| The Walsall General (Sister Dora) Hospital was built
in 1878 as a replacement for the Cottage Hospital which
closed in 1875. While the hospital was being built a
temporary hospital was set up in Bridgeman Street, in a
building owned by the London & North Western Railway.
The new hospital was originally called the New Cottage
Hospital. In 1894 it became the Walsall & District
(Sister Dora) Hospital as a tribute to Walsall's famous,
dedicated nurse, Dorothy Wyndlow Pattison who was known
as Sister Dora. She should have officially opened the
New Cottage Hospital in November 1878, but sadly she was
suffering from breast cancer. She died from her cancer on
December 24th 1878. The hospital originally had 7 wards
with 42 beds, and cost over £5,000 to build.
It later became Walsall General (Sister Dora)
Hospital and was greatly extended. A new Consulting
Department was added in 1929, and in 1930 new operating
theatres, orthopaedic departments, and an X-Ray
department were added.
The hospital was refurbished in the 1960s . |
| |
The main entrance to the Accident
and Emergency Department. Courtesy of Tony Highfield. |
 |
The view from the consultants
car park, looking towards the entrance.
Courtesy of Tony Highfield. |
| The entrance to the
consultants car park. The nurses home is on the right.
Courtesy of Tony Highfield. |
 |
 |
On the left is the Mortuary,
and on the right, in the distance, is the entrance to
the Dispensary, the X-Ray Department, and the Department
of Pathology. Courtesy of
Tony Highfield. |
| A side view of the hospital
from Wednesbury Road.
Courtesy of Tony Highfield. |
 |
| The view from the main
entrance to the car park. In the background is the
Mortuary, on the right Physiotherapy, and on the left
the Outpatients Department, and the entrance to the
boiler room. Courtesy of
Tony Highfield. |
 |
 |
The side entrance to the
Accident and Emergency Department.
Courtesy of Tony Highfield. |
| |
On the left is the nurses home, on
the right is the consultants car park. Courtesy of Tony
Highfield. |
 |
In the foreground are the old
wards. In the distance is St. Mary's The Mount Parish
Hall, and Glebe Street.
Courtesy of Tony Highfield. |
| A view from the roof of the
wards, looking towards Pleck and James Bridge. The small
building on the roof was an air raid warning station in
World War 2. The modern building in the background on
the left is Glebe House, which is still there today.
Courtesy of Tony Highfield. |
 |
 |
The view from the rear
entrance with the old wards on the left, and the bicycle
sheds on the right.
Courtesy of Tony Highfield.
The hospital closed in 1989 after the Walsall
Hospital Management Committee decided to centralise
health care at the Manor Hospital.
It had been hoped to save the buildings, for use as a
hospital for the care of mental health patients.
Unfortunately it was decided that the buildings were unsuitable,
and so they were demolished in 1995. |
 |
Return to
the
previous page |
|
