Hollow Meadows - Does it still exist?

[zippy]

Originally posted by Ousetunes

I share your sentiments PT.

 

Whilst there's no doubt that the housing development is a nice (and indeed costly) one, I still wish it was the hospital, I think more out of nostalgia than anything else.

 

It obviously served its purpose and had superb facilities (I'd forgotten about the swimming pool). It was, to all intents and purposes a flagship hospital.

 

 

people forget that Stoke Mandeville, Hexham , Pinderfields and most of the othr SIUS are 'on site' at General hospitals of various sizes. LMH as a site is remote from the other hospitals ain Sheffield and there was a huge over provision of hospital beds in Sheffield

 

I was and remain puzzled into why the place was closed down. No doubt the words 'cut backs', 'budgets' and 'rationalising' will come to the surface.

 

 

how about safe and approrpaite clinical care on a site with 24 hour major speciality medical cover ,anaesthetics and theatres , as well as ITU, imaging , labs etc.

 

you could not provide this at LMH, king teds etc

 

this is why LMH etc was closed and moved to a state of the art facility on site at the NGH

 

this is why other specialist hospitals such as Killingbeck (Leeds ) were closed and their services transferred to specific provision on site at main hospitals (LGI in the case of Killingbeck)

[Plain Talker]

Originally posted by zippy

how about safe and approrpaite clinical care on a site with 24 hour major speciality medical cover ,anaesthetics and theatres , as well as ITU, imaging , labs etc.

 

you could not provide this at LMH, king teds etc

 

this is why LMH etc was closed and moved to a state of the art facility on site at the NGH

 

this is why other specialist hospitals such as Killingbeck (Leeds ) were closed and their services transferred to specific provision on site at main hospitals (LGI in the case of Killingbeck)

 

I would disagree mildly with your assertions, Zippy. The LMH hd an excellent surgical unit, and also had speciality units such as the spinal injuries/ spinal conditions side. There was nothing wrong with the hospital, that it should have been closed down. it was a nice, level site, the grounds were landscaped in a pleasant way, and the views across the moors were absolutely astonishing.

 

There was a wonderful wheelchair sports club (Now based at the new unit at NGH) and a brilliant wheelchair gymnasium, which had god-all knows how much spent on it from specific fundraising, to give the facilities... the new spinal unit was built at the NGH, admittedly it is a lovely unit, bit, it hasn't the soul that LMH had, and the surroundings are nowhere near as lovely as LMH, too. As for the terrain, ther, it's horrid and hillyin the grounds of NGH, especially from the Barnsley Eoad entrance, it's nigh on vertical ( ) not exactly welcoming to a person with a spinal injury who may very likely have to resort to using a wheelchair, IMO.

 

PT

[Jan39]

Originally posted by Longcol

Some really interesting stuff.

 

I've heard (can't remember when) that Hollow Meadows hospital was once used for people suffering from TB - the theory being that the best cure was plenty of fresh air. More likely they'd get pnumonia up there IMHO.

 

 

Yes I was told it was last used as an isolation hospital

[bellamy]

 

Hi

 

I know the new development of houses at the site of the Hollow Meadows hospital well. It was completed in 1985. One of the houses there is called The Cottage and it was there before the hospital was developed in the early 19th century.

 

bellamy

[Stoner]

Hollow Meadows was a hospital, part of the then Trent Regional Hospital Group it was closed and finally sold off for private housing.

you can drive past the development which is on the right hand side as as you travel along through the Rivelin Valley on theA57

At the back of the site is a private woodland that you can still walk through

I remember a a youngster walking through the wood and looking into the hospital which specalised in fitting artifical limbs

from the woods you could see into a room which contained a huge stock of spare limbs which was very spooky to look at a child.

[Saxon]

To be strictly correct, surely Hollow Meadows is an area and not just the hospital?

[HughW]

Stoner,

 

do you mean the King Edward VII (Orthopaedic) Hospital, with Coppice Wood behind it ?! which was not at Hollow Meadows (much nearer the city)

 

Hugh

[algy]

Originally posted by Saxon

To be strictly correct, surely Hollow Meadows is an area and not just the hospital?

You're right Saxon. In the 17th century the area was known as Auley Meadows, which has been changed over time and by 1724 had become Hollow Meadows. It may have got it's original name from the Hawley family who lived there from the 1300's to the 1600's. What later became the hospital was originally a 'Truant School' from 1871 to 1922, built by 'able bodied paupers, who had to walk out from Sheffield every day to start work at 8am'. Presumably it was the memory of the truant school that gave rise to it being called the naughty boys school.

[algy]

Originally posted by gerard

My gggrandfathr Robert Randall was born at Hollow Meadows in 1810. This must have been in a cottage I think because the institutions mentioned ( Borstal or mental hospital ) would not be the sort of places where children were born. The road up to Snake Pass was not built until 1820 so I assume that in 1810 there was not much but a hamlet there accessed by a track. Are there cottages of that vintage still there and are they just a handful? What work would there have been - shepherding? Any information please?

 

Gerard

A bit later than your ggrandfather, but in the 1840's a row of 3 cottages nicknamed 'Sparrow barracks' were built by a blade and scissor forger and a file forger. They were demolished at the end of the century. So the people living around there weren't necessarily farming, they would be forging blades and files for the industry in Sheffield.

[peterw]

My father was sent to Hollow Meadows during the early part of the 20th century. He was a truant. The place could not have been too bad because he learned carpentry while he was there, and i stood him in good stead during the pre-second world war period when jobs were hard to find and the dole money wouldn’t have kept a cat alive. His skills at carpentry kept the wolf from the door, and I’m sure that in the long run he was thankful for the training he received from Hollow Meadows. You’ll probably not know of those hard times, but believe me his skills put food on the table!