# Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, Derby - June 2009



## thompski

Derbyshire Royal Infirmary (DRI) was established in 1810 on land formerly part of Derby's Castlefield estate on land near what is now Bradshaw Way and the A6 London Road. It was known as the Derbyshire General Infirmary at the time.







In 1890 a Typhoid outbreak sweeped through the hospital, and the buildings design was blamed. The hospital is entirely demolished, a year later Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone of what would become Derbyshire Royal Infirmary. The neo-Jacobean building was completed in 1894, and its main features were its 'Onion' shaped domed towers and its central corridor which ran the length of the hospital.






The hospital was expanded at several points in the 20th century, the most visible being the still used Wilderslowe Tower and the now disused A+E building built in 1970. The DRI as a result is an architectural mish-mash with the original hospital at its heart.





Buildings aside, the DRI was a pioneering hospital, the UK's first Flying Squad was set up here in 1955, in 1976 George Cohrane set up the first National Demonstration Centre for Rehabilitation and in 1992 the Pulvertaft Hand Centre was opened by the Queen, her grandson William was sent here seven years later following a rugby injury.









In the late 90s, the NHS Trust's for each hospital in Derby merged, and drew up a dramatic plan to consolidate the services of both hospital's on one site. The so called 'super hospital', soon to be known as the Derby Royal Hospital is one of the largest in the region.











There are no official plans to redevelop the now redundant Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, the land is covered by a large regeneration plan which will expand Derby's city centre southwards into what is known as Castleward. The 1987 built part of the hospital shall continue to provide medical care, providing the services of the closed Aston Hall and Grove Hospital's south of Derby.
















As explores go, this was perhaps my most unique to date. It was a bizarre place; abandoned but not quite. Lights hummed, phones occasionally rang and men carried stuff out to waiting removal lorries, often when I was in an adjacent room.











In another incident I walked downstairs to find a busy waiting room, most memorable a door opened at the end of a corridor – I assumed that was it and security would throw me off site only to find it was an elderly lady looking for a now closed ward. 



















Sorry for the quality of the photographs, this was due to the nature of the site.


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## krela

Aaah, great to see the hospital where I was born.

Don't suppose you got any shots of the maternity wards?


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## thompski

krela said:


> Aaah, great to see the hospital where I was born.
> 
> Don't suppose you got any shots of the maternity wards?



The Maternity Unit is a separate building across the road, which is very well sealed up. That said the Maternity unit was moved to the City Hospital years ago... I was born there in '86.


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## krela

Aah cool, I was born in 76, definitely at the infirmary.


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## smileysal

Excellent work mate. Me and mendo definitely have to get here at some point, soonish. 

Excellent pics. Lol at the lady who opened the door at the end of the corridor 

 Sal


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## Goldie87

Excellent stuff


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## thompski

Cheers folks, it was a superb and strange place - its worth keeping a close eye on your local NHS trust's as they are probably planning or even undergoing significant developments to their facilities.

Oh and here's an older aerial view from the 1920s, showing the original Victorian Hospital.


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## johno23

Great background history and good atmospheric photos which convey its current status well.Another piece of Derby bites the dust though.

The Maternity unit that Krela refers to was called the Nightingale Maternity Unit which later went on to become an hospice attached to the main hospital which is directly across the London Road.

Good work


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## the harvester

I used to work here on the maintenance side of things looking after the heating mainly, a word of advice for anyone going here in future, the basement and underground parts are full of asbestos.
Nice report and great pictures, I did not realise this place is now being emptied out.


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## smileysal

Ooooooooooooh I was waiting for the old pic of the hospital Thompski. Cheers, that looked awesome in it's day. We still haven't got around to going yet. 

Cheers mate,

 Sal


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## thompski

Sadly its getting pretty stripped now, and was locked down last time I took a look.


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## smileysal

thompski said:


> Sadly its getting pretty stripped now, and was locked down last time I took a look



Cheers mate.  I think I know one of the reasons though, in fact, we both do. :icon_evil


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## thompski

smileysal said:


> Cheers mate.  I think I know one of the reasons though, in fact, we both do. :icon_evil



I don't know what your thinking Sal, but it's certainly nothing malicious - the areas I visited were having stuff moved out at the time 

Anyway more pictures


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## smileysal

Cheers mate 

 Sal


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## mandery

Great pics, Great place!


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## james.s

smileysal said:


> Excellent work mate. Me and mendo definitely have to get here at some point, soonish.
> 
> Excellent pics. Lol at the lady who opened the door at the end of the corridor
> 
> Sal



Can you PM me when you are planning on going, when I went with Thompski it failed slightly  Still interesting, but we couldn't get any of the rooms done.


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## boothy

cracking stuff,well done


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## ukmayhem

Nice did you find the Mortuary?


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## thompski

The mortuary is in the live part as far as I know.


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## jess81

i've seen a news report about a fire breaking out in Aston hall in November 2008, has this damaged much of it or is the main buildings still all in tact do you know?


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## james.s

jess81 said:


> i've seen a news report about a fire breaking out in Aston hall in November 2008, has this damaged much of it or is the main buildings still all in tact do you know?


*
Well, that's a different hospital but what the hey!
The fire has only affected one room in the main hall part of the building. The rest is free from fire damage. It is heavily vandalised though so is basically a stripped out shell *


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## ambergate_andy

Good pics, the west field in the background looks so ugly concrete block of shit selling overpriced rubbish!


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## thompski

jess81 said:


> i've seen a news report about a fire breaking out in Aston hall in November 2008, has this damaged much of it or is the main buildings still all in tact do you know?



As James says - main hall got a bit bashed, its not worth the effort to be honest - plenty of better hospitals in the vicinity (and I'm not referring to this one).


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## SCL001

i spent quite abit of time here when i was younger 8 operations to be specific shame its gone but its moved on to bigger and probably better things
x


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## thompski

SCL001 said:


> i spent quite abit of time here when i was younger 8 operations to be specific shame its gone but its moved on to bigger and probably better things
> x



Its a matter of debate, the Royal Derby Hospital is vastly superior then the former Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, however its location and particularly the inadequate parking are a major problem, hopefully these problems will be addressed in the near future.


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## Anthillmob74

sorry to pop up a while later but what a great report.


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