I came to post this and noticed someone else has just posted a report. My photos seem to be of different things though, so I thought I'd still post them.
All the electric there is still on, computer servers are whirring etc, it seemed like every light in the whole place was switched on, and we had a go on a computer running Windows 95.
We got asked to leave by two friendly security guards so we didn't get to explore the whole site.
History of the site from wikipedia:
The hospital, situated in the grounds of a Georgian mansion, Frenchay Park, started life as a TB hospital (Frenchay Park Sanatorium) in 1921, when Bristol Corporation acquired the land. In 1931, five purpose-built buildings were constructed to extend the hospital beyond the original house.
Concerns about the possibility of heavy bombing casualties led to the hospital being greatly expanded between 1938 and early 1942. Although Bristol was severely bombed, the new facilities remained unused.
When US forces arrived in 1942, the city handed the new hospital facilities over to the Americans, as a sort of reverse Lend-Lease. The initial units of the Medical Corps were the 2nd and 77th Evacuation Hospitals and the 152nd Station Hospital. Further expansion to the facilities including 27 wards, occurred in late 1942 and it was occupied by the 298th General Hospital. Initially, the Americans used the hospital mainly as training facility for their medical staff. After D-Day, however, the hospital was used in earnest, the processing of casualties becoming a very slick operation under the control of the 100th and then 117th General Hospitals. Casualties were flown into Filton or arrived by train from the channel ports. Between 5 August and 31 December 1944 a total of 4,954 patients were discharged from Frenchay.
Although the Frenchay Tuberculosis hospital operated as a separate unit throughout the war, the patients were transferred elsewhere in 1947.
After World War II, the Americans handed the hospital back to the Corporation. The National Health Service acquired the hospital in 1948.
Over the last 60 years or so, the hospital facilities have been slowly modernized, but many wartime buildings are still very much in evidence.
Here are some photos:
All the electric there is still on, computer servers are whirring etc, it seemed like every light in the whole place was switched on, and we had a go on a computer running Windows 95.
We got asked to leave by two friendly security guards so we didn't get to explore the whole site.
History of the site from wikipedia:
The hospital, situated in the grounds of a Georgian mansion, Frenchay Park, started life as a TB hospital (Frenchay Park Sanatorium) in 1921, when Bristol Corporation acquired the land. In 1931, five purpose-built buildings were constructed to extend the hospital beyond the original house.
Concerns about the possibility of heavy bombing casualties led to the hospital being greatly expanded between 1938 and early 1942. Although Bristol was severely bombed, the new facilities remained unused.
When US forces arrived in 1942, the city handed the new hospital facilities over to the Americans, as a sort of reverse Lend-Lease. The initial units of the Medical Corps were the 2nd and 77th Evacuation Hospitals and the 152nd Station Hospital. Further expansion to the facilities including 27 wards, occurred in late 1942 and it was occupied by the 298th General Hospital. Initially, the Americans used the hospital mainly as training facility for their medical staff. After D-Day, however, the hospital was used in earnest, the processing of casualties becoming a very slick operation under the control of the 100th and then 117th General Hospitals. Casualties were flown into Filton or arrived by train from the channel ports. Between 5 August and 31 December 1944 a total of 4,954 patients were discharged from Frenchay.
Although the Frenchay Tuberculosis hospital operated as a separate unit throughout the war, the patients were transferred elsewhere in 1947.
After World War II, the Americans handed the hospital back to the Corporation. The National Health Service acquired the hospital in 1948.
Over the last 60 years or so, the hospital facilities have been slowly modernized, but many wartime buildings are still very much in evidence.
Here are some photos: