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Barnes
Hospital, also known as Barnes Convalescent Home, is located in
Cheadle, Greater Manchester.
It sits next to the
A34 in the middle
of a complex set of roundabouts forming the interchange between the A34,
M60 and
M56 motorways.
Originally it was built in a completely rural setting during the Victorian
era but the march of time now means it is surrounded by roads and housing
estates - sadly prime chav country.
The whole site is on green belt land and the main building,
constructed of red brick and dark, ornamental brick in a most attractive
fashion, is
Grade II listed.
It ceased to operate as a hospital back in 1999 and
was sold to a property developer in 2001. It appears to me that they are
letting it
rot despite originally declaring their intention to convert the main
building into 42
 luxury
flats over a period of 72 weeks!!! Now excuse my cynicism here
but some 440 weeks later at the time of writing this
webpage they haven't started a single flat, let alone finished any. I
suspect then that they are hoping instead to bypass the Grade II listing
by virtue of allowing it to collapse, effectively leaving nothing but a
plot of land and rubble - and lets face it, that's far more convenient for
throwing up little boxes in order to make a fast buck.
Like many hospitals
Barnes was pressed into military service during WW2, as a convalescent
home. And yet oddly enough I have found no mention of it being used in the
same way during the Great War. I must say that I am rather surprised
because the casualty rate then was many orders of magnitude worse and as a
result all manner of buildings, even places like town halls etc. - an
example is the former Haslingden Public Hall in Rossendale, Lancashire -
were used as hospitals in one form or another. Barnes was also used as
temporary housing for a large group of Kosovan refugees during the Balkan
troubles.
Most Haunted filmed
there at some point and have doubtless scared millions of impressionable
suckers with their rather dubious paranormal phenomena! Hey, Mr. Acorah,
have you been chatting to your dead mate Kreed Kafer lately?
As if the years of
uninterrupted chavery are not enough the site was also occupied by "gypsys"
for a while in February 2007 - I'd personally use a rather different noun
when discussing these people, one which tends to remind one of a large,
fresh water predatory fish - so the destruction and dereliction of this
building is in a very advanced state.
Now here's a little
more background information I have gleaned from a certain famous on line
encyclopaedia...
A donation of £26,000 for the founding of a new
convalescent hospital in Cheadle was made
in 1869 by Robert Barnes. Construction of the hospital, named the Barnes
Convalescent Home, started in 1871 and was completed in 1875. It was
constructed of bricks, the clay for which was provided locally.
Broken remains of three stone
high crosses were discovered in 1874
during the construction of the hospital. The location of only one of these
is known today; this consists of a
crosshead of
Celtic cross form with a central
boss, and dates from the late 10th or
11th century. It is now located in
St Mary's Church, Cheadle. The other two
pieces are said to be part of a much older cross, and the upper part of an
Anglo-Saxon cross shaft.
The main use for the hospital in its later life
was for
geriatric care and
stroke patients. |
