Historic Building Recording of Prudhoe Hospital
Addyman Archaeology, Simpson & Brown, 2017. https://doi.org/10.5284/1042739. How to cite using this DOI
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- ADS Collection: 2476
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1042739
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
A programme of building recording was undertaken at the site of Prudhoe Hospital, Prudhoe, Northumberland, in August 2016. The planning application comprised the demolition of non-listed buildings, erection of 392 dwellings, conversion of Prudhoe Hall and associated buildings, improvement works to the Walled Garden and associated access, landscape and infrastructure. The recording included Level 2/3 recording at Prudhoe Hall, a Grade II Listed Building (List Entry No. 1139221) along with the Gardeners Cottage, glasshouses and garden wall, also Grade II (List Entry No. 1376815). A photographic survey of all remaining Hospital buildings was undertaken.
Prudhoe Hall was constructed c1870 for the Liddell family and extended in 1889; the chapel was removed in 1904. The Liddell’s nephew sold the Hall in 1904 to Colonel Swan who extended the service yard buildings and commissioned improvements to the glasshouses. Colonel Swan owned the hall until his death in 1908; in 1914, it was acquired for use as the Prudhoe Colony for people with learning disabilities.
The site became a mental hospital in 1914. At this time patients and staff were accommodated mainly in Prudhoe Hall itself; some temporary wards and hospital buildings were constructed. A significant phase of construction took place in the 1920s and 30s, when the initial ‘colony’ model of curving lines of villa buildings was established according to plans by JH Morton and G. Burrell. In 1947 the Hospital fell under the auspices of the NHS, and in 1954 funds were allocated to expand the hospital, with construction taking place in the second major phase from 1956 to 1963. The site was closed c.2008.
The hospital buildings include residential structures in a villa-style and larger dormitory blocks, specialised clinical buildings, a recreation hall, kitchen and canteens, storehouses, artisanal and occupational-therapy workshops, nurses’ accommodation, a patients’ shopping centre and social club buildings. Of these, thirty building groups were identified, and a sample from each recorded internally. The use of setting and spatial organisation across the site is considered in the report produced as well as internal circulation patterns and alterations to them over time.
