Building record 1796/1/3 - Connolly Lodge, St Crispin Hospital

Former isolation hospital. 1886 by Richard Griffiths of Stafford

{2} Former isolation hospital. 1886 by Richard Griffiths of Stafford. Red, blue and white brick, hipped slate roofs, brick internal and end stacks (cut down). T-plan. Single storey. Central porch with round-arched head and dated keyblock
to 3-storey tower with circular first floor windows, moulded brick and stone eaves, first roof stage and cupola with pyramidal roof and blank clock faces. Symmetrical wings with shallow segmental baywindows to inner ends and sash
windows. Small pavilions with high French-style roofs project diagonally either side of entrance and at each end of wings, with cast-iron cresting to ridges. Spinal corridor leads from entrance to wing to rear. Situated to north of main
building on same north-south axis facing administration block across lawn.

{4} An isolation hospital, the Connolly Lodge, for 14 fever patients or 26 'harmless' cases was considered and built within the asylum grounds in 1886. It was pleasantly located to the north of the entrance block, at the far end of 'the Green' and on the fringes of the Berry Wood. The Connolly Lodge was a building of a modular design not unlike the concept of the main asylum buildings, with separate elements conjoined by corridors. The design was obviously a success, for plans of the Connolly Lodge were published in the Journal of Mental Science in 1888. Furthermore the new isolation hospital was also built c 1905-10 within the asylum complex to an almost identical design, From that time the Connolly Lodge was used as a convalescent home for male patients. The exterior architecture of the Lodge included revisited Baroque features and the style of the building generally matched that of the main block although it was more plain in appearance. A central tower dominated the single storied façade over the south entrance. The entrance porch had a simple arch that incorporated the 1886 date stone, but its former iron gates had not survived.

{8} Undated photo.

{9} An interesting building with a small central tower with spirelet. Either end of the wings little angled square projections with pyramidal roofs.

<1> Department of the Environment (DoE), 1976, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN3381.

<2> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 3/11 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<3> Thorne L.; Lean S.; Harding J., 2003, Historic Buildings Recording of St Crispins Hospital, Upton, Northamptonshire (Illustrations), p.70 (checked) (Report). SNN103455.

<4> Thorne A.; Foard A.; Lean S., 2003, Historic Buildings Recording of St Crispins Hospital, Upton, Northamptonshire, 2002, (unchecked) (Report). SNN103454.

<5> Morton R., 2002, Princess Marina Hospital, Northampton: Desk-based Assessment, p.16 (checked) (Report). SNN107443.

<6> Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk: East Midlands Register 2016, p. 54 (Report). SNN110747.

<7> Historic England, 2017, Heritage at Risk: East Midlands Register 2017, p. 61 (Report). SNN111090.

<7> Historic England, 2018, Heritage at Risk: East Midlands Register 2018, p. 61 (Report). SNN111434.

<8> Photographs of buildings in Upton (Photographs). SNN113623.

<9> Bailey, B, Pevsner, N, and Cherry, B, 2013, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p. 487 (Book). SNN111989.

Record last edited

Jun 5 2024 1:45PM