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Wagon Lane, Sheldon, Isolation Hospital

Dennis Williams

Dennis Williams

Gone but not forgotten
Have lived all my seventy five years in Yardley and Stechford....and played footer here in the late 40s and early 50s....King George V Playing fields, Wagon Lane ....but looking at an old map of our area recently...saw this and had no idea that there was once an Isolation Hospital there....and there seems to be nothing about it on the net....has anyone got info on it...?
Isolation Hospital Wagon Lane Map 1889.jpeg Wagon Lane google.jpeg Wagon Lane Green Acres google now.jpeg Wagon Lane Hospital 1945-47 Map.jpeg
 
hi ya dennis hope you are well..isnt it amazing that we never stop learning about the history of areas we lived...ive been researching my old end for years and still finding out things...now the first thing to do is try and find out when your hospital vanished...yet another mystery to solve

lyn
 
Yo lyn....still muddling along.....no idea when it disappeared...60s I would guess....don't know where to look for more info......glad to see you are still giving it some welly on here!
 
In the 1888 OS map it is called the Solihull Union Hospital, which suggests to me it was originally a workhouse. By the 1905 map it is listed as an isolation hospital, and is still listed as that in the 1919 map, but with disused added. In 1938 the building is still there, but not named. In 1953 it appears to be a school, though with some alteration. It now appears tonhave been demolished and is part of the playing fields, though possibly part ofnthe site is incorporated into the housing
 
The earliest map I have found so far is 1888 which shows Solihull Union Hospital marked. By 1905 it was an Isolation Hospital. It is not marked on 1938 map although I think the buildings are still there.

snap Mike - posting at same time
 
With respect, the Solihull Union Hospital is marked on my map of 1889 as being in Lode Lane....nowhere near Wagon Lane playing fields..?
 

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mikejee said:
In the 1888 OS map it is called the Solihull Union Hospital, which suggests to me it was originally a workhouse. By the 1905 map it is listed as an isolation hospital, and is still listed as that in the 1919 map, but with disused added. In 1938 the building is still there, but not named. In 1953 it appears to be a school, though with some alteration. It now appears tonhave been demolished and is part of the playing fields, though possibly part ofnthe site is incorporated into the housing
Click to expand...

Can I see your map pretty please? The 1888 one?
 
The map seems to show the place in Union Lane - Union Lane named after the hospital or the other way around? In fact a modern map suggests it is very much where the present hospital is.
 
The buildings where by the entrance to Wagon Lane Park opposite Keswick Rd. The last building was used for changing rooms, on the picture you can just see the concrete base of one building, demolished about twenty years
 
From what I can find out (very little) this hospital started out as Solihull Union Hospital so it is my guess at that time it was linked to Solihull Union Workhouse Union Rd Solihull. It later became Solihull & Yardley Isolation Hospital (fever hospital) even later it became Birmingham Corporation Isolation Hospital, by 1938 it was out of use and by 1950 it had gone. I've only bothered adding this little bit of information as it might help someone else in their search.
 
I suspect that because the land was originally in Solihull it was decided to place and isolation unit out there away from the main hospital which was where the current Solihull Hospital is.
 
Hi, not sure this is relevant, but in 1968, I joined the Midland Cycling and Athletic Club, based in what was called the Henwood Lane Institute, Catherine-de-Barnes, Solihull.
This was next to the Isolation Hospital, Smallpox if I remember.
Sure it was something to do at some time with Olton Hospital, remember Mother saying someone she knew went in there after the war?
 
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In the markets thread one or two posters suggest how confusing some of the names and locations are. It seems this thread is going down the same roads (pun intended). :D:D
 
Radiorails said:
In the markets thread one or two posters suggest how confusing some of the names and locations are. It seems this thread is going down the same roads (pun intended). :D:D
Click to expand...
I just was saying the Isolation Hospital for this side of Birmingham moved to here, not sure if its the sort of information you want to see.
Im new to the forum
 
Lyn - the Solihull Workhouse (I remember some of the buildings!!) was where the hospital is now. There was an isolation unit at Catherine-de-Barnes, #15, which was later used as a Mother and Baby unit. Babies born at Solihull Hospital in the days where Mothers stayed in hospital for a while went to Catherine-de-Barnes to free up beds at the hospital and also it was "in the country". How do I know? I was one of them!! Still doesn't help with the Wagon Lane site.
 
hi janice i think i am getting a bit confused now as i thought the workhouse and the isolation hospital were one and the same place could someone confirm that for me please

lyn
 
Not in Solihull. The Workhouse in Lode Lane built in 1878 became the hospital but there was a separate place at Catherine de Barnes built in 1907 for isolation cases. In fact the last person to die in the world of smallpox died there in 1978. (according to google).
 
tragic story and awful images pedro...thank god smallpox is no longer in this country.
 
Vividly remember the Birmingham small pox case. The lady who died lived in West Heath and my sister in law's parents lived in the same road.
 
Paul Simpson said:
Hi, not sure this is relevant, but in 1968, I joined the Midland Cycling and Athletic Club, based in what was called the Henwood Lane Institute, Catherine-de-Barnes, Solihull.
This was next to the Isolation Hospital, Smallpox if I remember.
Sure it was something to do at some time with Olton Hospital, remember Mother saying someone she knew went in there after the war?
Click to expand...
Not sure if I asked this before, but are you still a member of the MC&AC? I joined in 1946 and I am still a member John Crump
 
mikejee said:
In the 1888 OS map it is called the Solihull Union Hospital, which suggests to me it was originally a workhouse. By the 1905 map it is listed as an isolation hospital, and is still listed as that in the 1919 map, but with disused added. In 1938 the building is still there, but not named. In 1953 it appears to be a school, though with some alteration. It now appears tonhave been demolished and is part of the playing fields, though possibly part ofnthe site is incorporated into the housing
Click to expand...

I am very interested about the building referred to. I lived in Gilbertstone Avenue from 1943 and attended a school at the Wagon Lane side of the playing fields. It was a smallish building (I wonder now if it was the hospital/workhouse you refer to). It was called Wagon Lane School. I went there for two years (from 1948-1950) before moving up to Chapel Fields School when aged 7. Wagon Lane school was a very old building. Two small classrooms. We ate our lunch on our desks. I remember how much I loved the summers. All our classes were outside on the grass a few steps from the 'moat' that used to run along the Wagon Lane side of the playing fields. My name then was Beryl Martin.
 
pjmburns said:
Not in Solihull. The Workhouse in Lode Lane built in 1878 became the hospital but there was a separate place at Catherine de Barnes built in 1907 for isolation cases. In fact the last person to die in the world of smallpox died there in 1978. (according to google).
Click to expand...

I lived not too far from the Isolation Hospital in Catherine-de-Barnes, from 1965 until 1978. I was always grateful to be on the same electricity grid as the hospital because we never lost power during the many outages that happened during that era. I believe the isolation hospital was closed for many years before the '60's but do remember that they reopened it for just one person with smallpox, in the '70's. I guess that is the statistic that you mention.
 
I grew up in the road alongside the Wagon lane park, [Lyndon playing fields] right next to the old hospital buildings. They were there in 1966, and were still there when I left home in 1974. However, they were no longer used as a hospital, though it was common knowledge at the time that it had originally been a hospital. Instead, during the football season, the buildings provided shelter and changing facilities for the footballers who came to use the pitches. Sometime in the late 70s, or possibly early 80s, the buildings were demolished [they were in a very poor state anyway], leaving just concrete bases behind. Then later, those were removed completely and the area was grassed over. Interestingly, I was told that Lydnon playing fields had been donated to the council to be used as a recreation ground, forever, by the two farming brothers who lived in the little farmhouse next to it. [still there, along with converted farm buildings]
 
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