Wrexham & East Denbighshire Memorial Hospital
Building's entrance on Rhosddu Road
General information
Type	Hospital (1926–1986) Further education building of Coleg Cambria Yale (1996–)
Address	Rhosddu Road, Wrexham, Denbighshire, Wales
Coordinates	53°02′59″N 2°59′41″W / 53.04965°N 2.99469°W / 53.04965; -2.99469
Construction started	2 November 1923
Opened	9 June 1926
Renovated	1996 (into a college building)
Closed	1986 (as a hospital)
Owner	Yale College, Wrexham (1996–2013) Coleg Cambria (2013–)

The Wrexham and East Denbighshire War Memorial Hospital is a former hospital in Wrexham (then in historic Denbighshire), North Wales.

Its construction was partly fundraised by locals, and it was used as a war memorial to World War I. It opened in 1926, alongside two neighbouring hospital facilities, the Roseneath Auxiliary Hospital and the William & John Jones Hospital, which later became part of the War Memorial Hospital.

The entire hospital facility closed in 1986, with its services moved to Wrexham Maelor Hospital. The building was later renovated and converted into an educational building as part of Coleg Cambria's Yale campus.

History

In 1916, a committee decided that a new hospital was needed in Wrexham to replace the existing Wrexham Infirmary, based on Regent Street. It was decided in 1918, that the hospital would also be the best way to commemorate those lost in World War I.^[1]

The War Memorial committee had united with the William & John Jones Hospital Trust, in building the new hospital, following the decision of the trustees to work with the committee. The trust was established as part of the 1912 will of John Jones, brewer of the local Island Green Brewery, aiming to construct a new hospital in Wrexham. The will bequeathed £50,000 (equivalent to £5,266,564 in 2021), as well as a building known as Roseneath and its lands, to the building of a new hospital. The trust themselves contributed an additional £35,000 (equivalent to £3,686,595 in 2021) to the hospital's construction.^[1] Roseneath house was decided to be used as part of the new hospital, while its lands would be used to construct two buildings, the main War Memorial Hospital, which fronted Rhosddu Road, and the William & John Jones Hospital, which was located to its rear.^[1]

Between 1918 and 1927, local people in Wrexham raised money to build the Memorial Hospital. The fundraised amount later accounted for £26,000 (equivalent to £1,605,479 in 2021), roughly a quarter of the total building cost. The hospital's children's ward was paid by an annual pantomime produced by the Walter Roberts Pantomime Company.^[1][2][3]

The building's foundation stone was laid on 2 November 1923, attended by Edward, Prince of Wales.^[4][5]

On 9 June 1926, the hospital opened, replacing the Regent Street-based Wrexham Infirmary.^[6] It was opened by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, with Lloyd Tyrell-Kenyon, 4th Baron Kenyon, Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire in attendance.^[2][5][6][7] The hospital opened in-conjunction with the neighbouring William & John Jones Hospital.^[1][8]

When the main site of the Maelor General Hospital, later the Wrexham Maelor Hospital, opened in 1934, the War Memorial Hospital worked alongside the hospital to serve patients in Wrexham and the surrounding areas of North Wales. Although the War Memorial Hospital's importance was diminished. When the National Health Service was established the War Memorial Hospital was grouped with the other Wrexham hospitals as the "Maelor General Hospital".^[5][9] The split of care between the hospitals were said to have led an "inefficient delivery of care", for example, the emergency department (casualty) was initially based at the War Memorial Hospital, while Intensive care was at Maelor. Acute and other services at the War Memorial Hospital were moved to Maelor in 1986, with the War Memorial Hospital closing in the same year.^[6][10]

When it closed in 1986, it was planned to be demolished for a supermarket. However, the plans were scrapped following "strong local opposition".^[1] In 1996, the building was bought by Wrexham's Yale College, and renovated to become part of its campus in 1988,^[1][4] now part of Coleg Cambria.^[5][9]

Description

The hospital was created as a war memorial to the men killed in World War I,^[4][5] and served as Wrexham's main hospital for a time.^[9] It was designed by W J Walford, and built by J Gerrard & Sons Ltd.^[4] The building contained open balconies to treat those with tuberculosis by exposing their lungs to the open air.^[11]

The Roseneath Auxiliary Hospital was attached to the War Memorial Hospital, and was focused on caring for wounded soldiers and later the sick elderly.^[6][12][13] The William and John Jones Hospital also ran alongside the War Memorial Hospital's outpatient department located on Grove Park Road. Although the hospital later became part of the War Memorial Hospital.^[10]

There was a chapel adjacent to the hospital.^[14] The War Memorial Hospital had a wartime mortuary at Wrexham Cemetery.^[15]

References