Catalogue description BARROWMORE HOSPITAL

Barrowmore Hospital, 1920-1983

Application for permission to examine closed records must be made to the Chester Health Authority, via the City Archivist.

The records listed below were deposited in Chester City Record Office, on 12 January 1983, by the Chester Health Authority, via Mrs.U.Grantham, Unit Administrator, Barrowmore Hospital, Great Barrow, Chester.

Barrowmore Hospital was founded in 1920, when Barrowmore Hall was bought by the East Lancashire Joint Committee of the Order of St.John of Jerusalem and the British Red Cross Society. Barrowmore Hall, which was designed by the architect, John Douglas (1829-1911), was destroyed by a landmine, on 29 November 1940. New hospital buildings had been erected in 1934, and additions were made following the Second World War, and in the 1970's.

The hospital originally specialised in tuberculosis cases, and was associated with the nearby Barrowmore Industries. Patients recovering from tuberculosis would be housed in hostels and houses in the village settlement, and be employed by Barrowmore Industries in making items such as sheds. The number of tuberculosis patients eventually decreased, and Barrowmore Industries became an independent disablement settlement, providing sheltered employment for the handicapped.

The hospital was taken over by the National Health Service in 1948, and in later years confined its work to ear, nose and throat surgery, gynaecology and orthopaedics. In 1983, following the opening of a new General wing, on the West Cheshire Hospital site, Barrowmore Hospital was closed.