Freedom Fields Hospital was an acute hospital in Plymouth that closed in 1998. The site formerly occupied by the hospital has now been largely redeveloped for residential use.
| Freedom Fields Hospital | |
|---|---|
 Freedom Fields Hospital | |
  Shown in Devon | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Plymouth, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 50°22′43″N 4°07′44″W / 50.3785°N 4.1289°W |
| Organisation | |
| Care system | Public NHS |
| Type | General |
| History | |
| Opened | 1858 |
| Closed | 1998 |
| Links | |
| Lists | Hospitals in the United Kingdom |
History
editThe facility was designed by Arthur and Dwelly as a workhouse and built on a site to the east of the junction of Longfield Place and Greenbank Road between 1852 and 1858.[1] Enlargements included a major expansion of the medical facilities between 1907 and 1910.[1] It became the Greenbank Infirmary in 1909 and the Plymouth City Hospital in 1930.[1]
The building was bombed several times in attacks on the areas surrounding Plymouth Sound during the Second World War. One young girl was killed in a ward block on the night of 13 January 1941 and, shortly after a new maternity block had been opened by Lord Astor, four nurses, nineteen babies and one mother were killed in that block on the night of 20 March 1941.[2] After it joined the National Health Service in 1948, it was renamed Freedom Fields Hospital.[1]
Renal services transferred to the new Derriford Hospital in 1982, maternity services transferred there in 1994 and the remaining services transferred in February 1998.[2] The site has now been largely redeveloped for residential use.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "Plymouth". Workhouses. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
- ^ a b Moseley, Brian (4 April 2011). "Freedom Fields Hospital". The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History. Archived from the original on 5 July 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2015.