“The History of Nottingham's City Hospital"
January 2002 Meeting Report
Guest Speaker - Paul Swift
Mr Swift has been instrumental in assembling the City Hospital's not inconsiderable archives. He has been involved in the work for over six years, and apparently the job is a real labour of love for him.
The Hospital's origins are closely intertwined with the history of the workhouse in Nottingham. The story begins with an Enclosure Act of 1792 which saw the Vicar of Basford given 131 acres of land at Bagthorpe in lieu of tithes, land which is now largely the site of the current hospital. Since the implementation of the Poor Law, a variety of Workhouses had been used in Nottingham. By the early 1890s a number of smaller workhouses had been amalgamated into The Union Workhouse on York Street in Nottingham. But with the arrival of the Great Central Railway in Nottingham (or as it was then, the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincoln Railway) things changed dramatically. The workhouse on York Street was demolished to make way for the new Victoria Station. Along with the workhouse, 130 houses and 20 pubs were also demolished. (it will be noted how well-served local inhabitants had been in regard to alcohol - one pub to every six or seven houses is a mindboggling ratio.) Thus, in 1894 the old Union Workhouse disappeared from York Street, along with the street itself.
In January 1884, the Vicar of Basford had sold his land at Bagthorpe to Nottingham Corporation for £25,475. That land was earmarked for the new workhouse. On 17 April 1899 work started on building the new workhouse to a design of Arthur Marshall. The new building was officially opened on 18 March, 1903. Thus was the Nottingham City Hospital born.