A WOMAN has fond memories of living in a house in Southport that had once served as the town's Victorian-era hospital.
Sheila Buckley, from Banks, lived with her late husband Eddie and four sons at 42-44 Virginia Street from 1972-83, while Eddie worked as a caretaker for the adjoining premises of the Drury Smart furniture removal company.
Their home, which was opposite Arbour Street, has since been demolished.
But it was steeped in historical significance, having served from 1870 as Southport Infirmary, before the later building of a much bigger hospital on Scarisbrick New Road.
Sheila remembers her sons' bedrooms were built out of part of the old wards, with other relics included the word 'infirmary' remaining visible on the front gatepost and the remains of the operating theatre in the section of the building housing Drury Smart's furniture store.
She told LookBack: "In our kitchen we used to hear water running until we had it examined by someone.
"Underneath the kitchen floor was a giant well, which was the water supply for the hospital. It held rainwater that had come in from round the back somewhere."
Sheila, 70, added: "We have got very, very happy memories of Virginia Street.
"My husband once dug up the garden and found hundreds and hundreds of medicine bottles from the hospital.
"It's sad that something wasn't done to preserve the building."
The foundation stone of Southport Infirmary was laid in Virginia Street in March 1870 and it opened on January 2, 1871.
An artist's impression of Virginia Street Infirmary
Image courtesy of Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust
It accommodated six male and six female patients and had two spacious isolation wards for the reception of those with fever and infectious diseases.
It also had a mortuary, a disinfecting house and its own laundry.
The numbers treated on Virginia Street rose from 115 inpatients in its first year to 219 by 1894, of which 30 were cases of infectious diseases.
Concerns over the adequacy of arrangements for infections cases led to the hospital's whole attention being turned towards the treatment of accident and non-infectious medical cases.
Yet by 1892, concerns over Virginia Street Infirmary's capacity and the state of its building had led to the launch of an appeal for a new hospital.
That led to the donation of the five-acre site off Scarisbrick New Road by the Scarisbrick family, and the construction of a new Southport General Infirmary - a building which is itself now being demolished.
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