St. Thomas' Hospital, formerly known as the Shaw Heath Hospital, is a derelict former psychiatric hospital and Grade II listed building in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England.
History
The building that became St. Thomas' Hospital was originally a workhouse known as the Stockport Union Workhouse[1] (though some records list the name as Shaw Heath Workhouse).[2] The building was designed by Henry Bowman[3] and opened on Christmas Day in 1841. It was intended to house 690 inmates.[4]
The workhouse became known as 'The Grubber', and in 1894 an investigation by the British Medical Journal reported on several issues with the conditions of working life within the Stockport Union Workhouse and infirmary, detailing overcrowding, disease, poor living conditions and ineffective management.[5][6]
Between 1948 and 1949, the building was renamed to Shaw Heath Hospital. It became St. Thomas' Hospital in 1954.[2] The hospital typically treated psychiatric patients and the elderly.[7]
The building became Grade II listed on 10 March 1975.[8]
Stockport Arts and Health, an organisation that was set up in 1993 to promote arts initiatives within the health service in Stockport, moved to a former ward at St. Thomas' Hospital in 1998. Later in 1999, the ward was converted and became the Stockport Centre for Arts and Health and operated as a workshop space and exhibition.[9]
Since its closure, St. Thomas' hospital has become a site of interest for urban explorers and paranormal investigators. British paranormal investigation show Most Haunted recorded an episode exploring the hospital building in 2007.[11]
Redevelopment
There have been several attempts to renovate and repurpose the St. Thomas' Hospital site.
Plans were announced on the closure of the hospital to repurpose the buildings as a 'GP super-centre' and flats for first-time homeowners,[7] but these plans were abandoned after Stockport College acquired the site.[10]
Restoration work to the main building was carried out around 2008. The restoration was planned by architectural firm Austin-Smith:Lord and was part of a £100 million development of the adjoining Stockport College campus,[12] who had acquired the hospital after it had closed in 2004.[4] The work was concluded in 2010 and was intended to be used as staff accommodation, but the building remained vacant after work had completed.[13]
Redevelopment of the site was approved in March 2021 following plans from the Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation which detailed a dementia care and senior living facility called The Academy of Living Well. In 2022, the project (known as St Thomas' Gardens) was provided a formal notice allowing construction work to begin.[10][14]
