HOSPITALS
In the 18th and 19th centuries several hospitals
were opened in and around Gloucester on private
initiatives. (fn. 1) The most important, the Gloucester
Infirmary, dated from 1755. In the early 19th
century the county and city joined in the building
of a lunatic asylum at Wotton and later the county
built a second asylum in Barnwood. The city,
which provided infectious diseases hospitals and
in 1930 took over the infirmary of the Gloucester
poor-law union, later built a maternity hospital.
Before that a voluntary body had been the main
provider of midwifery services in Gloucester.
Anglican orders of nuns ran a children's hospital
from 1867.
In 1948 the Gloucester, Stroud, and the Forest
hospital management committee took control of
the county and city general infirmaries, the maternity hospital, and an infectious diseases hospital at
Over. The Horton Road and Coney Hill hospital
management committee controlled the two mental
hospitals from 1948 until 1965 when it amalgamated with the Gloucester, Stroud, and the
Forest management committee. (fn. 2) A private hospital in Barnwood became an independent registered mental hospital and the work of two
dispensaries was continued under the National
Health Service in health centres provided by the
city corporation, acting as local health authority.
In the early 1960s a new general hospital was
begun in Great Western Road and from the mid
1960s the city provided new buildings at Rikenel
house in Montpellier as the centre for its health
and welfare services. (fn. 3) At reorganization in 1974
the Gloucestershire area health authority took
over the functions of both the hospital management committee and the local health authority,
and in 1982 most of those functions devolved
upon the Gloucester district health authority. A
private hospital opened in the city in 1981. (fn. 4)
GENERAL INFIRMARIES.
In the mid 1720s a
hospital in Gloucester belonged to Mr. Singleton, (fn. 5) possibly Luke Singleton who later designed the Gloucester Infirmary. (fn. 6) Bishop Martin
Benson collected subscriptions for an infirmary in
the city and in 1752 left £200 for such a project. In
1754 a scheme for a dispensary in Stroud was
extended to provide a county hospital at
Gloucester. A subscription opened later that year (fn. 7)
received wide support. The principal benefactors
included Norborne Berkeley of Stoke Gifford,
M.P. for the county, and the Revd. George
Talbot of Temple Guiting. Benson's bequest was
paid into the fund. (fn. 8)
In 1755 it was decided to build the Gloucester
Infirmary outside the south gate and a temporary
infirmary was opened at the Crown and Sceptre
inn in lower Westgate Street. It was supported by
voluntary contributions and the governors met
every Thursday to manage it and admit patients.
It was intended for patients from any country
unable to pay for their keep and medicine.
Admission was by subscriber's ticket and a donation of £20 conferred the same privileges as a
subscription of £2 2s. Physicians and surgeons
from the city gave their services free of charge and
the resident staff included an apothecary, who
had general care of the patients, a matron, and a
secretary. Samuel Colborne, the first apothecary,
came from London. In setting up the infirmary
the governors took the Northampton Infirmary as
their model and sent the matron and secretary to
the Bristol Infirmary for instruction. (fn. 9)
In 1756 the governors acquired a lease of the
site for the county infirmary (fn. 10) and George II gave
timber from the Forest of Dean for building it. (fn. 11)
Patients were admitted from 1761 (fn. 12) and the
temporary infirmary was closed. The infirmary in
lower Southgate Street was built in brick to plans
by Luke Singleton, approved after consultation
with the Bath architect John Wood. (fn. 13) It had two
storeys on a high basement and north and south
wings contained the four principal wards, each
with 18 beds. An extensive kitchen garden with
orchard was laid out behind it. (fn. 14) In 1780 land
behind the Independent chapel on the other side
of the street was given to the infirmary for a burial
ground, consecrated in 1781. (fn. 15) In 1788 George
III, during his stay in Cheltenham, visited the
infirmary. (fn. 16)
The infirmary's ordinary income was supplied
by subscriptions. Extraordinary income came
from many gifts and legacies, including a bequest
of £10,000 stock from Martha Davies (d. 1871),
collections, and amercements assigned by courts.
Many parishes subscribed to provide treatment in
the infirmary for their poor. Chedworth in 1760
was the first, and by 1788 forty, including two
outside the county, were subscribing. Several
endowed charities and benefactions ensured treatment for the poor of certain places in the county. (fn. 17)
From its beginning the infirmary was faced
with abuse of its charity (fn. 18) and problems of overcrowding, rising costs, and insufficient ordinary
income. In 1784 the governors appointed a
committee to look into the state of the infirmary
and its finances and in 1785 a trust fund was set
up to augment ordinary income. (fn. 19) Part of the
principal was later used to meet continuing deficits. In 1796 another committee investigated the
finances and Sir George Paul, in a detailed analysis, observed that the root of the problems of
overcrowding and finance was the increasing
number of subscribers following the drop in real
value of subscriptions. (fn. 20) From that time the recommending privileges of subscribers were limited (fn. 21) but financial problems continued and in the
early 1840s invested funds were sold. (fn. 22)
In 1846 the governors elected a supervising
committee and limited membership of the weekly
board. (fn. 23) In 1866 a committee of investigation
recommended considerable changes to increase
the usefulness of the infirmary, which then had
118 beds, and improve its management, staffing,
and facilities. (fn. 24) In 1867 the management was
entrusted to a committee of governors which
chose the weekly board from its members. At the
same time the system of recommendation by
ticket was relaxed to allow free admission for
emergency cases. Subscribers' recommending
rights were increased, particularly in the out-patient department which had been underused. (fn. 25)
In the later 19th century the number of patients
recommended by subscribers dwindled and the
infirmary became more like a free hospital. (fn. 26) In
1878 the Gloucestershire Eye Institution amalgamated with the infirmary, (fn. 27) and Edward VII
granted the title of the Gloucestershire Royal
Infirmary and Eye Institution in 1909. (fn. 28) From
1922 all in-patients paid for their keep according
to means unless they were members of a contributory scheme. (fn. 29)
The first major enlargement of the infirmary
was a south wing to designs by Thomas Rickman
and Henry Hutchinson begun in 1825. It
contained 54 beds in three wards. (fn. 30) On the north
side a wing, built following a diversion of Parliament Street, opened in 1871. It was designed by
A. W. Maberly and contained an out-patient
department and two surgical wards. In 1885 it
was enlarged and another ward created in it. (fn. 31) A
nurses' home completed in 1904 (fn. 32) was enlarged
several times in the 1920s and 1930s. Following
the opening in 1932 of a detached block with
specialist departments and clinics and 16 beds for
paying patients the infirmary had 216 beds and 3
operating theatres. (fn. 33)
On the introduction of the National Health
Service in 1948 the infirmary was amalgamated
with Gloucester City General Hospital and from
1949 was known as the Gloucestershire Royal
Hospital. (fn. 34) In the early 1960s a new general
hospital for the Gloucester district was begun in
Great Western Road, and departments and clinics
were moved from lower Southgate Street as
buildings on the new site were completed. (fn. 35) The
wards in Southgate Street were closed in 1975 (fn. 36)
and only a few services remained there in the early
1980s. In 1984 the main part of the old infirmary
was demolished and the nurses' home was
disused.
Gloucester City General Hospital was formerly
the infirmary of the Gloucester poor-law union.
The infirmary behind the union workhouse was
demolished in 1850 to make way for the South
Wales railway (fn. 37) and replaced by a detached
building west of the workhouse, designed by the
firm of John Jacques & Son and completed in
1852. (fn. 38) In 1912 the guardians began a 149-bed
infirmary on a block system on the other side of
Great Western Road. (fn. 39) Patients were transferred
to the east block of the new building in 1914. The
British Red Cross Society took over the west
block for nursing war wounded in 1914 and the
east block in 1915. The guardians completed the
building after the war. (fn. 40) In 1930 the infirmary was
transferred to the corporation and became known
as Gloucester City General Hospital. (fn. 41) On the
introduction of the National Health Service it was
amalgamated with the Gloucestershire Royal
Infirmary. (fn. 42) Later the Great Western Road buildings and the adjoining land, which included a
maternity hospital and wooden huts erected in
1942 for treatment of war wounded, were chosen
for the new Gloucestershire Royal Hospital,
begun in the early 1960s. The first departments
were opened in 1964 and others in succeeding
years, including in 1975 the main feature of the
new hospital, a tower block of 11 storeys. (fn. 43) Older
buildings in the area, including the former Home
of Hope, (fn. 44) continued in use in 1981 when the
hospital had 618 beds, excluding those in the
maternity hospital. (fn. 45)
MATERNITY HOSPITALS.
In 1793 the
surgeon Charles Brandon Trye and the Revd.
Thomas Stock founded a lying-in charity for poor
women. From 1800 it was supported by subscriptions and from 1813 it was supervised by the
Revd. F. T. Bayley. (fn. 46) The charity provided the
services of two surgeons at St. John's National
school in Worcester Street in 1856 and at Christ
Church National school at the Spa in 1870, and
helped c. 100 patients a year in the mid 1880s. (fn. 47)
From 1894 the charity made payments to the
Gloucester District Nursing Society for its midwifery work. The society, a voluntary body founded in 1884 to provide trained nurses for the sick
poor in their own homes, became an important
provider of maternity and other services in and
around the city and trained nurses and midwives.
Its principal benefactor William Long (d. 1914)
left it £10,000. In 1917 the society opened a ward
with four beds for maternity cases in its premises
at the corner of Clarence and Russell Streets, and
in the following years extended its services, particularly after 1934 when it introduced a provident contributory scheme. (fn. 48) In 1927 Mary Fluck
founded a convalescent home in Longford for
women and children of the city and neighbourhood. (fn. 49)
From 1931 the Gloucester District Nursing
Society attended maternity cases at the City
General Hospital in Great Western Road. Also in
conjunction with the city corporation the society
ran an antenatal clinic begun in 1928, (fn. 50) provided a
domiciliary midwifery service under the Midwives Act of 1936, (fn. 51) and ran a maternity hospital
from 1940. That year the corporation requisitioned and fitted the Fluck convalescent home as a
temporary maternity hospital while it built
Gloucester Maternity Hospital, a single-storeyed
building which opened behind the City General
Hospital in 1943. (fn. 52) The society continued to run
the hospital and to provide services for the
corporation under the National Health Service. (fn. 53)
The corporation opened an antenatal and infant
welfare clinic in Great Western Road in 1962. (fn. 54) In
1966 as part of the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital
a new maternity hospital and midwives' home was
opened behind the older hospital, which became a
general practitioner maternity unit. (fn. 55) In 1981
the maternity hospital had 111 beds. (fn. 56) From 1963
the work of the Gloucester District Nursing
Society for the corporation was reduced and in
1971 the society's agency agreement for running
the maternity hospital was ended. (fn. 57) Under a
Scheme of 1974 the society provided help for the
sick poor of the city and adjoining parishes. (fn. 58) The
Fluck convalescent home was used by the corporation as a children's home in the mid 1940s. (fn. 59)
Under a Scheme of 1956 the endowments supported a fund, which helped poor convalescent
women and children (fn. 60) and in 1971 had an income
of £3,600. (fn. 61)
EYE HOSPITAL.
Over 80 cases of eye disease
were treated at the Gloucester Infirmary each year
by 1866 when W. H. Hyett of Painswick took the
lead in opening the Gloucestershire Eye Institution in Gloucester. (fn. 62) The eye hospital, which was
for the poor of the Gloucester and Stroud areas
and was supported by subscriptions and donations, was in a house in Clarence Street. At first
out-patients were treated there two days a week
and later four beds were provided for in-patients.
Admission was by recommendation, and treatment was free for the poor and for mechanics
contributing to provident schemes and their
dependants. The hospital, which in its first year
dealt with 425 cases, moved in 1867 to two houses
in Market Parade. (fn. 63) It closed on its amalgamation
with the Gloucester Infirmary in 1878. (fn. 64)
CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL.
In 1866 a free hospital for children of the poor was begun next to
St. Lucy's Home of Charity between Kingsholm
and Longford. The home, a converted villa east of
the Tewkesbury road, was occupied by the sisters
of St. Lucy, an Anglican community founded in
1864 by Thomas Gambier Parry of Highnam to
train nurses and tend the sick in their homes. By
1866 the sisters, who were sent to many parts of
the country, nursed some patients in the home. (fn. 65)
Gambier Parry also conceived the idea for the
children's hospital in connexion with the home
and paid much of the building costs. The hospital, a brick building designed by William Jacques, opened in 1867 with 22 beds. Children of
the poor from any distance were admitted and
out-patients were treated at a house in Bell Lane.
The hospital was supported by subscriptions and
donations. (fn. 66)
In 1872 the sisters of St. John the Baptist from
Clewer (Berks.) took over the work of the sisters
of St. Lucy. (fn. 67) In 1876 Gambier Parry moved the
home to a large house at the corner of Hare Lane
and Pitt Street. (fn. 68) The new home included a ward
for fee-paying incurables from 1885 (fn. 69) and adjoined
the hospitals out-patient department, which
occupied that building, known as College Gardens, from 1873 (fn. 70) to 1905, when a new dispensary
opened in the hospital's grounds. (fn. 71) In 1921 the
sisters gave up their work at the hospital and the
management committee made new arrangements,
introducing payments for patients' keep according
to means. Further changes in management came
in 1928 when the Clewer sisters resumed their
work, and from 1929 children sent by the
Gloucestershire Royal Infirmary were admitted.
The Clewer sisters were succeeded at the hospital
in 1939 by the nursing sisters of St. John the
Divine from Deptford (Kent). In 1941 accommodation was increased (fn. 72) but in 1947 the hospital was
closed and sold to the city corporation. (fn. 73) The
proceeds of the sale supported a fund for the relief
of sick children. In 1951 the charity of George
Peters, who by will proved 1909 had provided a
bed in the hospital, was added to the fund, (fn. 74)
which in 1971 had an income of £2,000. (fn. 75) The
hospital, which was used by the Gloucestershire
Royal Hospital as a nurses' home until the mid
1970s, was demolished in 1979. (fn. 76) St. Lucy's
Home was closed in 1933 following the
withdrawal of the Clewer sisters. (fn. 77)
DISPENSARIES.
The Gloucester Dispensary
and Vaccine Institution established in 1831 was
supported by subscriptions and donations. It
provided free advice and medicine to the poor
upon the recommendation of subscribers. (fn. 78) Doctors gave their services free of charge and an
apothecary was employed. He lived at the dispensary, which occupied a house within the shell of
the Greyfriars church. To reduce costs, in 1850
the dispensary was closed and a chemist in
Eastgate Street contracted to provide rooms and
supply medicines. The dispensing was at a chemist's shop in Southgate Street in 1853 and until
1857, when a medical officer was employed to
carry on the institution's work, (fn. 79) and by 1870 a
dispensary had been opened in Blackfriars. (fn. 80) In
1872 the Gloucester Dispensary was reorganized
as a provident society supported by members'
payments and voluntary contributions, and a
house in Longsmith Street was fitted as a dispensary. (fn. 81) In 1895 it was replaced by a house in
Barton Street provided by William Long (fn. 82)
(d. 1914), who left £3,000 for the society. A
new dispensary was opened behind the house in
1921 and enlarged in the late 1920s. On the
introduction of the National Health Service the
buildings were let to the corporation for a health
centre, (fn. 83) which included a dispensary and closed
in 1963, (fn. 84) and the endowments, including the
Barton Street premises, supported a fund for the
sick poor of the city. That charity, which in 1969
became known as the Gloucester Relief in
Sickness Fund, (fn. 85) had an income of £2,000 in
1971. (fn. 86)
The Gloucester Friendly Societies' Medical
Association was formed in 1887 to retain the
services of a doctor, (fn. 87) and from the early 1890s it
ran a dispensary at Ladybellegate House, then the
Foresters' hall, in Longsmith Street. (fn. 88) Following
the introduction of the National Health Service
the corporation purchased the house for a health
centre. The centre, which had a dispensary, was
transferred to Rikenel house in 1971. (fn. 89)
ISOLATION HOSPITALS.
In 1637 the city
corporation built a pest house outside the east
gate, (fn. 90) where land between the city wall and
Goose ditch was traditionally the place for accommodating the sick in times of plague, (fn. 91) and in 1638
there was also a pest house at St. Margaret's
Hospital, Wotton, for city plague victims. (fn. 92) In
1832 the board of health dealing with an outbreak
of cholera in Gloucester bought a house in Barton
Street and fitted it as a temporary hospital. (fn. 93) The
house was later that pair of dwellings known as
Gothic Cottages. (fn. 94)
In 1874, during an outbreak of smallpox, the
corporation purchased a wooden hospital from the
Cheltenham improvement commissioners and
erected it south of the Stroud road as an infectious
diseases hospital for 14 patients. (fn. 95) It was enlarged
several times and in 1888 was largely of brick. (fn. 96)
With the approach of cholera in 1885 the corporation, acting as port sanitary authority, erected
small wooden hospitals, each with five beds, by
the docks at Sharpness and Gloucester. (fn. 97) The
latter was moved in 1891 to make way for the
Monk Meadow dock. (fn. 98) During the smallpox epidemic of 1896 the corporation put up temporary
buildings next to it and the Stroud Road hospital, (fn. 99) and in Hucclecote leading residents
adapted a cottage as an isolation hospital. (fn. 100)
In 1897 the corporation began a new infectious
diseases hospital outside the city at Over. The
new hospital was not for smallpox and when it
opened in 1903 (fn. 101) the Stroud Road hospital was
closed and many of its buildings were transferred
to Field Farm near Longford as a smallpox
hospital. (fn. 102) During the smallpox epidemic of 1923
the corporation adapted buildings on the airfield
in Brockworth for the treatment of patients. (fn. 103) The
Longford hospital, which had 18 beds, (fn. 104) was enlarged in 1926, by the addition of buildings from the
Monk Meadow cholera hospital, and was closed in
1947. (fn. 105) The buildings were later removed. At the
Over hospital a pavilion for tuberculosis patients
was provided in 1915 by a joint committee of the
city and county councils. Further building had
taken place by 1981 (fn. 106) when the hospital had 95
beds, some for geriatric and pre-convalescent
cases. (fn. 107)
MENTAL HOSPITALS.
In 1793 the governors
of the Gloucester Infirmary opened a subscription
for building an independent lunatic asylum at
Gloucester. In 1794 the subscribers bought an inn
and two houses south of the infirmary as a site for
it and adopted a scheme of Sir George Paul
modelled principally on the York asylum. (fn. 108) The
asylum was to be supported by patients' payments, the patients divided into three classes, the
wealthy, the poor on parochial relief, and the poor
not on relief, and the classes and sexes segregated;
payments from the poor not on relief were to be
reduced in proportion to the growth of a special
fund derived from surplus payments by wealthy
patients, benefactions, and legacies. (fn. 109) In 1811 the
subscribers bought 8½ a. at Wotton for the building (fn. 110) and in 1813 sold the old site to the infirmary. (fn. 111)
In 1812 the subscribers, who lacked sufficient
funds, invited the county and city magistrates to
join in the project under an Act of 1808 to provide
accommodation for paupers on parochial relief.
Paul, who had played an important part in
securing the Act, opposed county involvement on
the ground that it would delay the building of the
Shire Hall, but the three parties agreed to a union
in 1813. The county was to pay eleven parts of the
building and maintenance costs, the city one, and
the subscribers eight. The county and city also
made a separate agreement between themselves. (fn. 112)
Building to a plan by William Stark of Edinburgh
(d. 1813), modified by John Wheeler, began in
1814. Completion was delayed mainly by the
financial problems of the subscribers, (fn. 113) and the
asylum was opened in 1823. (fn. 114) It was built of brick
and stucco and the central feature was a crescent
of three storeys with a principal east elevation.
North, south, and west wings of two storeys were
connected to the crescent by single-storeyed day
rooms. (fn. 115) The crescent contained accommodation
for 24 wealthy patients and their servants and the
wings for 60 paupers and 26 charity patients. (fn. 116)
There were detached wards for noisy and violent
patients. (fn. 117)
The asylum was governed by a committee of
county and city magistrates and subscribers. It
retained the main features of the subscribers'
scheme, including the charity to reduce payments
from poor patients not on parochial relief. (fn. 118) It was
beset with problems, particularly the need of the
county and city to house an increasing number of
poor and the subscribers' lack of funds. Surplus
payments from patients were small and were paid
into the general account of the asylum until 1829
when they were divided between the three parties.
Few charity patients were admitted and the
county and city filled the charity wards with
paupers. (fn. 119) In 1832 a fire damaged the building. (fn. 120)
Samuel Hitch, resident medical superintendent
1828–45, was the principal founder of the Royal
Medico-Psychological Association in 1841. He
severed his connexion with the asylum in 1847 to
open a private institution in Dowdeswell near
Cheltenham. (fn. 121)
From 1838, when the Wotton asylum had 20
wealthy, 3 charity, and 167 pauper patients, the
number of charity patients increased
considerably. In 1843 the figures were 18, 47, and
191 respectively. The subscribers had all surplus
payments from patients from 1842, and from 1843
each party maintained those parts of the asylum in
its sole use and shared the costs of those in
common use under a new agreement. The
number of charity patients declined after 1846
and by 1855 the number of pauper patients had
risen to 310. To meet the altered circumstances
the parties divided the property in 1847 and
agreed to a new union and division of costs. (fn. 122)
Because of overcrowding admissions were halted
several times in the early 1850s and patients sent
to other asylums. Large new wings for paupers
were opened in 1852 and 1855. In 1856 the union
between county, city, and subscribers was dissolved and the county and city, which bought the
subscribers' part of the asylum, converted the
building for the exclusive use of paupers. The
conversion, which included adding a third storey
to the original wings, was interrupted by a serious
fire in 1858. (fn. 123) From 1856 the county paid most of
the costs and the asylum became known as the
county asylum. (fn. 124)
In 1849 a chapel designed by the firm of
Fulljames and Waller was built in front of the
asylum. (fn. 125) It was replaced by a larger chapel,
opened in 1873, on the site of the asylum's burial
ground to the south. The new chapel, built of
brick and designed by James Medland, was a
single-cell building with south apse and east and
west porches. (fn. 126)
Despite additions in the late 1860s and early
1870s there was a shortage of room at the asylum, (fn. 127) and in 1878 the county bought an estate in
Barnwood, east of Coney Hill, for the site of a
new asylum. The new institution, designed on a
block system by the firm of John Giles and
Gough, (fn. 128) was built between 1880 and 1884. It was
governed by the county magistrates visiting the
first asylum and was under the same medical
superintendent. Surplus accommodation at the
second asylum was used for paupers from other
counties and until 1890 for private patients. In
1900 the asylums housed 1,059 patients. In the
early 20th century there was further building at
both, including a block opened at the second
asylum in 1909. (fn. 129)
At the introduction of the National Health
Service in 1948 the two county asylums became
known as Horton Road Hospital and Coney Hill
Hospital respectively. (fn. 130) During the 1950s more
buildings were provided for both hospitals,
including a house in Denmark Road opened as a
day hospital in 1958, (fn. 131) and in the 1970s a unit for
mentally handicapped patients was built at Coney
Hill. (fn. 132) In 1981 the two hospitals had over 900
beds. (fn. 133)
When the union was dissolved in 1856 the
subscribers to the Gloucester asylum were paid
£13,000 and they removed the wealthy and
charity patients. They supported nine of the latter
in a private asylum in Fairford. In 1858 the
subscribers, among whom W.H. Hyett was
prominent, bought Barnwood House in Barnwood village for an asylum. (fn. 134) The house, a small
early 19th-century villa of stuccoed brick with a
symmetrical garden front with segmental bays
rising the full three storeys and later east and west
wings, was converted to a plan by the firm of
Fulljames and Waller. Service buildings to the
west were pulled down, the wings, from which
the stucco was removed, were raised by the
addition of a third storey and extended symmetrically by ranges which ended in towers, and a
glass corridor was erected along the north side of
the ground floor. The asylum, which opened in
1860 and was known later as Barnwood House
Hospital, (fn. 135) was supported by voluntary contributions and patients' payments. The patients were
from the upper and middle classes, and the less
wealthy paid according to their means, some
receiving free treatment. (fn. 136) A bequest of £10,000
stock to the Gloucester asylum by Martha Davies
(d. 1871) was awarded by Chancery in 1872 to
Barnwood House and was used to buy land in
Barnwood. (fn. 137)
By 1864 the hospital, with 60 patients, was full.
To increase accommodation many alterations
were made and new buildings added in the later
19th and early 20th century. The central block,
the original house which was used for offices and
the medical superintendent's residence, was
rebuilt in brick in 1896 and 1897. In 1869 a chapel
designed by F. S. Waller was built in the grounds
south of the Wotton brook; after a rebuilding in
1887, when a south aisle and vestry were added,
the body had an apsidal and gabled east end, an
east flèche, and a north porch. From 1884 a few
patients were housed in a villa on the other side of
the main road, and the hospital ran a sanatorium
near Mitcheldean until 1919. Other houses in
Barnwood were used for patients in the early 20th
century and in 1938 a branch house opened in
Badgeworth. (fn. 138)
After the introduction of the National Health
Service in 1948 the hospital, which was left under
the control of the governors, had financial problems and from the mid 1950s the number of
patients fell. In 1968 the hospital was closed and
its work continued on a much smaller scale at the
Manor House to the east, which became a nursing
home for geriatric and psychiatric cases and in
1977 a day home for the elderly disabled, for
whom 18 bungalows were built in its grounds in
1981. In 1969 the hospital was sold and demolished, save for the central block which was converted
for domestic use, and the grounds south of the
brook were given to the corporation as a public
park. (fn. 139)