Redundant Kirkby Hospital is for Sale
When going through the archives of Notts Free Press held at Sutton Library recently, I stumbled across an article from 1950 entitled “Redundant Kirkby Hospital is for Sale”. This referred to a Smallpox Hospital on Doles Lane and a report about it to Kirkby Urban District Council. Apparently, the Notts County Welfare Committee had decided not to pursue their interest in it. Ashfield Regional Hospital Board, who I assume were trying to sell the hospital, asked the Council if they had any use for the property before it was placed on the open market. The Council’s Clerk, Mr F Bowmar, stated that he had advised the board that the Council’s offer held good. But, the article did not say what that offer was.
I was intrigued by this hospital which I had not come across before so I decided to look into it a bit more. I have done this through the newspaper archive on Find My Past and through posts on Kirkby Living Memory Facebook Group.
Location
From a 1939 map, the hospital was also known as the Isolation Hospital. It was located at the far end of Doles Lane about a mile outside Kirkby, close to The Dumbles. It appears to have consisted of two rectangular buildings and two other smaller buildings.
A Rented Cottage
The first reference I have found to this hospital was in June 1902 in an editorial piece on a conference to discuss the need for district hospitals throughout Nottinghamshire “in case of possible invasion of smallpox“. It noted that Kirkby had recently rented a cottage as a Smallpox Hospital. It had been rented for a year. However, the editorial expressed concern that neither it nor the Smallpox Hospital in Sutton or the Mansfield Borough Hospital were suitable for expansion into a permanent hospital.
What Was/Were the Building(s) Like?
This initial cottage building was described as built of stone with two rooms each 12 feet by 10. The building came with two acres of land which was said to be suitable for pitching tents or erecting temporary buildings.
It does seem that additional buildings were put there at some point. In a comment on a post on Kirkby Living Memory Facebook Group, Glynn Scothern commented that the building had been an old Nissan hut. As early as April 1903, the Hospital Subcommittee of Kirkby Urban District Council were looking into the cost of a 12-bedded hospital in case of a smallpox outbreak. It is not clear if they did purchase such a unit. However, they did arrange for a good road to be made to the hospital. A later article commented “this will be very nice for pedestrians to take their walks down to the “Dumbles” and will not be inconvenient for farmers whose land lies this way. The smallpox scare has done them a good turn at the public expense, but of course that is not their fault“.
In July 1923, Kirkby Urban District Council commissioned builder, W J Bains, to construct a temporary wooden structure to accommodate nursing staff. In January 1950, at the time the Hospital Board wanted to sell the hospital, Kirkby Urban District Council asked their surveyor, W B Bostock, to look at the buildings which he did. He noted that there were three wooden buildings that were in relatively good condition.
Was the Hospital Used?
In a discussion on Kirkby Living Memory Facebook Group, the view was expressed that the hospital had not been used and there had been no cases of smallpox after 1906 as the vaccine was available. However, others recalled being told that people had been admitted there, including as late as the 1920s.
Used for Smallpox Outbreaks
While it may be true that the hospital was not in regular use, it does seem that it was used when there were outbreaks of smallpox.
1903
Shoulder of Mutton Case
On 5 June 1903, it was reported that a patient had been diagnosed with smallpox at the Shoulder of Mutton and they had been admitted to the Isolation Hospital. It was hoped that it was an isolated “contact” case. Residents were being urged to keep their dwellings and surroundings in good sanitary conditions.
No More Cases?
As of 12 June 1903, the patient was still at the Isolation Hospital. It appeared that the person had contracted the disease in Newstead where there was an outbreak. There were said to be no other cases at that time. A child from Newstead had taken ill while taking part in the Whit festivities in Kirkby. However, the doctor suspected smallpox so advised that the child be taken home from where they were admitted to Basford Isolation Hospital.
Another Case
However, in spite of the hope that this was an isolated case, a second case of smallpox had been admitted to the Isolation Hospital by 19 June 1903. Again, there was a Newstead connection. The child lived there and had been brought to Kirkby to try to avoid the disease.
Payments to Quarantine
By July 1903, it appears there were more cases as the Council decided that each household quarantined as smallpox suspects should be paid £1 per week. At the same meeting, the Council decided to inform a Mr C Wright, in response to his letter, that the site of the hospital appears to the Committee to be the most isolated in the district. The report does not give the contents of Mr Wright’s letter but perhaps he was concerned about the proximity of the Isolation Hospital to others.
Epidemic Stamped Out?
At the end of July 1903, it was reported that the epidemic of smallpox had been stamped out and all patients discharged from the Isolation Hospital. A similar article was printed in August 1903. This article noted that the new hospital was now complete and was ready for any emergency. Presumably, this means that the hospital had been extended beyond the confines of the original stone cottage.
1904
In May 1904, it was reported that another case of smallpox had been diagnosed and admitted to the Isolation Hospital. They were said to have been a contact of an earlier case.
1923
Smallpox Cases
According to a news article in June 1923, six cases of smallpox had been diagnosed in Kirkby and admitted to the Isolation Hospital. The following month, in July 1923, there was a news report of a 12-year old Kirkby boy who developed smallpox while on holiday with his parents in Scarborough. They stayed three more days on holiday and only sought medical advice on return where the boy was ordered to the isolation hospital.
Limited Vaccination Uptake
This incident perhaps illustrates one reason why smallpox outbreaks continued to occur in the 20th century even though vaccination had been available since the 18th and 19th century. People were reluctant to seek treatment for smallpox for fear of having to isolate. Despite vaccines being available, vaccination rates were very low. According to this article, at this time, there were 39 cases of smallpox in East Kirkby. Only 700 people had been vaccinated and this was only about 3% of the population.
Emergency Measures
Perhaps unsurprisingly therefore, that same month, in July 1923, the Council adopted emergency measures to deal with the outbreak. These included establishing an Emergency Committee, the engagement of two trained nurses at the isolation hospital, acceptance of a tender from W J Bains to construct a temporary wooden structure near the hospital to accommodate nursing staff and authorising the Medical Officer to hire an assistant.
More Cases
Despite these measures, in August 1923, a further case of smallpox was admitted to the Isolation Hospital. In October 1923, there was a case in an unvaccinated miner who lived in Mansfield but worked in Kirkby. He was admitted to the Isolation Hospital in Nottingham. Following this, plans were made to close the Isolation Hospital as cases subsided. But, a fresh outbreak occurred in December 1923 with 13 new cases.
Concealment of Cases
In January 1924, Kirkby Urban District Council discussed the outbreak. The main focus was on people who sought to conceal smallpox cases to avoid isolation thus undermining control efforts. At that time, 24 people were in hospital and there had been 113 cases in total.
Other Uses
While the main use for the hospital does appear to have been to isolate cases of smallpox, in December 1903, there was an outbreak of typhoid fever in East Kirkby. A mother and her six children were admitted to the Isolation Hospital in a critical condition.
Use During World War 1
I have not come across any direct evidence that the hospital was used to any extent during the first world war. I did come across a news article from October 1915 which stated that no progress had been made regarding isolation hospitals with the exception of the Forest Hospital in Mansfield. There had been little military demand for use of these hospitals for a number of reasons. First, military personnel received anti-enteric inoculation. Second, many cases of infectious diseases, e.g. scarlet fever and measles, were handled in military camps and facilities. More serious cases, such as meningitis, were treated at the City Isolation Hospital in Bagthorpe. With regards to measles, “the existing isolation hospitals were quite unable to assist in isolating that disease in any degree, and all the cases were isolated by the military authorities.”
Was the Hospital Inadequate?
Originally, the Council rented the cottage which became the Isolation Hospital as a temporary measure. Additional buildings may have been added to deal with short-term pressures caused by outbreaks but it was known form the outset that the building and site were unlikely to be suitable for an expanded, long-term hospital.
In November 1914, Kirkby Urban District Council considered letters from the Local Government Board and Nottinghamshire County Council concerning steps the local Council might take to provide further hospital accommodation in cases of infectious diseases. The Council’s response was that they were “prepared to make additional accommodation if occasion arises”.
While it might seem from this response that the Council were content with the hospital provision that they had related to infectious diseases, they were looking at expanded provision albeit in cooperation with other authorities. In September 1919, Kirkby Urban District Council agreed to approach Councils in Skegby and Sutton about possibly having a new hospital for the three districts.
In October 1920, representatives of Kirkby Urban District Council met with representatives of four other Councils, Mansfield Woodhouse, Sutton, Hucknall and Warsop, to discuss whether the Isolation Hospital at Clipstone might serve the isolation needs of those districts. However, when Mr Gascoigne reported back to the Council, he did not recommend the scheme because of concerns over the likely cost, the distance from Kirkby, the relatively short life span of the buildings and concerns about taking down and reassembling the building. A later report to Mansfield Woodhouse Council noted that the scheme was “hung up” because both Kirkby and Warsop Councils had withdrawn.
Plans to Establish a Larger Infectious Diseases Hospital for Nottinghamshire
In the 1930s, there was a shift away from small, local hospitals towards larger hospitals able to provide services to a wider geographic area. As part of this, in August 1935, Nottinghamshire County Council proposed a comprehensive scheme to provide enough hospital accommodation for infectious diseases throughout the county. This involved establishing a committee for infectious diseases, apart from smallpox, with representatives from districts without adequate hospital provision for infectious diseases. These districts included Kirkby. The plan was to establish a new hospital with at least 175 beds near Farnsfield. It would be able to treat and manage all infectious diseases apart from smallpox. The cost of the new hospital was expected to be £135,000. Districts were expected to cover this and ongoing maintenance costs.
As of April 1938, the plan was still active. Districts, including Kirkby, were said to be interested and a site had been identified. However, I am not sure if such a hospital was ever built.
Redundant
Regardless, by 1950, the Isolation Hospital in Kirkby was considered redundant and the Health Board needed to decide what to do with it. In January 1950, their surveyor, W B Bostock, submitted a report to Kirkby Urban District Council. As noted above, this stated that the three wooden buildings which constituted the hospital were in good condition. It also suggested that these could be used for other purposes, such as stores and sports pavilions. The Council therefore wrote to Sheffield Regional Health Board saying they were prepared to take over and move the buildings. This presumably is the offer the Council made to the Board.
However, in February 1950, Nottinghamshire County Council put forward a proposal to use the buildings to house homeless families. But, in May 1950, they withdrew this proposal.
I am not entirely sure what happened to these buildings but, according to a comment on Kirkby Living Memory Facebook Group, the cubs used to camp at the closed hospital in the 1950s. The area is now used for residential purposes and apparently has been since the 1950s/60s. Based on some comments on Facebook, the remnants of the hospital building/derelict buildings were still visible on the site in the fifties and sixties.
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