# Bucklands hospital & maternity unit – Dover - Dec 2015



## mockney reject (Dec 21, 2015)

_
The History
_
The Buckland hospital formerly known as the Dover Union Workhouse Infirmary up until to 1930, the Dover Institution (1930-1943), the County Hospital (1943-1948) and finally the Buckland Hospital.
In 1835 the site of the present hospital was selected for the new Dover Union Workhouse. 

It opened on 29 September 1836, the workhouse was constructed to the courtyard plan devised by Sir Francis Head and designed to accommodate 500 inmates. Infirmary blocks, a children’s block and a chapel were added in the nineteenth and twentieth century. These buildings still survive but the main building was reconstructed in the 1920s or 1930s.

At this time the road leading to the workhouse was known as Union Road. The name was changed to Coombe Valley Road in 1964.

The building was known as the Dover Union Workhouse Infirmary to 1930, it then became the Dover Institution up to 1943, and was then known as the County Hospital. In 1948 it became Buckland Hospital.

The hospital has been modified and extended in the decades since, culminating with the Physiotherapy building in the 1980s.
The place shut and services moved over to the new hospital next door early in 2015 

_The Explore_

Myself, @slayaaaa & @MrStewie hit this one up early hours of the morning after booking into a derp hotel prior to a trip to Paris. Slayaaaa commented that he had “found” a hospital and we assumed it was in France somewhere, but nope it was a mile from our hotel.. Bang goes our early night then.
We jumped in the car and headed off to the hospital. On arrival it honestly didn’t look all that special but we made our way toward the Heras fence and had one of our typical comedy moments as the panel I was climbing decided to slowly rotate towards the ground as I was halfway over it leaving me in a crumpled mess in the mud…..
Entrance proved a little difficult as we couldn’t decide what one of the open doors or bulldozed holes to go in via. Eventually in we went and were quite pleased with what we found. 
What we thought would be a crap site turned out to be something rather lovely. We found all sorts from hospital beds, to a room full of old records. Death certificates, Mortuary records and general patient records dating back for decades. The place itself was pretty intact, apart from the bull dozed holes and was a great little explore. 
I urge anyone local to go and have a butchers before it’s too late
Enjoy the pics


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## Sam Haltin (Dec 21, 2015)

Nicely done. They have left a lot of stuff lying around. I'm surprised that those mortuary records and death certificates have not been archived somewhere else.


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## Rubex (Dec 22, 2015)

I'd find having a look through those Mortuary Records strangely interesting. This is one place I'd really like to have a look around! Great photos


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## UrbanX (Dec 26, 2015)

Amazing! What a minter!


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## Tyber (Feb 18, 2016)

We were u at Buckland Hospital Monday 15th Feb easy access. Couldn't find the mortuary books. But did find ecg traces and X rays.
I have some great pics including one of what seems to be the Buckland spirit of the young boy.
How.do I post please


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## Tyber (Feb 18, 2016)

http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums...creenshot_2016-02-17-15-31-28_zpsr1feuybg.png


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