Northwich Isolation Hospital, circa 1910.
Opened in 1905, the Northwich Isolation Hospital stood on the high ground north-east of the River Weaver at Davenham. According to the National Archives, the hospital was established by the Northwich and District Joint Hospital Board. The Northwich and District Joint Hospital Board was founded in 1900 in response to the 1875 Public Health Act. Its purpose was to designate facilities to those with infectious and transferable diseases in and around the Northwich area.
Reports show that, as of 1945, the hospital could house around sixty patients, however, a Ministry of Health report released later that year suggested that this figure was somewhat exaggerated. In 1948, administrative control was passed to the newly established National Health Service. Between 1948 and 1955 the hospital is listed in records as the Davenham Isolation Hospital.
After the Second World War, the demand for infectious disease care gradually declined and eventually its use was transferred to that of a maternity hospital, in fact my sister was born there in the 1970s. The hospital closed in 1980. At the time of its closure, the hospital is listed as having a total of thirty-two beds. Much of the original hospital complex has been demolished except for some of the ancillary buildings, which went onto become part of a care home for the elderly.
