Hospitals that closed

Opened: 1948
Closed: 2004
Address: Wickham Road, Fareham
Interesting fact: Before becoming a hospital, St Christopher’s was the Fareham Workhouse built in 1836 after the Fareham Poor Law Society was formed in 1835.

St Christopher’s Hospital was opened in 1948 and mostly dealt with older patients. It was a community hospital for people needing both short-term and long-term healthcare. In 2001, the future of the site was cast in doubt after plans revealed a new hospital would be opening in Sarisbury Green to serve Fareham and Gosport.
Then, in 2004 health chiefs decided the hospital would be knocked down and turned into housing.

Opened: 1849
Closed: 1978
Address: Commercial Road, where Sainsbury’s now stands.
Interesting fact: The hospital once had a ‘Lock Ward’ for the confinement of prostitutes under the Contagious Diseases Act of 1863.

Royal Portsmouth Hospital was once the main hospital serving the Portsea Island area.
Built in Victorian times, the unit was hit three times during the Blitz. Although patients were evacuated safely, several male members of staff and a special constable were killed.
The hospital was a general facility treating children and adults with a range of illnesses. It succeeded the Portsmouth and Portsea General Dispensary which was opened in 1821.
It closed its doors after more than 100 years when all its services were moved to Queen Alexandra Hospital, in Cosham.
When the hospital closed, the pub opposite was renamed The Royal.

Opened: 1753
Closed: 2009
Address: Haslar Road, Gosport.
Interesting fact: The phrases ‘up the creek’ and later ‘up the creek without a paddle’ are thought to have come from Royal Hospital Haslar and Haslar Creek where injured and dying sailors from Napoleonic times would be sent. They would have to get a boat from the harbour to the hospital and it was treated as a bad sign if you were sent to Haslar as a lot of sailors were so severely injured they would soon die there.

Royal Hospital Haslar was opened as a Royal Navy Hospital in the 18th century. It cared for armed forces personnel both in war time and during peace and had psychiatric wards for sailors with mental health problemns.
It was the biggest hospital – and the largest brick building – in England when it was built.
Dr James Lind, a leading physician at Haslar from 1758 until 1785, played a major part in discovering a cure for scurvy. In 2004, the future of Haslar was thrown into doubt and despite big protests by people in Gosport, the hospital was decommissioned in 2007 and closed in 2009.
Now, the site is undergoing a £100m project to turn it into a retirement village with flats, care homes, shops and a GP practice.

Opened: 1928
Closed: 1996
Address: Sarisbury Green
Interesting fact: Coldeast was originally used as a farm selling horses with maps showing it from 1837.

Coldeast Hospital housed up to 800 patients when it was open as psychiatric hospital.
It was given to Hampshire County Council in the 1920s and opened as a hospital a few years later.
When it closed, the patients housed there had to be found new places to live and receive care. This was a difficult task as many of them had been at Coldeast for many years and had become institutionalised.
Because of stigma surrounding mental health in the 20th century, many patients were sent to Coldeast to be kept away from the community and ‘shut away’.
Councillor Sean Woodward, ward councillor for the area, said it was a case of shutting people away and ‘throwing away the key’.
The hospital was self-contained with patients growing their own food and children patients being taught in school rooms.

Blackbrook Maternity House, Blackbrook Drive, Fareham - it was decided in 2004 this unit for expectant and new mums would be scrapped.

Portsmouth and Southern Counties Eye and Ear Hospital, Grove Road North, Portsmouth - Originally dating back to 1820s, the eye and ear services moved around Portsmouth before finally settling down in Grove Road North. Its first home was at St George’s Square where it remained for around 10 years before opening in Pembroke Road. It was hit during the Second World War and in 1945 took up residence in the Convent of the Holy Cross in Grove Road North. It stayed there until its removal to QA Hospital in 1971.