from* The Builder, 12 August 1848, p.391

General hospitals also took in infectious cases, sometimes against their own regulations, but needs must. The London Hospital and University College Hospital both set aside wards for contagious cases in the 1830s and 40s. Other hospitals built separate fever blocks, one of the largest was at the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow, built in 1828-9

*The west front of the Fever block, probably photographed around 1910. From the* *Wellcome Collection* *CC-BY-4.0*.

The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, and its counterparts in Ireland of 1838 and Scotland of 1845, not only saw a network of workhouse built across Britain but also of associated infirmaries and fever blocks. A small single-storey fever hospital was built as early as 1836 at Stow-on-the Wold workhouse in Gloucestershire.

The first cholera epidemic in Britain erupted in 1831 and claimed around 22,000 lives. Yet there was scant progress in providing hospitals for its victims. A Cholera Prevention Act of 1832 had little effect. The worst epidemic came in 1848-9, in which about 50,000 lost their lives in England and Wales. This was particularly devastating, coming just a decade after a smallpox epidemic that claimed the lives of around 42,000. Legislation continued to encourage the provision of isolation hospitals, but hospitals were expensive to build, and raising the money from local rates to pay for them as unpopular. In the midst of each succeeding epidemic local authorities accepted that available hospitals accommodation was disastrously inadequate, but had seldom gone farther than proposing to take action before the epidemic subsided and the initiative was lost. The cholera epidemic of 1866 for example prompted the erection of only a few hospitals although the provisions of the Sanitary Act of 1866 gave town councils and local boards of health the power to provide either temporary or permanent hospitals and justices of the peace the power to remove patients to them.

*Aerial photograph of the Brook Fever Hospital, Shooter’s Hill, London built by the Metropolitan Asylums Board and opened in 1896.* Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0

In London the Metropolitan Poor Law Amendment Act of 1867 resulted, eventually, in a comprehensive network of fever hospitals around London, linked by an efficient horse-ambulance service. Public fear remained strong. The building of a large smallpox hospital in Hampstead was considerably delayed by local opposition. Most isolation hospitals were built well away from the denser urban areas, and floating hospitals served by river ambulance operated from wharves at Fulham, Blackwall and Rotherhithe.

Outside London, from the 1870s the construction of isolation hospitals was overseen by the Local Government Board, and following the 1875 Public Health Act loans were made available to build them. Low cost solutions widely adopted were the purchase of a tent that could be put up and used in emergencies, or the erection of temporary, pre-fabricated hospitals. Hospital huts of timber and corrugated iron were supplied by various companies: Humphreys of Knightsbridge; Boulton and Paul of Norwich; Speirs and Company of Glasgow being three of the largest and most enduring. The corrugated iron block near Hempsted, to the south-west of Gloucester, may have been supplied by Humphreys – Gloucester was listed as one of the places supplied by the firm. A smallpox epidemic in 1874-5 had raised talk of erecting a temporary iron hospital. An even worse epidemic struck the city in 1895-6. Dr Sidney Coupland prepared a lengthy report, attempting to assess why this epidemic had been so much worse than the previous one, and to what extent re-vaccination had contributed to its rather abrupt cessation. Some of his observations strike a chord today: ‘It is possible that the hope was entertained that by an attempt to isolate every case as it arose the epidemic might be checked, but this attempt only resulted in filling the hospital beyond its capacity and over-burdening a too-restricted staff.’

*Hempsted Smallpox Hospital, Gloucester, photographed by H.C.F. in 1896* Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Where permanent buildings were erected, they were usually based on standard plans drawn up by the Local Government Board and issued between 1876 and 1924 in a series of memoranda. The model plans adopted the pavilion principles of planning, validated by Florence Nightingale, with open wards, windows placed opposite each other to create cross-ventilation, and W.C.s placed away from the ward, separated from it by a cross-ventilated lobby at the very least. These were intentionally draughty places. Currents of air were drawn through the wards through open windows, ventilation grilles and ducts. Drainage too, became increasingly important to keep infected waste out of the water supply. The new isolation hospital for Hemel Hempstead, built in 1914-15 at Bennet’s End, is a typical example. It was designed by John Saxon Snell and Stanley M. Spoor and comprised two single-storey ward blocks, an observation block, a service building housing the laundry, with steam disinfector, mortuary, and ambulance garage, and an administration block with nurses’ accommodation. The wards were intended for the most prevalent diseases at that time, diphtheria and scarlet fever, with the observation block for the undiagnosed.

A ward block built at the Hemel Hempstead Infectious Diseases Hospital at Bennet’s End, based on the model plans issued by the Local Government Board. LGB model plan B, 1900 and 1902-21 versions. The Bennet’s End ward has elements of both. Ward block photographed in May 1992 as part of the RCHME Hospitals survey. © H. Richardson

*LGB model plans from Local Government Board* On the Provision of Isolation Hospital Accommodation by Local Authorities *August 1900, and reissued in 1902.*

Research interest in bacteriology from the late 19th century saw the rise of laboratories, in Glasgow a laboratory was set up to deal with the bacteriology of epidemics. This research helped the medical officers of health to control epidemics through isolation, supervision of carriers and contacts, tracing the source of infection and the pathways by which it spread. The present test, trace and track strategy has its roots in this late-Victorian public health policy. Then as now it was widely recognised as the most effective means of controlling epidemics. One historical method of interrupting the spread of disease was to provide a ‘reception house’ to take families who had been in contact with infected persons, such as that opened on Baird Street in Glasgow in 1906.

*Baird Street Reception House, from the 1906 Medical Officer of Health for Glasgow’s Annual Report.*

*Ground and First-Floor plans of the Reception House.*

Progress in medical knowledge was reflected in hospital design. A better understanding of the transmission of diseases and the discovery of bacteria were factors behind the development of the cubicle isolation block. This first appeared in the early twentieth century. One was built at Walthamstow which consisted of rows of single rooms reached from an external veranda. This allowed patients suffering from different diseases, or who were yet to be diagnosed, to occupy one building. Glazed partitions between the rooms allowed nursing staff to supervise the patients, as well as allowing patients to see each other. By about 1940 almost every isolation hospital in the country had at least one cubicle block. At Twickenham the former South West Middlesex Hospital was originally built in 1898 to designs by W. J. Ancell comprising four ward blocks and the usual service buildings. Two cubicle isolation blocks were added in 1937 as part of a major extension of the hospital. Following the Local Government Act of 1929, provision for infectious diseases passed from the myriad of small local urban and rural sanitary authorities to county and borough councils, this also led to many of the smaller hospitals being replaced by larger more centralised hospitals.

*Cubicle isolation block built at the South West Middlesex Hospital, exterior.* Photographed in November 1991 © H. Richardson

*Cubicle isolation block interior* Photographed in November 1991 © H. Richardson

Wide-ranging public health measures to improve living conditions were the first effective weapons in lessening the impact of infectious diseases. Improved housing, sanitation, and street cleaning, regulation of lodging houses and factories, testing for food adulteration, were all vital preventive measures. Local Medical officers of health had a wide network of resources from laboratory research to morbidity and mortality statistics, to help them control epidemics through isolation, supervision of carriers and contacts, tracing the source of infection and the pathways by which it spread, and interrupting these by whatever means were available. Vaccines, inoculations, and effective treatments, for the most part, came after the Second World War. Since then we have been in a period of epidemiological transition, shifting from an age of receding pandemics and into an age of degenerative and so-called man-made diseases (those associated with lifestyle, such as heart disease, or lung cancer from smoking).

Infectious diseases were not wiped out, but could be treated within a general hospital. Post-war general hospital design included a higher proportion of single rooms in ward units to allow patients to be isolated for a variety of reasons, cross-infection being one of them. An experimental ward unit built at Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride, in the 1960s, was used to study ways of reducing cross-infection, but one of its findings was that human error remained a major culprit. Medical, nursing and domestic procedures could be one source, but also misuse of the engineering services. They found ventilation diffusors and exhaust grilles blocked up by the medical staff.

Photographs of the interior of NHS Nightingale show the huge open warehouse being fitted up with cubicles – here to facilitate laying on all the necessary services for each patient rather than isolating one from another. A dedicated hospital for infectious diseases is an old solution, but it is still a valid one, provided the infrastructure, the equipment and staffing are also in place – along with the necessary training in how to operate the appliances and services. As history shows, to tackle epidemics of infectious disease isolation hospitals need to be backed up by systems of quarantine, testing, tracing and tracking.

Brechin Infirmary and St Drostan’s House

May 13, 2019December 23, 2022 / Harriet Richardson / Leave a comment

*Prospect of Brechin (detail), by John Slezer from* Theatrum Scotiae, 1693. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

On a gloriously sunny day in April, I visited Brechin, primarily to see the cathedral with its extraordinary round tower, but while there walked over to Infirmary Street to see what remains of a group of buildings that for so many years took care of the health and welfare of the city: the now-closed Brechin Infirmary, largely of the 1860s, a 1970s Health Centre, the former poorhouse (built in the 1870s) and the remnants of the former infectious diseases hospital (late 1890s). Tucked in behind is a post-war hospital block, added to the site in the early 1960s, and sheltered housing built in the 2000s. This group also lies conveniently between the railway station to the south, and the cemetery to the north.

*Extract from the second edition OS map, revised in 1901, reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

Brechin Infirmary opened as a general voluntary hospital in 1869, but the sick poor in the city had earlier been served by a dispensary, established in about 1824 following a bequest of £50 from a Mrs Speid of Ardovie. The dispensary supplied medicine and medical attendance to the poor for free, and by the mid-1840s was said to be in a prosperous state. But the new Poor Law had placed all sick paupers under superintendence of the local Parochial Board, which had appointed a surgeon to carry out that task. As a result, ‘only some six or eight patients remain upon the dispensary lists’.[1] Over the years the dispensary’s work diminished, until it closed altogether.

*Extract from the OS Town Plan of Brechin, 1852. The Poorhouse is on City Road near the corner with Damacre Road. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

The first poor law institution in Brechin was opened in 1853 in City Road, locally usually known either as the almshouse, poor’s house, or parochial lodging house. It was in a large converted tenement which the Board purchased for £300 in 1852 from a Mr Thomson, writer, of Montrose. A later report suggested that the building had originally been built as a cotton factory, but that when this business failed it was sold to Mr Thomas who converted it into a dwelling house. [2]

In July 1864 plans for a hospital were first made public, after the late James Don, Esquire, of Bearhill, bequeathed £1,000 for the purpose of establishing a hospital or infirmary and dispensary in Brechin on condition that a further £1,000 was raised within 18 months by the local community. Subscriptions to the cause quickly mounted to more than £3,000, including £100 from Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, 2nd Baronet, and his brother, the Hon. R. J. Jejeebhoy. (Perhaps they were approached by someone local, the Jejeebhoys wealth and generous philanthropy, and associations with Britain, were well known.) The Earl of Dalhousie (Fox Maule-Ramsay, the 11th Earl) offered the site – considered open healthy and with convenient access by three different roads – at an annual feu-duty of £4 per acre.

*Main front of Brechin Infirmary, photographed in April 2019 © H. Richardson*

The hospital was designed by William Fettis or Fetties, and construction was carried out by local builders and craftsmen: Mr Alexander Crabb, mason; Messrs W. Black & Sons, carpenter work; John Lindsay & Son, slaters; J. & J. Thomson, plasterers; and C. Middleton & Sons, plumbers. Their tenders for the work amounted to just over £1,500. [3]

*Photograph taken on a less sparkling day, back in the late 1980s © H. Richardson*

The foundation stone was laid with full Masonic honours in May 1867 when building work was already well underway, and the first storey all but completed. The infirmary building was described at the time as ‘of the plainest description, being wholly formed of rubble work’ apart from the front wall which was ashlar. The plainness of the building was to be alleviated by the garden in front, which was to be finely laid out as pleasure grounds studded with shrubs. A kitchen garden was destined for the rear half of the garden. [4]

*West elevation of the infirmary, with later day room in the foreground, photographed in April 2019 © H. Richardson*

In May 1869 the new infirmary was formally opened by the Earl of Dalhousie. The 1901 map shows the infirmary before it was enlarged in the 1920s, with its principal front facing west, and indicating that the garden had been laid out on that side. (The garden was later built over for the present health centre.) Four wards occupied the long north-south wing, two on each floor on either side of the central entrance and with up-to-date cross-ventilated W.C.s, suggesting an awareness of the relatively recent developments in pavilion-plan hospitals on the lines recommended by Florence Nightingale. Two wards were for accidents and two for fever patients.

*View of the infirmary looking west to the rear of the earliest part of the building. Photographed in April 2019 © H. Richardson*

A major renovation, alterations and additions were carried out in 1928-9, for which the architect was David Wishart Galloway. During the work the patients were moved out to Maulesden House. The cost was largely met by a donation of £10,650 from the trustees of the late Sir James Duncan of Kinnettles. Plans were submitted to the Dean of Guild Court in September 1928. It was at this time that the new main entrance was formed, set in the gabled bay, treated as a pediment with oculus and framed by giant pilasters. The new accommodation included four private wards. The contractors were: joiners, Messrs W. Black & Son, Ltd, Brechin; plumbers, Mr J. Davidson; plasterwork, Messrs Burness Montrose; mason, Mr Rennie Brechin; slater, Mr D. Scott, Brechin. In December 1929, following the death of the architect David Galloway in a motorcycle accident, the infirmary directors appointed Maclaren, Soutar & Salmond, who had taken over Galloway’s practice, to see through the reconstruction. [5]

*View of the rear and west of Brechin Infirmary, with the health centre to the right, photographed around 1988-9 ©* *H. Richardson*

On the vacant land to the east of the infirmary a new poorhouse was built in 1879-80 to designs by James Baxter, architect, Brechin, to accommodate about 80 paupers, 51 being transferred from the old building but the Parochial Board intended also to move most of those receiving outdoor relief into the poorhouse.

*South elevation of St Drostan’s House, the former Brechin poorhouse. Photographed in April 2019 © H. Richardson*

It is in a similarly plain style to the infirmary, although the Brechin Advertiser was curiously impressed with its appearance, describing it as a ‘magnificent building’ that was an ornament and a credit to the town. The article continued:

Poor-houses have too frequently been poor in every sense of the term – poor in architecture, poor in conveniences, poor in comfort. It will be seen, however, … that the new Poor-house of Brechin possesses not only the external appearance, but all the internal appliances of a modern mansion-house. [6]

*Another photograph from that gloomy day in the 1980s, of the former poorhouse next to Brechin Infirmary ©* *H. Richardsn*

According to the same article, the architect’s plan for the poorhouse had been commended for its simplicity of design and conveniences and comfort in its internal arrangements. These comprised a room on either side of the entrance door for the Matron, and beyond these separate stairs to the upper floor. A corridor ran the length of the building on both floors. On the ground floor, on the north side of the central corridor, were two large sick rooms and two sitting rooms, and on the south side a spacious dining hall. Store rooms and bathrooms were placed at either end, a large kitchens was at the east end of the dining room. On the upper floor were the sleeping wards, and here the corridor had a glazed partition half way along separating the males from the females.

*Rear view of St Drostan’s House, looking west, behind is the eastern end of Brechin Infirmary. Photographed in April 2019 © H. Richardson*

The out buildings included a probationary ward, washing-houses, ash pits, and coal cellars. Once the new poorhouse had been completed and the inmates moved from the old building in City Road, the latter was put up for sale. It was bought by Mr J. L. Gordon, the Town Clerk, for £541, on behalf of the Town Council, with the intention of converting it into a model lodging house. [7]

*Block to the rear of St Drostan’s House, one of the original out-buildings. Photographed in April 2019 © H. Richardson*

A further report in the Brechin Advertiser following the opening of the new poorhouse, continued the enthusiastic spirit of the previous account, noting the ‘tasteful and imposing appearance’ of the main frontage, and approving of the introduction of mullioned windows to relieve the ‘baldness that might otherwise have characterise the house’. The garden had been laid out under the superintendence of Mr Annandale of the nearby Den Nursery, and the contractors were listed as: Mr J. Cribb, mason; Messrs Black & Son, joiners; Mr Masson, plasterer; Messrs Kinnear & Son, plumbers; Mr W. Bruce, painter; and Mr J. Davidson, slater – all of Brechin. [8]

South front of the former poorhouse or Parochial Lodging House, with the mullioned windows on the upper floor in the gabled bays. The bay windows on the ground floor are post-war additions. When new sheltered housing was built to the rear in the early 2000s the former poorhouse was converted to offices, but is currently empty. Photographed in April 2019 © H. Richardson

The next development of the medical services in Brechin was the establishment of an isolation hospital in the 1890s. Infectious cases, or ‘fever patients’ had up until then been cared for in the infirmary, but in times of epidemic there was insufficient accommodation there. In February 1893 an outbreak of smallpox at the Forfar and Brechin Railway huts at a time when the fever ward in the infirmary was already full prompted the Police Commission in Brechin – responsible for public health – to meet with the directors of the Infirmary to consider providing either a permanent or temporary hospital for infectious diseases. In 1895 the Brechin Police Commissioners joined forces with the District Committee and were on the search for a site. They discussed commissioning plans and estimates for a new hospital. The site must have been acquired by the end of August 1897 when an advertisement was placed in the Dundee Evening Telegraph for ‘Bricklayers (a Few Good) wanted. Apply New Hospital, Brechin’. [9]

*Detail from the 25-inch OS map revised in 1922, showing the infectious diseases hospital to the north-west of the Infirmary. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

The plans were drawn up by T. Martin Cappon, architect, Dundee. A caretaker was appointed in 1898, the building work probably completed by then. The hospital comprised three detached blocks, probably the administrative building, which would also have contained some staff accommodation, and two ward blocks.

*Probably a block from the former isolation hospital, to the rear of Brechin Infirmary, photographed in April 2019 © H. Richardson*

Another building on its own to the north (pictured above and below), may have been the service block containing disinfecting chambers, with boilers and disinfectors, wash-house, mortuary and stores. Thomas Martin Cappon went on to design the Forfar County Hospital in 1899. [10]

*Surviving building from the former infectious diseases hospital. Photographed in April 2019 © H. Richardson*

Post-War Changes

By 1940 the infectious diseases hospital had been converted into accommodation for the aged and infirm, but by 1950 it had been closed. The Eastern Regional Hospital Board recommended retaining the buildings for accommodation for nurses and for storage, releasing a hut at the infirmary which might be used for 30 chronic sick patients. [11]

Extract from the 1:1,250 OS map revised in 1965. This shows the 1920s extension to the infirmary, and the large post-war addition pictured below. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

At the infirmary itself the largest addition since the 1920s was made in 1958-60, when the large wing to the north was added. A bequest of nearly £14,000 from Mrs Agnes Pederson, a Brechin woman in America, was used to provide new kitchen premises, out-patients’ and physiotherapy departments, alterations to staff quarters and a day room for geriatric patients between the new accommodation blocks. [12]

*A spliced photo showing the south-east front of the post-war hospital extension. Photographed in April 2019 © H. Richardson*

The health centre was built in about 1971, and was the first to be built in Angus.[13]

See also RCAHMS, National Monuments Record of Scotland, drawings collection, for the infectious diseases hospital and www.workhouses.org for St Drostan’s House.

Montrose, Arbroath and Brechin Review; and Forfar and Kincardineshire advertiser, 13 Feb 1846, p.5
Brechin Advertiser, 14 Sept 1852, p.2: 2 March 1880, p.2
Dundee Courier, 23 Aug 1864, p.4; 12 Dec 1865, p.4; 19 Dec 1866, p.4: Dundee Advertiser, 29 Dec 1864, p.3
Montrose, Arbroath and Brechin review; and Forfar and Kincardineshire advertiser, 19 April 1867, p.4: Dundee Courier, 6 May 1867, p.4
Brechin Advertiser, 5 June 1928, p.5: Aberdeen Press & Journal, 20 Sept 1928, p.5: Dundee Courier, 10 Oct 1928, p.5; 11 Dec 1929, p.6: Dundee Evening Telegraph, 11 Dec 1929, p.10
Brechin Advertiser, 2 March 1880, p.2
Brechin Advertiser, 16 March 1880, p.2
Brechin Advertiser, 16 March 1880, p.3
Dundee Courier, 1 Feb 1893, p.3: Aberdeen Press & Journal, 12 April 1893, p.5; 19 Aug 1896, p.6: Dundee Advertiser, 10 April 1895, p.2; 23 Oct 1896, p.2: Dundee Evening Telegraph, 25 Aug 1897, p.3
Dundee Courier, 6 July 1897, p.3; 4 Oct 1899, p.4: Peterhead Sentinel and General Advertiser for Buchan District, 28 Aug 1898, p.4
Dundee Courier, 26 Jan 1950, p.4
Brechin Advertiser, 2 Dec 1958, p.5
Aberdeen P&J, 16 Feb 1971, p.31

The late Glen o’Dee Hospital, Banchory

November 20, 2016May 2, 2023 / Harriet Richardson / Leave a comment

On 13 October 2016 the former Glen o’Dee Hospital was destroyed by fire. A few days later two 13-year-old boys were charged by the police in connection with the blaze.

*Glen O’Dee Hospital photographed in 1990 by RCHAMS*

Glen O’Dee was quite possibly the historic hospital that I most admired. The memory of stumbling across it, without knowing what to expect, has never quite lost its charm. Its future had for long been uncertain and the building lain empty since at least 1998, steadily deteriorating.

geograph-3241798-by-alan-findlay — *The former Glen o’Dee hospital, photographed in 2012 © Copyright Alan Findlay and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence*

A new community hospital was built behind it in the 1990s, complicating plans for re-using the original building. Planning permission was granted in 2010 for redevelopment as housing, but nothing was done, and it remained on the register of Buildings at Risk in Scotland.

*Glen O’Dee hospital photographed in 1990 by RCAHMS. The contrast with the photograph taken in 2012 is marked.*

Glen O’Dee was the first Sanatorium to be built in Scotland on the fresh‑air principle. It was designed by George Coutts of Aberdeen and opened in 1900. It was constructed mainly of timber with a central tower of Hill of Fare granite. Balconies and verandas were provided for all the rooms, facing south across the Dee, and access corridors ran along the north side. The recreation pavilion added to the south‑east below the dining‑hall was built in the same style with windows running all around it.

screen-shot-2016-11-20-at-14-57-17 — *Extract from the 2nd-edition 25-inch OS map, surveyed in 1902 showing the newly built sanatorium. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

Stylistically it was closer to the sanatoria in Germany than any others that were subsequently built in Scotland. But it was also very similar to Mundesley Sanatorium, in Norfolk, which had opened the year before.

geograph-2295314-by-evelyn-simak — *The old tuberculosis hospital at Mundesley, photographed in 2011. It originally opened in 1899. © Copyright Evelyn Simak and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence*

Glen O’Dee was originally called Nordrach‑on‑Dee, changing to Glen O’Dee when the building became a hotel for a time in 1934. It had been founded as a private sanatorium which treated TB on the Nordrach System pioneered at Nordrach in Baden, established in 1888 by Dr Otto Walther. This treatment mostly consisted of rest in the open air. Nordrach‑on‑Dee was founded by Dr David Lawson of Banchory, who had a distinguished career, pioneering work in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. Before the Hospital was built, much discussion took place as to the site. In 1899 Lawson published an article outlining the criteria and giving details of the eminent committee formed to acquire a suitable site. This committee consisted of, amongst others, Professors of Medicine from Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities. According to their research Deeside’s record for minimum rainfall and maximum sunshine were favourable.

screen-shot-2016-11-20-at-15-25-32 — *The Bremer Sanatorium at Gobersdorf was one of the most influential of the early hospitals pioneering open-air treatment of tuberculosis. From F. R. Walters,* Sanatoria for Consumptives, *1899.*

The site for Nordrach-on-Dee was purchased from Sir Thomas Burnett of Crathes for between £5,000 and £6,000. The building itself was estimated to cost £12,000. Initially there were 40 bedrooms though later additions were made. In 1928 Nordrach‑on‑Dee closed and was unused until its re‑opening as a luxurious hotel in 1934.

*A postcard of the sanatorium from c.1910 from the RCAHMS collection*

Brochures surviving in NHS Grampian Archives from both its incarnations give a similar picture of the regimes at the Sanatoria and Hotel. In the earlier document the text describes how each room was constructed so as to admit a maximum of pure sunlight and fresh air. ‘The windows occupy over two‑thirds of the outside wall space and are so arranged as to permit of their being kept open during all weathers.”

*An old postcard of Glen-o-Dee Hospital, when it was still known as Nordrach-on-Dee, from the RCAHMS collection*

It was one of the first sanatoria to use x‑rays in the treatment of TB. In 1941 the Hotel was requisitioned by the army and at the end of the war it was purchased by the Scottish Red Cross Society, who re‑fitted it as a sanatorium for ex‑service men and women suffering from TB. It was opened as such by the Queen in 1949.

*Aerofilms photograph of Glen O’Dee hospital taken in 1950 from the RCAHMS collection*

In 1955 it was transferred to the National Health Service and was latterly devoted to the care of geriatric patients. Two single‑storey ward blocks were constructed to the rear, the most recent on the site of the former nurses’ home. In 1990 Grampian Health Board had plans to demolish part of the original sanatorium. Whilst its timber construction made it understandable that the building presented difficulties with both maintenance and fire prevention, its undoubted historic importance makes its loss regrettable.

Selected Sources: Grampian Health Board Archives, booklets on Sanatorium and Hotel. The Hospital, 1 June 1901, p.152‑3]; BBC news, online report: NHS Grampian archives website has a history and images of the hospital

Belvidere Hospital

July 26, 2016May 2, 2023 / Harriet Richardson / 51 Comments

Practically no trace now remains of Belvidere Hospital, a large housing estate having been built on the site. The Belvidere once played a key role in protecting the population of Glasgow from the ravages of infectious diseases, including smallpox. The hospital was built on the most up-to-date plan, and took shape over a prolonged period of construction beginning with temporary wooden huts that were later replaced by brick buildings.

Belvidere 10 — *Belvidere Hospital, central ancillary building, photographed around 1990 © H. Richardson*

Epidemics of infectious diseases were amongst the major threats to life to the urban poor, living in the overcrowded districts of the rapidly expanding and industrialising city. Although the parochial authorities made some provision for paupers, this was very limited and strictly speaking only paupers were eligible for admission. From 1862 local responsibility for public health in Glasgow rested with the Board of Police, and it was under their auspices that a temporary fever hospital was built in Parliamentary Road in 1865. Proximity to the centre of population and a restricted site rendered the hospital inadequate in the face of a severe epidemic of relapsing fever in 1870. As a result, Belvidere House and its 33 acre estate were purchased to provide a site for a permanent fever hospital.

*Low Belvidere House and grounds in the 1850s, later the site of Belvidere Hospital. Extract from OS Town Plan of Glasgow, 1857. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

The original house was built by John M’Call, a leading merchant of Glasgow, who died there in 1790. It then passed to his son-in-law Robert M’Nair, a sugar-refiner, who sold up in 1813 to Mungo Nutto Campbell. Campbell sold it on around 1820 to David Wardrop who exploited the coal on the estate, and over the following decades the house and grounds were passed from one industrialist to another. (See The Glasgow Story for more on the history of the house and a photograph by Thomas Annan taken in 1870.)

Screen Shot 2016-07-18 at 08.03.37 — *Detail of the 1st Edition OS Map, surveyed in 1858, showing Belvidere House. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

John Carrick, the Glasgow City Architect, was responsible for drawing up plans for the new hospital. The first ‘ temporary shed’ was occupied on 19 December 1870. Eight timber pavilions were planned, four had been finished and partially occupied by Christmas, and two were expected to be completed before New Year.

Belvidere 11 — *Belvidere Hospital, former smallpox ward blocks, photographed around 1990 © H. Richardson*

In 1871 it was decided to build a separate smallpox hospital at Belvidere. Great lengths were taken to ensure that the most up-to-date features were incorporated in the design and many other hospitals were visited to this end, including the Herbert Hospital in London ‘reputed to be the finest specimen of a pavilion hospital in existence’. The local press had called for the design of the new hospital to reflect ‘the experience and results of modern science’, hoping that the authorities would not adopt the ‘old style of building tall structures’ but rather would follow the model of the recent temporary blocks at Parliamentary Road built on the pavilion principle ‘so strongly advocated by Miss Nightingale, and by writers on the subject of hospital accommodation’. The ‘temporary’ hospital blocks at Parliamentary Road were anticipated to last for around twenty years. There were those in the medical profession who considered that after occupation for that period of time all hospitals should be remodelled, if not entirely razed and rebuilt.

*Belvidere Hospital, one of the central buildings, photographed around 1990 © H. Richardson*

Nothing seems to have been done immediately but in 1874 plans were drawn up for the new permanent structures. Five single-storey, brick ward pavilions were built, though still described as ‘partially erected ‘ in December 1875, as well as the necessary ancillary buildings. These works were completed in 1877. The pavilions were aligned roughly north-south, and each was divided into four wards, two for acute cases in the centre, two for convalescents at the ends. The flooring was of close-jointed oak, the inner walls coated with Keen’s cement and the wards warmed by hot-water pipes and open fires. Roof-ridge ventilators (Boyle’s) were a distinctive feature on the outside of the buildings.

*Belvidere Hospital, one of the ancillary buildings, photographed around 1990 © H. Richardson*

To the south-east was a large wash-house. Matrons’ and medical superintendent’s houses and dormitories for the nurses occupied a position at the north-east corner of the grounds, close to which was the morgue. The original kitchen block stood opposite the north end of the central pavilion, it was surmounted by a small spire, which also served as a bell tower and clock. It was designed to minimise contact between the kitchen staff and the nurses: a platform under a verandah on the southern side of the kitchen allowed the nurses to receive the food which was served through a window.

Screen Shot 2016-07-18 at 08.09.38 — *Bartholomew’s* New Plan of Glasgow… *1882. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

The grounds were laid out into plots of shrubs and flowers by Mr M’Lellan, the Superintendent of Glasgow city parks. The team working alongside the architect were James Hannah, clerk of works; John Porter, builder; William Lightbody, joiner; Robert Nelson, plasterer; Wallace & Allan, plumbers and gas-fitters; John M’Ouatt & Sons, slaters; and James Comb & Son, heating engineers.

In 1879 work began on permanent buildings to replace the temporary sheds of the fever hospital on the south-east side of the site. Four brick pavilions were built to begin with. In 1882 the Medical Officer for Health in Glasgow, J. B. Russell, produced a ‘Memorandum on the Hospital Accommodation for Infectious Diseases in Glasgow’, which resulted in the further expansion of the site. Russell’s memorandum itemised the requirements for a large infectious diseases hospital and considered various details of its construction.

*Belvidere Hospital, photographed around 1990 © H. Richardson*

Over the course of the next five years pavilion after pavilion was added until there were thirteen altogether, providing 26 wards and a capacity for 390 patients. In addition there were ancillary buildings, providing kitchens and laundries etc, so that the hospital was as self-sufficient as possible, thus limiting the number of visitors to the site. The extended hospital was officially opened on 4 March 1887.

*Extract from the 2nd edition OS map, revised 1892-3. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

The simple polychrome of thin, horizontal bands of white amongst the red bricks created a streaky bacon effect. This unusual construction for hospital buildings in Scotland gave them a utilitarian air reminiscent of Glasgow’s industrial buildings.

SAW045960 — *Aerial photograph taken in 1952, from Britain from Above. The river Clyde is in the foreground, the smallpox hospital to the left and fever hospital to the right.*

In contrast to the polychrome-brick of most of the buildings, stone was used for the large administration block, which also contained the nurses home, recreation hall and senior staff residences. It was a large, somewhat austere building erected on the site of the original Belvidere house. The central range was designed as an echo of the house it replaced.

*Belvidere Hospital, administration block and staff accommodation, photographed around 1990 © H. Richardson*

*Belvidere Hospital, detail of the administration block and staff accommodation, photographed around 1990 © H. Richardson*

In 1929 a house was provided for the Medical Superintendent and a new observation ward was opened in 1930. After the inception of the National Health Service in 1948 various additions were made and changes in function introduced. Two important developments at Belvidere were the opening of the first Cobalt Therapy Unit in Scotland in February 1961 and in March 1973, the opening of the second Neutron Therapy Unit in Britain.

Belvidere 18 — *Belvidere Hospital, photographed around 1990 © H. Richardson*

Belvidere 15 — *Belvidere Hospital, photographed around 1990 © H. Richardson*

Belvidere 5 — *Belvidere Hospital, photographed around 1990 © H. Richardson*

The hospital closed in 1999. After years of neglect the derelict buildings were mostly demolished in 2006 – all except the administration block and nurses’ home. Hypostyle Architects acting for Kier Homes Ltd designed the masterplan for the site development. Divided into three zones: high density urban blocks, urban terraced housing, and low density sub-urban housing. The high density section nearest the London Road comprises four-storey blocks of flats and three-storey town houses. The terraced housing, of two stories, creates a buffer zone between the flats and the low-density housing on the south side of the site. Original plans to convert the listed admin block were subsequently scrapped and permission granted to demolish the remaining shell of the central block for more low-density housing. The original master plan was for 351 residential units: 145 flats, 115 townhouses and 91 houses.

Sources:

Glasgow Herald, 24 Dec 1870 p.3; 22 Nov 1875, p.5; 3 July 1877 p.2; 5 March 1887, p.9: Strathclyde Regional Archives: Account of Proceedings at Inspection of New Hospital for Infectious Diseases erected at Belvidere, 1877: J. B. Russell, ‘Memorandum on the Hospital Accommodation for Infectious Diseases in Glasgow’, 1882: ‘Report of proceedings at Official Inspection…’, 1887 Corporation of City of Glasgow, Municipal Glasgow, Glasgow, 1914: The Builder, 4 Dec 1875, p.1083; British Architect, 22 July 1887, p.70: Hypostyle Architects website

Greenock’s lost hospitals

June 25, 2016May 2, 2023 / Harriet Richardson / 13 Comments

Screen Shot 2016-06-25 at 10.51.39 — *Greenock in the mid-eighteenth century, depicted on Roy’s map of the Highlands. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

The dark, austere tower block that is Inverclyde Hospital opened in 1979. It superseded the Greenock Royal Infirmary, Eye Infirmary, Gateside Hospital, Duncan Macpherson and Broadstone Jubilee Hospitals which were all disposed of by the local Health Board in 1982. It was built just to the north of Larkfield Hospital, and that too was later replaced by the present Larkfield Unit. Later the last of Greenock’s pre-war hospitals, the Rankin Memorial, also closed and has since been demolished. This post gives a brief account of Greenock’s past hospitals, mostly demolished but a couple still stand in other use. Information on the lunatic asylum, poorhouses, and hospitals nearby can be found on the Inverclyde page of this website. Grateful thanks must go to the McLean Museum and Inverclyde Archives for kindly allowing me to use images from their online collections website (which I highly recommend).

*Inverclyde Royal Hospital, with the Larkfield Unit in front, photographed in 2007. © Copyright Thomas Nugent and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence*

Though Inverclyde hospital is perhaps not the most heart-warming in terms of architectural delight, Greenock can nevertheless be proud of its historic hospitals and of the people who built, funded, staffed and administered them. The earliest of these now-lost hospitals was the Royal Infirmary in Inverkip Street.

*Postcard of the infirmary, probably early 20th century. Reproduced by permission of the McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Inverclyde Council*

A dispensary had been established for the sick poor in 1801, but an outbreak of fever in 1806, the source of which was thought to be the crew of a Russian prize-vessel brought into the harbour that year, demonstrated the limitations of the dispensary and the necessity for a hospital. Plans for establishing an infirmary were put in train in 1807, the foundation stone was laid in 1808, and the building opened on 14 June 1809 – the dispensary becoming part of the new infirmary. In most instances the first generation of voluntary hospitals built in Scottish towns were designed by local architects. Greenock was no exception, although John Aird, who furnished the plans, was the local harbour engineer rather than an architect per se and it appears to be the only known building that he designed.

Screen Shot 2016-06-25 at 11.11.26 — Greenock, from John Wood’s plan of the town of 1825, showing the new streets laid out for development in grids around the old town. These were said to be ‘filling up with rapidity’ at the time of Wood’s survey, although neither Macfarlane’s map of 1842, or the first edition OS map of 1857, bear this out. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland.

The original infirmary was a good size for the time and the size of the town, providing 32 beds. Sir John Shaw Stewart, Lord of the Manor, gave the site, originally on the outskirts of the town, and the building costs amounted to around £1,815. It operated as a voluntary hospital funded by subscriptions, and was intended for cases of fever as well as general medical or surgical cases. Additional ground was given in 1815 to provide a larger airing ground or garden.

Screen Shot 2016-06-25 at 11.12.35 — *Wood’s Map*

The image above shows a detail of Wood’s map, the infirmary is marked by the letter ‘n’ and is towards the bottom left of the map. To its north ‘o’ marks the United Session Church and ‘p’ is the Greenock brewery. Further to the east ‘r’ marks the relief chapel and ‘s’ the tabernacle. On the right hand side are the bridewell – ‘x’ and the Renfrewshire bank – ‘y’. At the top ‘c’ is the gaelic chapel. All this can be seen much more clearly on the National Library Maps collection site, which also has a link to the description of Greenock that accompanied Wood’s Atlas.

Screen Shot 2016-06-25 at 11.53.01 — *Detail from Andrew Macfarlane’s map of Greenock of 1842. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland.*

*Extract from the OS* *Town Plan, 1857. The small building to the south was the wash house and dead house. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

Outbreaks of fever (i.e. an infectious disease) remained common in this harbour town, and were often severe. In 1829 the hospital was stretched beyond its capacity during an epidemic, resulting in the erection of a temporary fever hospital and plans made to extend the building. Two wings were added in 1830. By the mid-1840s the capacity of the infirmary had been increased to around 100 beds. An extraordinary number for the building depicted in the 1857 OS map (above).

*Late-nineteenth century lantern slide of Greenock Infirmary and Duncan Street cemetery. Reproduced by permission of the McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Inverclyde Council*

Additions were made in 1847 (James Dempster architect), and in 1869 the infirmary was enlarged (James Salmon & Son, architect). Further additions in 1938-43 by W. J. B. Wright included a nurses’ home.

*Extract from the 2nd-edition OS map, surveyed 1896. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

One of the specialisms that developed at the infirmary was the treatment of diseases of the eye. In 1865 James Ferguson, merchant of Inverkip, had bequeathed £6,000 to provide an eye hospital but legal action ensued and it was not until 1879 that the trustees rented a consulting room in Greenock Infirmary and in the following year appointed an oculist. At last the Eye Infirmary was built in 1893 on Nelson Street.

Screen Shot 2016-06-25 at 12.34.15 — *Extract from the 2nd-edition OS map, revised in 1912, showing the eye infirmary to the west of the County Court and prison. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

The Eye Infirmary was designed by James B. Stewart with funds donated by Mr Anderson Rodger, a Port Glasgow ship builder. It also catered for ear, nose and throat patients until 1921. It is a handsome building, and survives, latterly as the Ardgowan Hospice.

*Opening ceremony of the Eye Infirmary on Nelson Street, Greenock on the 19th August 1893. Reproduced by permission of the McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Inverclyde Council*

*Atmospheric colour slide of the Eye Infirmary taken in 1971 by Eugene Jean Méhat (1920-2000). Reproduced by permission of the McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Inverclyde Council*

geograph-322489-by-Thomas-Nugent — *Ardgowan Hospice photographed in 2007 © Copyright Thomas Nugent and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence*

Public Health legislation in the late nineteenth century eventually made the provision of municipal hospitals for infectious diseases compulsory. For Greenock this resulted in the erection of Gateside Hospital, otherwise known as the Greenock and District Combination Hospital for infectious diseases. Built well outside the town, it was designed by Alexander Cullen of Hamilton and opened in 1908.

*Extract from the 2nd-edition OS map, revised 1912. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

With the decline in need for hospitals for infectious diseases Gateside took on orthopaedic surgery, paediatric medicine and general medicine, before finally closing in 1979, superseded by Inverclyde Hospital.

*Postcard of the combination hospital, Greenock. Possibly the most surprising hospital to find a postcard of, made even more bizarre with the MacGregor tartan and lucky heather.*

A photograph of the nurses with Miss Gay, Matron to the left of Dr Phillips, taking tea in front of the hospital. A poignant scene, given the year 1913. Reproduced by permission of the McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Inverclyde Council

The photograph above shows the matron Miss Margaret Russell Gay, seated to the left of Dr Phillips. She was matron at Gateside for over 25 years, having been appointed when the hospital first opened. From Greenock, she trained at Greenock Royal Infirmary, and before taking up her appointment at Gateside was matron at Largs hospital. She also spent time in America as a private nurse, and was in San Francisco during the 1906 earthquake. She died in 1941 aged about 70.

Screen Shot 2016-06-25 at 13.19.46 — *Extract from the 2nd-edition OS map revised in 1938. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland.*

A Children’s Convalescent Home was built c.1900 on the edge of the smart western suburb of Greenock, on the corner of South and Forsyth Streets. It was opened by Mrs Andrew Carnegie – who had gifted £500 towards the home – in October 1902. It was still running during the Second World War. The building survives, now as private housing.

During the inter-war years Greenock’s hospital services increased greatly, but just before the end of the First World War, in 1917, Togo House was presented to the burgh of Greenock by Baillie Daniel Orr for use as a maternity hospital. This house was presumably on the site of present-day Togo Place, just off Dempster Road near the corner with Ann Street. It only had space for six patients, but in 1925 plans were approved to build a single-storey extension that would provide a proper maternity ward with 18 beds, and turn the house itself over to office and administrative use.

It was during this period that a convalescent home was built in association with the Royal Infirmary at Larkfield. Designed by Abercrombie & Maitland, it opened on 21 December 1929. At the opening ceremony, a Birmingham-made ceremonial silver key in a gold-coloured casket was presented to Miss Maggie Donald Rankin. The casket and key are now in the McLean Museum and Inverclyde Archives. Miss Rankin and her brother, Mathew, were major benefactors of Greenock. Mathew Rankin was partner in the local firm Rankin and Blackmore, engineers.

*Extract from the 2nd-edition OS map, revised in 1938. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland.*

The home provided two, ten‑bed wards and eighteen private rooms. By 1943 it had become an auxiliary hospital treating all medical cases. It has considerable historic importance in terms of the development of hospital planning after the Second World War for having the first experimental ward designed by the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust, built in 1951-6, and followed by one in Belfast at Musgrave Park built in 1956-9. The Trust began to develop a new type of ward unit in the early years after the war, looking abroad for inspiration where the old Nightingale style wards had made way for groups of patients’ rooms on one side of a corridor with ancillary facilities on the other – bathrooms, treatment rooms, sluice rooms etc. The Trust studied the daily routine of nurses and aimed to devise a new layout that would reduce the amount of walking for nurses, improve privacy for patients but not lose the necessary level of supervision of patients by the nursing staff. The ward unit that they came up with still provided a basic 32 beds (about the size of the largest Nightingale ward) but arranged with a combination of four-bed bays and single rooms on either side of a central corridor. (An illustration can be seen on the University of Cambridge School of Architecture website, and a plan is reproduced in Jonathan Hughes’ article in Medical History.)

Larkfield Hospital closed in 1979. That same year the new Inverclyde Royal Hospital was opened, built just to the north-west. The Larkfield unit for geriatric patients has since been built on the site.

Two more hospitals were built in Greenock in the later 1930s. The Ear, Nose & Throat Hospital in Eldon Street was built in 1937 by James Miller. It originally had accommodation for 20 beds and an out‑patients’ department. Eear nose and throat patients were initially taken into the Royal Infirmary and then moved out to the Eye Infirmary when it opened in 1894. In 1921 the old prison buildings in Nelson Street were acquired as a temporary measure until the new hospital was provided in Eldon Street. The Eldon Street hospital was demolished some time after 1990 and has been replaced by blocks of flats.

Housing has also been built on the site of the Rankin Memorial Hospital. This hospital opened on 17 August 1938 replacing the Togo House Maternity Hospital and the children’s hospital at Shaw Place (about the latter, I have found no information). Maggie Donald Rankin donated £41,000 to build and equip the new combined hospital.

The architect was James Watson Ritchie, for H.M. Office of Works. It was designed as a long low, two‑storey building in three sections with maternity to the west and children to the east of the central administration section. All the blocks were rough‑cast. There was accommodation for 28 women and 28 children, and the 13 1/2-acre site was laid out by Greenock Corporation Parks Department.

A ceremonial silver key, made by Hendry & Co. of Birmingham, England, was presented to Miss Rankin on the opening of the hospital by the Burgh of Greenock Corporation. Like the other key presented to her on the opening of Larkfield Hospital, it has been preserved in the McLean Museum and Inverclyde Archives.

Following transfer to the National Health Service in 1948 plans were drawn up for extensions and a nurses’ home, and a special baby-care unit designed in 1979 by Ross, Doak and Whitelaw. The Rankin closed in 1994. (There was also a Rankine Memorial Hospital, established around 1901, in Yichang, China, named after Dr David Rankine, its founder. The nursing staff were deaconesses from the Church of Scotland.)

Sources: Greenock Royal Infirmary: Dictionary of Scottish Architects: The New Statistical Account of Scotland: Renfrew, Argyle… 1845, pp 474-6. Gateside Hospital: Common Services Agency, Glasgow, plans collection: Glasgow Herald, 29 Dec 1941, p.6. Greenock Eye Infirmary: F. Walker, South Clyde Estuary, Edinburgh, 1986. Togo House Maternity Hospital: Glasgow Herald, 20 May 1925, p.6. Ear, Nose & Throat Hospital: Architect & Building News, 1937. Rankin Memorial Hospital: McLean Museum and Inverclyde Archives: Dictionary of Scottish Architects: The Builder, 23 Jan 1948, p.125; 27 Feb 1948, p.264; 11 Jan 1952, p.101; 30 April 1934, p.786: The Scotsman, 18 Aug 1938, p.6: Aberdeen Journal, 2 May 1907, p.3 for the Chinese Rankin Memorial Hospital.

The Hospitals Investigator 10

April 24, 2016May 2, 2023 / Harriet Richardson / 1 Comment

In January 1993 Robert Taylor wrote the tenth in his series of newsletters for the RCHME Hospitals Project team. The text below is primarily his, I have just updated the information in places and added the illustrations. At least two of the hospitals that he and Kathryn Morrison visited back then – Highfield Hospital, Droitwich and the Corbett Hospital, Stourbridge – have since been demolished. The ‘letter from Dorset’ is an account of the fieldwork undertaken in the county, further research was then carried out and reports of the sites written. These reports are deposited at Historic England’s Archives in Swindon. A list of the sites and their site record numbers is appended to the post, and I have added a brief note on their current status if they are no longer in use as a hospital or have been demolished.

Cruciform Observation Wards

During discussions with the Local Government Board in 1908-9 over the design for a new observation ward for the Croydon R.D.C. hospital, Christopher Chart of the firm of E. J. Chart of Croydon, came up with the idea of a cruciform block. His aim was to avoid structural problems met with in the design preferred by the L.G.B., with back-to-back wards, as well as to extend to hospitals the same principles that led to the prohibition of back-to-back houses. The resulting design was accepted, and the ward opened in 1911. It had a central octagonal duty room, and four arms each with three cubicles separated by plate-glass partitions and entered separately from external verandahs. The verandahs are against the East and West sides of the arms.

*The Beddington Corner Hospital, near Croydon (later Wandle Valley Hospital). Plan of cruciform cubicle isolation block designed by Christopher Chart*

Screen Shot 2016-04-23 at 10.30.41 — *Extract from the OS map surveyed in 1953-4, the left-hand cruciform block was the one built in 1911, that to the right added later. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

Screen Shot 2016-04-23 at 10.31.06 — Detail of the map above. The walls of the cubicles are shown, and the glass-roofed verandahs indicated by the cross-hatching. The entire hospital has been demolished and the site redeveloped for housing.

In 1913 Cambridge Borough Council inspected a number of isolation hospitals before enlarging their hospitals, and decided to adopt a cruciform observation block like that at Croydon. Perhaps this is why they employed the same architect. The Cambridge ward was begun in 1914 and opened in 1915. Like the Croydon hospital, it had three cubicles in each arm, and the verandahs faced East and West. Several improvements were introduced. In the angle of the arms is a small sanitary block, entered only from the verandah.

How many cruciform wards were designed by Chart is not known, but his firm was described in The Hospital of 29 May 1915, pp 179-80, as having ‘specialised in this design of isolation hospitals’.

Screen Shot 2016-04-23 at 11.17.26 — *Portsmouth Isolation Hospital. Extract from the OS 25-inch map, revised in 1937-8. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

At Portsmouth two cruciform wards were built, one shortly before 1922 and the other probably completed in 1938. They have longer arms than the early wards, and the design is perhaps improved by having the verandahs on the south sides of the arms, and the sanitary blocks at the outer ends where they do not obscure the light.

Screen Shot 2016-04-23 at 11.21.32 — Extract from the 2nd-edition OS Map revised in 1896, showing the location of the isolation hospital over the road from the union workhouse. Kingston Prison and Cemetery were to the north-west. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

References: C. Chart, ‘Observation Wards in Isolation hospitals’ in The Hospital, 26 June 1915, pp 277-9: H. F. Parsons, ‘Report on Isolation Hospitals, Supplement to the Annual Report of the Medical Officer of the Local Government Board’ PP, 1912-13, XXXVI, pp 76-7.

Droitwich

Highfield Hospital, Droitwich was founded by the Birmingham Hospital Saturday Fund as a convalescent home in 1917 (see Best of Health for more information on the Birmingham Hospital Saturday Fund, and for an old postcard showing Highfield Hospital see robmcrorie’s flickr page). Following the construction of the new Worcestershire Royal Hospital (a PFI hospital which opened in 2002), Highfield closed and has since been demolished.

Screen Shot 2016-04-23 at 11.42.01 — *Extract from the 6-inch OS Map, revised in 1902. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

In the early 1990s, a visit to the Highfield Hospital at Droitwich revealed some unexpected benefits enjoyed by the patients. The hospital then specialised in ‘rheumatic and locomotor disorders’ and patients who were used to hobbling around at home as best they could, had their movements more strictly controlled on the wards. Coded messages above the beds informed staff of the restrictions to be placed on the patients’ mobility: CTB = confined to bed; WTT = walk to toilet. Under these conditions the nurse who provided a messenger service between the wards and the local betting shop was doubtless maintaining a necessary service. Those patients who were mobile were allowed to walk in the meadow behind the hospital. One of the amenities of this field was the back door to a nearby public house.

Corbett Hospital

The original Corbett hospital in Stourbridge stood on top of a hill with a magnificent view that included the glass works and before it was turned into a hospital it had been the home of the glass manufacturer, George Mills. Mills, who suffered from mental illness, committed suicide in November 1885, and his house (The Hill) was acquired by John Corbett, a salt producer. Corbett converted the house into a hospital, which opened in 1893.

geograph-3848994-by-Terry-Robinson — Corbett Hospital Gates, Lodge and Drive to the (former) Corbett Hospital, High Street Amblecote, Stourbridge, photographed in 2014 © Copyright Terry Robinson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Nearly a hundred years later, it was still functioning. At that time there was a cardiac recovery ward on the first floor of the main pavilion of the grand rebuilding scheme of 1931. The ground floor had been designed as the entrance to the hospital but had been put to other uses. Above the entrance porch was a sun room, then a ward, and the usual service section with bathroom and toilets, duty room, private ward and so on. The entrance had been moved to an insignificant position in the main corridor, and was difficult to find. The ironwork of the staircase was pleasant, but it was the ward itself that proved to be a surprise. Instead of the usual Nightingale-style room with windows on either side, a cross-wall divided the space into two, with the sixteen beds in the ward arranged parallel to the outside walls. This was the original arrangements, not a response to the high incidence of cardiac trouble in Stourbridge. It was an up-to-date arrangement at the time, though not one that Miss Nightingale would have approved of, nor would she have liked the small cubic space per patient, the result of low ceilings, or the bustle of a busy ward with much coming and going, and doctors on continuous duty. The sun room at the end of the ward was the only quiet place, as the patients weren’t well enough to be able to use it – and once they were well enough to do so, they were discharged.

The hospital was demolished in 2007, having been replaced in 2005 by a new building erected in the grounds. There are photographs and a full history of the site on the Amblecote History Society website.

A letter from Dorset, January 1993

Dorset proved an attractive but disappointing county. The landscape was on a larger scale than expected, and the hospitals on a smaller scale than anticipated. Poole and Bournemouth provided an urban contrast to this rural county, but their major hospitals had been demolished or were being demolished at the time of our visit.

Screen Shot 2016-04-23 at 12.02.51 — *Extract from Bartholomew’s half-inch maps of England and Wales, published in 1902, showing Poole harbour and Bournemouth. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

Workhouses here in the 1830s did not have any physically separate infirmaries as did those further West, but had the infirm in the main building. Only at Poole did a separate infirmary seem to have been added, and that was all that remained of the workhouse. Wareham was the only workhouse where we know that an isolation block was built, and at Weymouth the V. D. block was the only building to have been demolished in what looked through the scaffolding like a very thorough remodelling. Perhaps the only pleasure came at Cerne where we saw the giant lying deep in the shadows of this grassy hillside.

geograph-4224194-by-Neil-Owen — The old workhouse, Weymouth, built in 1836. Photographed in 2014. Redeveloped as private residences after years of dereliction © Copyright Neil Owen and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Extract from the 2nd-edition OS map, surveyed in 1886 showing Poole Union Workhouse. The infirmary was added to the north in 1903 (see also workhouses.org). Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

As usual isolation hospitals were elusive, except at Poole. Weymouth had a large iron hospital of 1902 that had unfortunately been reclad in 1984, and the holiday camp at the same town was almost as bad. In its days as a hospital it had belonged to the Port Sanitary Authority but the wards had been given an extra storey with cantilevered balconies to house the holidaymakers, who had to try and sleep above the pool tables and other delights installed in the wards below.

Screen Shot 2016-04-23 at 12.28.57 — *Weymouth isolation hospital, extract from the 2nd-edition OS map revised 1926-7. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

We managed to get the car completely covered in mud looking for the Sherborne hospitals, but sadly a farmer had beaten us to it and converted the site into a yard for vehicles that managed like us to get through the mud. The architects of the general hospitals appear to have been unusually keen to disguise their buildings and hide any wards. A classic pavilion hospital at Bournemouth was destroyed with a ball and chain as we watched, although another at the Naval Hospital at Portland survived our gaze. In contrast the county hospital at Dorchester was heavily disguised as a Jacobean country house, and its counterpart at Weymouth was taller and almost as inscrutable. Only a huge inscription told us what the building was.

geograph-922910-by-Sarah-Smith — Old Dorset County Hospital, Dorchester, photographed in 2008. In Somerleigh Road off Princes Street, the old county hospital designed by Benjamin Ferrey FSA and built in Portland stone in 1841, has now been converted into flats which are very convenient being so near to the centre of town. Benjamin Ferrey (1810-1880) studied under Pugin and became Diocesan Architect to Bath and Wells. He was also commissioned in 1836 to design the area in Bournemouth known as Westover, including the Bath Hotel. © Copyright Sarah Smith and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Most of the cottage hospitals were so small that it seemed that the architects did not bother to make them look like anything at all. By contrast the Yeatman Hospital at Sherborne was a magnificent exercise in Gothic, and the Westminster Hospital at Shaftesbury was fairly good, but neither looked much like a hospital to start with, and both were smothered in modern additions. Bridport had a pretty little hospital that looked like a hospital, was cottagey in scale, and ought to have been listed; it was a rare ray of sunlight. (The hospital has since been demolished, a housing development stands on the site, and a new community hospital has been built on the north side of Bridport.)

Screen Shot 2016-04-23 at 15.30.43 — The Royal Naval Hospital for infectious diseases, and the sick quarters, at Castletown, on the north side of Portland. Extract from the 2nd-edition OS Map, revised in 1901. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

*The Sick Quarters can be seen still under construction in the OS map surveyed in 1889. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

Screen Shot 2016-04-23 at 15.39.52 — Extract from the 2nd-edition OS map revised in 1926-7. The sick quarters were extended and developed into a general hospital, the Royal Navy left in 1957 and it became an NHS hospital, and remains a part of the present Portland Community Hospital. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

Screen Shot 2016-04-23 at 15.33.31 — To the east of the isolation hospital and sick quarters was an earlier naval hospital, by Balaclava Bay. It had been demolished by the 1920s. Extract from the 2nd-edition OS Map, revised in 1901. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

Portland Naval Base gave us a first that we did not really appreciate at the time, an underground hospital. The presence of some subterranean installation was obvious from the clutch of old concrete vents and single small access ramp, but it was not apparently very large, and seemed to be something like an air-raid shelter serving the above-ground hospital. Drawings at Acton showed that it was in fact a small hospital, attached to the main institution. (There was an out-store for the National Monuments Record at Acton, these plans should now be at Historic England’s archives at Swindon. The plans may have been part of the Common Services Agency collection. For photographs and more information on the underground hospital see the urbanexplorer.)

geograph-2773134-by-Mike-Faherty — *Canford Cliffs, St Anne’s Hospital, south elevation photographed in 2012 © Copyright Mike Faherty and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.*

Bournemouth was full of convalescent homes, and the problems of identification and investigation finally defeated us’ most were hardly worth chasing, and the difficulty of distinguishing between purpose-built and converted buildings made the exercise unfruitful. St Anne’s was the exception, a great curve overlooking the sea and designed by Weir Schultz for convalescing lunatics. (This was the seaside branch of the Holloway Sanatorium, built in 1909-12)

Screen Shot 2016-04-23 at 15.04.10 — Dorset County Asylum, later Herrison Hospital, now converted into private housing, named Charlton Down. Extract from the 2nd-edition OS Map revised 1900-1. The private wing (Herrison House) was built to the north-west of the main range, and the western half of the complex above was built first. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

The Dorset lunatics were first cared for at a house at Forston given to the county in the 18^th century; it was in the bottom of a narrow valley, the sort of site that was never used for asylums or hospitals. In the middle of the 19th century a more conventional hilltop site not far way was bought, and the new asylum went through most of the usual processes of enlargement. This included about 1900 a large and separate block for paying patients. Although we did not get inside because it had since changed function, the entrance hall and the exterior appearance declared that this was not for the common or pauper madman, but for someone with more refined taste. The exterior was an elaborate riot of terracotta ornament, rather like Digby’s at Exeter, but here there were no workshops or laundries for toiling patients, and the whole resembled a country house set in its gardens.

geograph-1344309-by-Chris-Downer — *Charlton Down, Sherren Avenue, photographed in 2009 © Copyright Chris Downer and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.*

List of Hospitals in Dorset

Hospital sites recorded as part of the RCHME Hospitals Survey, with grid references and the National Buildings Record number. The files for these sites can be seen at Historic England Archives, Kemble Drive Swindon. See also Dorset

DORSET

ALLINGTON
Bridport Isolation Hospital In the 1960s this was North Allington Hospital for chest diseases. It has been demolished and a new community hospital built on the site SY 456 939: 100478

BLANDFORD FORUM
Blandford Community Hospital (Blandford Cottage Hospital) ST 884 069: 100466

BOURNEMOUTH
Herbert Hospital (Herbert Memorial Convalescent Home) SZ 065 903: 100452
Kings Park Community Hospital (Bournemouth Sanitary Hospital; Bournemouth Municipal Hospital) SZ 118 924: 100403
Royal National Hospital (Royal National Sanatorium for Consumption) Now a gated complex, providing ‘assisted living’ accommodation, or retirement apartments. SZ 083 914: 100243
Royal Victoria and West Hampshire Hospital, Shelley Road Branch (Boscombe Hospital; Royal Boscombe and West Hampshire Hospital) Demolished SZ 111 923: 100401
Royal Victoria and West Hampshire Hospital, Victoria Branch (Royal Victoria Hospital) Converted into flats – Royal Victoria Apartments, tile panels moved to the new Royal Bournemouth Hospital SZ 076 915: 100402

BRIDPORT
Bridport General Hospital demolished SY 459 932: 100419
Port Bredy Hospital (Bridport Union Workhouse) Converted into housing SY 469 931: 100477

CHARMINSTER
Herrison Hospital (Dorset County Asylum) Converted into housing SY 678 947: 100244

CHRISTCHURCH
Christchurch Hospital (Christchurch Union Workhouse Infirmary) The workhouse was latterly known as Fairmile Hospital The infirmary partly survives but the former workhouse buildings have been demolished. SZ 148 939: 100461

CORFE CASTLE
Wareham Council Smallpox Hospital Converted into housing SY 941 843: 100670

DORCHESTER
Damers Hospital (Dorchester Union Workhouse) Original workhouse largely demolished, new district hospital built on land to the north in the 1970s-80s SY 687 903: 100475
Dorchester Isolation Hospital demolished, Winterbourne Hospital built on site in the 1980s-90s SY 689 891: 100418
Dorset County Hospital converted into flats SY 691 906: 100417
Royal Horse Artillery Barracks Hospital This may actually still be standing – or was in 2014, now within a trading estate SY 686 909: 100476

LYME REGIS
Lyme Regis Hospital Seemingly a nursing home in 2015 SY 336 921: 100422

POOLE
Alderney Hospital (Poole BC Isolation Hospital; Alderney Isolation Hospital) Most of the original ward blocks have been demolished SZ 042 943: 100465
Poole General Hospital (Cornelia Hospital; Cornelia and East Dorset Hospital) rebuilt in the 1960s-70s SZ 020 913: 100464
Poole Hospital (Poole Union Workhouse) rebuilt as the Harbour Hospital, the former workhouse infirmary incorporated into St Mary’s Maternity Hospital SZ 018 914: 100404
St Anne’s Hospital (St Anne’s Sanatorium) SZ 052 888: 100463

PORTLAND
Portland Hospital (Royal Naval Hospital) SY 685 741: 100481

SHAFTESBURY
Westminster Memorial Hospital (Westminster Memorial and Cottage Hospital) ST 860 228: 100487

SHERBORNE
Coldharbour Hospital demolished ST 643 176: 100066
Sherborne Isolation Hospital demolished ST 622 173: 100425
Sherborne School Sanatorium extended ST 635 166: 100424
Yeatman Memorial Hospital (Yeatman Hospital) extended ST 636 167: 100483

ST LEONARD’S AND ST IVES
St Leonard’s Hospital (104th US General Hospital) largely demolished, just a few or the EMS huts were extant in 2015 SU 102 020: 100468

STURMINSTER NEWTON
Sturminster Union Workhouse partly demolished – the front range survives with new buildings to the rear, used as a day centre and a centre for adults with learning disabilities ST 787 148: 100426

SWANAGE
Dorset Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital extended and converted into private housing SZ 033 782: 100467
Swanage Cottage Hospital SZ 028 784: 100406

WAREHAM TOWN
Christmas Close Hospital (Wareham and Purbeck Union Workhouse) some of the ancillary buildings have been demolished, and it has been converted into housing – Robert Christmas House – with the hospital moved into the c.1960s block adjacent SY 918 874: 100407

WEYMOUTH
Portway Hospital (Weymouth Union Workhouse) converted into housing, some parts demolished SY 675 785: 100479
Westhaven Hospital (Weymouth Corporation Isolation Hospital) seems to have been completely rebuilt in about the 1980s SY 660 795: 100421
Weymouth and District Hospital (Princess Christian Hospital and Sanatorium) original buildings demolished, hospital largely redeveloped in about the 1960s SY 682 803: 100480
Weymouth and Dorset County Royal Eye Infirmary now a hospice SY 683 803: 100423
Weymouth Port Sanitary Authority Hospital the wards still extant in the midst of Chesil Beach Holiday Park SY 666 762: 100420

WIMBOURNE MINSTER
Victoria Hospital (Victoria Cottage Hospital) numerous additions and alterations, but still in use SU 004 002: 100405

Nairn Hospital

March 27, 2016May 2, 2023 / Harriet Richardson / Leave a comment

For some now unfathomable reason, I managed to lose my gazetteer entries for hospitals in Scotland beginning with ‘N’. One of the tasks, therefore, that I have set myself is to rediscover the missing hospitals. They include some important buildings, such as Nithbank Hospital – the second incarnation of Dumfries Royal Infirmary – and most of the hospital buildings in Nairn. Today I have been on a virtual tour of Nairn, and have begun updating the Highland page accordingly.

*Extract of the 1st-edition OS map, surveyed 1868. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

The earliest hospital in Nairn was the precursor of the present Town and County Hospital. It is now a private house (Craig Royston). It was designed by Thomas Mackenzie and was intended for fever cases. Building work began in 1846, the plans having been drawn up some two years earlier when the scheme was first mooted and the site purchased, but progress was slow.

Screen Shot 2016-03-27 at 14.38.48 — Detail of the above map, showing the tree-lined drive up to the hospital, a shelter belt of trees around the edge of the buildings as well as the retaining walls, and a circular drive on the west side.

The design, however, was met with enthusiasm in the local press, where it was described as ‘beautiful and appropriate’. A ball was held in Anderson’s Hall in September to raise funds towards the completion of the hospital, and there was much approval of a gift of £20 from the Earl of Cawdor. Originally it provided just twelve beds, though later a wing was built to the rear. The hospital continued to serve the town but by the early 1900s it had become out-dated.

Extract of the 6-inch OS map, revised 1938. The Town and County Hospital is just north of Larkfield House, to the left is the poorhouse built in 1860-2 (marked as a Public Assistance Institution, later this was known as Balblair Home, now demolished). Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

In 1903 the decision was taken to erect a new hospital. The scheme was boosted by the promised donation of £4,000 by a native of the town, Alexander Mann, then living in Guayaquil (Equador), South America. This sum largely covered the cost of construction, and he later also gifted £1,000 to purchase the site. The hospital was designed by William Mackintosh and built in 1904-6 (dated 1906 in the central pediment). John Gifford didn’t mince his words in the Pevsner Guide, describing the hospital as ‘small but stodgy Wrennaissance’. The original building has been retained, used for dental services, as part of a larger complex including a new community hospital.

There was also the Northern Counties Convalescent Home on the outskirts of Nairn, built in 1892 to designs by Ross and Macbeth. It continued to operate throughout the twentieth century, though it was never transferred to the NHS. It finally closed in 2004. The building seems to survive, now a private house.

*Extract of the 2nd-edition OS map, surveyed 1904. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland*

Any photographs of these buildings, or information on other missing hospitals beginning with ‘N’, would be most gratefully received. The Town and County Hospital can be seen from Google Street view, as can the diminutive former Northern Counties Convalescent Home. The original Nairn Hospital is hidden behind its garden wall.

For a full history of the hospitals of Nairn with many historic photographs of the buildings see J.C. & S. J. Leslie, Hospitals of Nairn, 2012.

(Sources: Inverness Courier, 7 Feb 1844, p.3; Nairnshire Mirror and General Advertiser, 11 July 1846, p.3: John Gifford, The Buildings of Scotland. Highlands and Islands, 1992: Aberdeen Journal, 29 July 1903, p.3; 16 Aug 1906, p.6: Inverness Courier, 28 June 1892)

Historic Hospitals

An Architectural Gazetteer

infectious diseases hospital

July News in August

Like this:

April News

Like this:

Ovenstone Hospital, Fife

Like this:

The Architecture of Isolation

Like this: