Report - Louise Margaret Maternity Hospital, Aldershot - September 2019

[The Explorer Returns]

Is anybody able to share a recent update on the building? Is it still accessible? Many thanks :-)

There is a way in however it’s very hidden and it’s not ground level.

 

[derelictth92]

Is anybody able to share a recent update on the building? Is it still accessible? Many thanks :-)

There's a big hole in the building to walks through but it's alarmed

 

[Ant2011]

Is anybody able to share a recent update on the building? Is it still accessible? Many thanks :-)

It was accessible yesterday :-)
We spend several hours in the maternity building and the one next to it.

 

[Luke vaughan]

Wow t

Explored this after we had done the CMH, the building was much bigger than I thought and it seemed to go on forever, you can see where they are starting redevelopment as a lot of the floors have been and there are a lot of support struts and joists in place, but the majority of the building is still untouched. Again its hard to imagine it as a fully functioning hospital bustling with nurses, expectant mothers and babies being delivered, I find the decay beautiful and wasn't expecting the kitchen to still have pretty much everything left in it as I thought it would have been stripped like CMH.

Bit of history...

The Louise Margaret Hospital was opened in 1898 to cater for British Army soldiers' wives and children in the military town of Aldershot Garrison. It started with fifty-three beds and about half of its cases were maternity patients. In 1958 it became the Louise Margaret Maternity Hospital, and closed in 1995. The old hospital is part of a group of historic buildings with legal protection and, as of 2016, is expected to be used in a redevelopment project.

The Duchess of Connaught, formerly Princess Louise Margaret, laid the foundation stone for the hospital bearing her name on 1 March 1897, just as her husband, the Duke of Connaught, was taking over Aldershot Command. She declared the new building open on 25 July 1898 in a ceremony with a military band, guard of honour and a service with three clergymen. A bouquet of pink roses was presented by an officer's daughter before the Matron, Miss Hodgson, and the Commanding Officer, William Watson Pike, a doctor in the Royal Army Medical Corps showed her round.

The new yellow-brick building with slate roofs echoed the construction materials used by its larger neighbour, the Cambridge Military Hospital. It cost £12,600 to build and had sanitary blocks incorporated in Italianate corner towers towards the back. There were fifty-three beds arranged in eleven wards of different sizes, including wards named for Queen Victoria, the Duke of Connaught and Lord Lansdowne. The staircases had shallow steps, supposed to help nurses in long dresses run up and down. A fine tiled operating theatre was added in 1908 and officially opened by the Duchess in 1909. It had a new sort of brilliant light and Doulton basins and sinks fitted with the latest kind of mixing valves for hot and cold water with elbow-action and sprays. Within a couple of years the hospital was treating around 1000 cases annually: about half in its General Division and half in its Maternity Division which had twenty-five swing cots along with twenty-five beds.

As well as the Matron or Lady Superintendent there were fourteen nurses in 1908. All were qualified but seven of them were short-term appointees doing additional training in midwifery. The hospital was already an officially recognised midwifery training school preparing twenty nurses a year for the Central Midwives Board examination. By 1912 there were two weekly clinics: one for tooth extraction and one for special gynaecological outpatients.

Wow that's stunning and just natural decay 101!

 

[Rachyt]

Wow t

Wow that's stunning and just natural decay 101!

She’s a beauty isn’t she! Much prefer places like this to pristine locations

 

[Bikin Glynn]

Rather nice this - has it appeared on here before?

Yep lots of people have done it but most just call it CMH. Kudos for giving the right name though https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/cambridge-military-hospital-aldershot-sept-19.122576/

 

[Alalex88]

Is anybody able to share a recent update on the building? Is it still accessible? Many thanks :-)

Yes, I went yesterday for the first time. Took a while to find entry, but still possible. Want to do the main building soon!!

 

[LucasLawless]

Yes, I went yesterday for the first time. Took a while to find entry, but still possible. Want to do the main building soon!!

Thinking about going here soon. Anyone about on site or fairly stress free?

 

[Ant2011]

Thinking about going here soon. Anyone about on site or fairly stress free?

Depends which direction you approach from...
Lots of workers on 1 side.
No one on the other side.

 

[LucasLawless]

I may give it a go in a couple of days then but keep my eyes peeled too! Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Kitcars89]

Has any one been there recently

 

[derelictth92]

Has any one been there recently

Not really much point there in the middle of redevelopment

 

[mookster]

Not really much point there in the middle of redevelopment

It's still very much explorable, they haven't touched the maternity hospital yet and the progress converting the main building is going at a snails pace.

 

[derelictth92]

It's still very much explorable, they haven't touched the maternity hospital yet and the progress converting the main building is going at a snails pace.

I dunno there was photos all over the aldershot military groups on Facebook yesterday looks like they are getting through it

 

[Rachyt]

It's still very much explorable, they haven't touched the maternity hospital yet and the progress converting the main building is going at a snails pace.

They’ve removed quite a lot from the maternity hospital now, the red doors are gone and most rooms are being stripped right out, I’m glad they are finally starting work, one of my favourite places quite fancy popping back one last time lol