It’s with great interest and thanks to the dedicated folks over at the Midlands Heritage Forum, that I can now highlight new information being collated about St. Matthews Hospital. Forum stalwarts YamahaPaul and TonyB appear to have done a great deal of work pulling fragments together, and more and more information is now being unearthed about the former County Asylum. This large facility, which used to be such a big feature feature of Burtnwood life, has, of course, been featured here on the blog before, where my tentative enquiries were met with a very warm response indeed from readers.
There’s a thread on the forum starting in May, 2010. over the course of three pages and not far short of two years it develops until we reach the point where user TonyB has worked with author David Budden and a former member of staff to assemble a huge picasa photo gallery of images of all aspects of life at this often untalked about hospital. This is a remarkable thing, for which I thank all involved profusely.
Please visit and joint the forum, and if you’re so inclined, purchase a copy of David Budden’s book on Amazon. It’s a steal at £6 – and like all local history books, when it’s gone, it’s gone.
The images blow are featured from the Tony Briggs Picasa Gallery. Visit it directly here.
eRemarkable aerial phot of the hospital. The chapel is to the top right, and north would be pointing approximately to bottom left. From the Tony Briggs St. Matthews Hospital Picasa gallery, posted on the excellent Midlands Heritage Forum.
It’s hard to visualise now, but this was a huge site full of imposing architecture. From the Tony Briggs St. Matthews Hospital Picasa gallery, posted on the excellent Midlands Heritage Forum.
Most Victorian asylums had a gathering hall, for functions, dances and performances as a central feature. St. Matthews was no exception. It looked like a beautifully well designed one. From the Tony Briggs St. Matthews Hospital Picasa gallery, posted on the excellent Midlands Heritage Forum.
In corrupted, almost architecturally sanitised form, only this part, the central administration block, and the chapel survive. From the Tony Briggs St. Matthews Hospital Picasa gallery, posted on the excellent Midlands Heritage Forum.
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Great article and incredible pictures. I grew up on St Matthews avenue in the 90s so I remember walking around the hospital after it was closed down. There was something a little heartbreaking about watching it slowly shrink down into rubble and a building site. There was an incredible and almost beautiful sense of isolation when it was first closed, being up on the hill, looking out over the fields. The area will always be special to me. Thank you for the information.