Winterton Hospital
Reference: H/Wi Catalogue Title: Winterton Hospital Area: Catalogue Category: Public Records Description: Administrative records
Covering Dates: 1855-1974
Access: Access is restricted under Data Protection legislation. Apply to County Archivist for access.
Catalogue Index
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- Winterton Hospital
- Winterton Hospital (Ref: H/Wi )
- Administrative Records (Ref: H/Wi )
- Committees (Ref: H/Wi )
- Committee of Visitors (later Hospital Management Committee) (Ref: H/Wi )
- Committee of Visitors/Hospital Management Committee, minute books (Ref: H/Wi 1-63, 419-444)
- Order books (Ref: H/Wi 100)
- Committee members (Ref: H/Wi 101, 388, 397, 403)
- Committee of Visitors/Hospital Management Committee report books (Ref: H/Wi 398-402)
- Indexes to minutes of the Committee of Visitors / Hospital Management Committee (Ref: H/Wi 404-417, 474-489)
- Finance and General Purposes Committee minute books (Ref: H/Wi 64-72)
- House Committee minute books (Ref: H/Wi 73-82)
- Farm and Stores Committee minute books (Ref: H/Wi 83-91)
- Works Committee minute books (Ref: H/Wi 92-93)
- Special Committees minute books (Ref: H/Wi 94-96)
- Discharge Committee/Sub-Committee minute books (Ref: H/Wi 97-98)
- Engagements Sub-Committee minute book (Ref: H/Wi 99)
- Agendas of, and reports to, the Hospital Management Committee and sub-committees (Ref: H/Wi 445-472)
- Contracts (Ref: H/Wi )
- Contracts books (Ref: H/Wi 102-104a)
- Contracts and Tenders (Ref: H/Wi 111-117)
- Financial records (Ref: H/Wi )
- Cash Books (Ref: H/Wi 105-107)
- Financial statements (Ref: H/Wi 108-109)
- Abstract of Accounts (Ref: H/Wi 473)
- Staff (Ref: H/Wi )
- Staff service registers (Ref: H/Wi 333-339)
- Indexes of nurses (Ref: H/Wi 374-375)
- Rules (Ref: H/Wi 110, 521-522)
- Agreements re patients (Ref: H/Wi 118-120)
- Miscellaneous (Ref: H/Wi 122, 490-494, 530-531)
- Day Books (Ref: H/Wi 495-508)
- Burial ground (mortuary chapel of St. Luke) (Ref: H/Wi 527-529)
Catalogue Description
Winterton Hospital - formerly County Lunatic AsylumThis hospital was established in 1858 by the county justices under the provisions of the 1808 and 1853 Pauper Lunatics Acts (48 Geo. III c. 96 and 16 & 17 Victoria c. 97) as a county asylum for pauper lunatics. In fact there had been an earlier proposal to build an asylum in 1827, but after consideration a committee decided it was not expedient at that time.
In 1855 the justices began negotiations to purchase a site near Sedgefield. As soon as the purchase of the first fifty-two acres was finally completed the county architect and surveyor, John Howison, drew up plans for approval, having much help and advice from Mr. Bridgeland of the Surrey Asylum. In October 1857 Howison reported that the walls of the main building, chapel and offices were complete, and were built on Fox and Barratt's fire-proof principle. The workshops were also partly complete. The site and grounds, including a farm, was eventually about 350 acres.
The first medical superintendent, Dr. Smith, was appointed in June 1857, at first on a temporary basis. Some county patients were transferred from Bensham Asylum, Gateshead, to temporary accommodation in Bath Lane. By January, 1858 Dr. Smith had received 131 patients, of whom 19 had been discharged. In April 1858, he requested that some patients should be moved to the new asylum as soon as possible as the Bath Lane Asylum was overflowing. They could help, he thought, in putting in seeds and preparing the grounds. Between twelve and twenty could be accommodated in the steward's house which was then complete, and more patients could be transferred when other rooms were ready. Building work continued during the summer, while patients were being moved in, and was complete by the autumn. By October 1859 there were 237 patients (131 male and 120 female); 72 of these had been admitted since June, including 44 from Newcastle. The committee reported 'The admission of so many patients at once has caused a difficulty as to the furniture and clothes which are in great measure made in the asylum and which therefore are not at present supplied sufficiently'. They said, however, that everything would soon be in order, and mentioned the purchase of cheap prints to decorate some wards, which already produced a more cheerful demeanour in the patients. The ground round the building had been levelled and would be 'neatly laid out'. (Quarter Sessions Order Book Q/S/OB/28 pp. 561, 589-591, 635, 867-868).
The initial buildings on the site were: main building (with male and female wards), administration building (including chapel, committee rooms, medical superintendent's office), workshops (shoemaking, sewing, tailoring), wash houses, yards and steward's house.
Further developments included:
Gas works, hospital entrance and lodge gates - August 1858
North-east lodge and emntrance gate - April 1875
Stable block - April 1875
Six staff cottages, yards and gates - November 1876
East and west entrance lodges - December 1877
Auxiliary main building (Winterton Block), built to ease overcrowding in the main building (including recreation hall) - 1878
High level water tower- May 1878
Lizards Farm purchased - March 1881
New men's wash-house - March 1881
Inquest room - June 1881
Hind's house at Lizards farm - September 1881
St. Luke's Chapel - June 1883
Observation Ward - September 1888
New bath and water closets - November 1888
Cemetery - November 1890
Cemetery chapel - May 1891
Laundry and wash-house - June 1892
Medical superintendent's house (The Gables), later staff welfare club - March 1893
New water closet block, female wards 10 and 13 - March 1895
New water closet block, female ward 8 and male ward 8 - March 1897
Engine and dynamo house - September 1897
New bakery - May 1899
Water closet block to male infirmary and male wards 10 and 13 - April 1900
Two cottage blocks - June 1901
General Stores and office block - November 1901
Infectious diseases hospital - March 1904
Two cottage blocks - August 1904
Boiler house chimney - December 1904
Nurses' Home - 1906
Doctors' Quarters - 1932
Admission (or Reception) Hospital - 1932
Committee room and mess rooms (later administration building) - 1934
Temporary Emergency Hospital - 1939-1945
Nurse Training School - 1964
Day and Treatment Unit - c.1965
In 1948 the hospital came under the management of the National Health Service instead of the County Council.
The records, both administrative, committee minutes and medical case records, are a well-kept and complete series. Unfortunately the early signed minutes of the committee (c.1857 - 1883) are now missing. Some of the case books were damaged by flooding, but most are in reasonable condition.
Before the closure of the hospital in 1996 a decision was made by the NHS to destroy all the case notes for patients in the hospital in 1946 and later years, apart from a 2% sample. Consequently, although the Record Office holds a virtually complete set of case papers for patients who died or were discharged up to 1945, for those who died or were discharged from 1946 there is only a very limited likelihood that their records (and this includes any records of their time in the hospital up to 1945) have been retained.
ACCESS TO WINTERTON RECORDS
All Winterton records are now open to public inspection after 85 years, and the relevant date for our restrictions is the latest date in any document.
Medical records (case books and files, post-mortem books etc.) within the 85-year closure period can be accessed using the Record Office's Research Service, but information from them can only be released if the enquirer can provide evidence (birth, marriage and death certificates) of their direct relationship to the patient, and evidence of the patient's death. We need to obtain permission from the NHS Trust before finally releasing any information and a charge (in addition to the Research Service fee) is made to cover the NHS administrative costs (payable to the County Council on behalf of the NHS).
Information from non-medical records (admission registers, burial register, etc.) within the 85-year closure period can be made available using the Research Service (and without NHS permission). However, the enquirer needs to provide the evidence as above, and it may be necessary to redact other information which appears in a document, as we are unable to be sure of the status of any other people named.
The burial ground plan (H/Wi 528) is open but only shows initials and dates.
Catalogue Contents
see also CC/X 87/11 92/21 100/13,19,21 101/6 102/2 103 104 105 107
Committees (Ref: H/Wi )Committee of Visitors (later Hospital Management Committee) (Ref: H/Wi )earlier visitors reports may be found found in the Quarter Sessions Order Books (Q/S/OB)
Committee of Visitors/Hospital Management Committee, minute books (Ref: H/Wi 1-63, 419-444)Ref: H/Wi 1Farm, Stores and Works Committee from 11 July 1908
Farm and Stores Committee from 14 May 1929
Farm and Stores Sub-Committee from 14 April 1931
Works, Farm and Stores Sub-Committee from 11 June 1935
Works Sub-Committee from 14 April 1931
Ref: H/Wi 92Committees specially appointed to consider a specific question, such as the death of poisoning of a patient, electric light, duties of a business officer etc.
Ref: H/Wi 94Enrollments of copies of contracts and orders, including purchase of site, contracts for works etc.
Ref: H/Wi 102Winterton Hospital burial ground is located on Salters Lane (the B1278 heading north to Fishburn) approximately one mile north of the centre of Sedgefield, at NGR NZ357304; the nearest post code is TS21 3DZ. It is on the east side of the road (right-hand side heading towards Fishburn), and the parking is limited to a lay-by at the entrance gate (only one car). Access is through a pedestrian gate, and the site appears to be well-maintained, although the hospital was closed in 1996.
The chapel has been demolished and the driveway which circled the site is no longer visible. Only 23 identifiable headstones remain and these are in various positions across the site. Other stones are laid face down.
Locating an unmarked grave is difficult as there are few identifying features, but it should be possible to estimate an approximate position by using the register of interments and the ground plan, both held in the Record Office. The register of interments at the burial ground (H/Wi 527) lists all burials from 2 November 1891 (the first in the burial ground) to 2 August 1962, although burial continued after this date. It gives the admission number, patient's name, date of burial, number of grave and the name of the relative to whom notice of death was sent. The number of the grave is a combination of letters (running from A to Z and AA to LL) and numbers (running from 1 to 86). These details provide a grid which enables the grave to be identified on the ground plan (H/Wi 528). The letters run from west to east, and the numbers from south to north. The plan only identifies the site of burials by initials, patient number and date of burial, or in the case of staff, by initials and date of burial. There are usually two or even three graves in a single plot.
The register of interments has been indexed by the Record Office, but as it includes individuals who died within the last 85 years it is not available for public inspection. However it is possible to use the Record Office Research Service to supply information from within the last 85 years if copies of the appropriate birth/marriage/death certificates can be provided linking an enquirer to the deceased patient. For older entries, certificates are not required, and if all you require is a copy of the relevant page from the burial register, this can be supplied using our Quick Search service.
A watermarked copy of the ground plan (H/Wi 528) can be provided to enable a general overview of the site, and the locations of the 23 remaining gravestones have been identified on this plan to assist in orientation.
The Find a Grave website (https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2549390/winterton-hospital-cemetery) has photographs of 26 headstones, three of which can no longer be found. The photographs show headstones in a better state of repair than at present (2018), and there is also a photograph showing the chapel (dated 2014).