BUILDINGS OF MACCLESFIELD

●● THE Main Building, The Workhouse (also known as The General Hospital), Prestbury Road

OUR town had a workhouse from as early as 1698 but prior to the construction of this building, conditions in Macclesfield’s earlier institutions were primitive and desperate, with violence and overcrowding commonplace.

In December 1842, there was capacity for 220 in the town’s workhouses, but numbers often exceeded that by more than 100. As a result, in January 1843, a resolution was passed to create a purpose-built one, for which £5,000 was allocated.

By early 1843, a tender for £8,990 was accepted from local builder James Frost. He was contracted to build the complex, which at that stage consisted of the main building (£5,965); hospital (£1,500); Board and Tramp Room (£1,290); drainage (£200) and the lodge (£35).

The work was completed by 1845, although some additional work was deemed necessary, costing Frost an extra £1,800.

The new workhouse was designed on three storeys, in a Tudor style by Sir George Gilbert

Scott and William Bonython Moffatt.

The main building is a long range with projecting wings, built from stone with mullioned windows, and a patterned tiled roof. It has prominent chimney breasts, with two central gables supporting a cupola and clock.

The male wards were located on the left with females on the right.

Extra accommodation was added in the years that followed. A 60-bed fever hospital was built between 1853-54 (costing £1,200), and a new 70-bed hospital was constructed between 1879-81 (£6,000). Between these two, a nurses’ home was erected between 1912-13.

An 1888 report stated that there were 346 inmates accommodated here, who included 79 old women and 90 old men.

The 67 able-bodied females were categorised as follows: 21 washers; 22 sewers and knitters; 12 scrubbers; and 12 assisting women (4 in the kitchen, 4 in the nursery and 4 stocking darners). Amongst the 71 able bodied men, there were 2 joiners; 1 slater; 1 upholsterer; 1 blacksmith; 3 assisting the porter with tramps; 6 attending the boilers; 3 attending the stone-shed men; 4 attending the pigs; 2 dealing with sanitation; 1 attending to the supply of coal; 18 potato peelers; 1 messenger; 26 ward men; and 2 doorkeepers. 12 boys worked in the tailor’s shop.

By 1933, the buildings had become part of West Park Hospital, which was later used to treat military casualties during the Second World War.

Upon the creation of the health service in 1948, the hospital fell under the jurisdiction of the NHS.

In 2008, the buildings ceased to be used by the NHS, and the site was redeveloped and reopened in 2011, as part of a £30m project. The main building now comprises 36 one, two and three-bedroom apartments, within a development known as The Clocktower.