Monument record 0666000000 - Princess Mary's RAF Hospital

A hutted RAF hospital was established at Halton (although actually within Wendover civil parish) c.1919, of which nothing survives. The present pavilion hospital was erected in 1924. Parallel ranges housing administration, special wards and the kitchen are flanked by pavilion wards and a chapel range. The nursing officer's messes, terraced housing for married staff and the commanding officer's house are located to the N and E. To the E is the Pathology Department and a former Plastic Surgery and Burns Unit. The unit was expanded during WWII by hutted accomodation, mainly consisting of small brick ward blocks connected by covered ways.
The pavillion hopsital (consists from W-E) of the administration block, 48 hours reception pavillion/classified diseases and the kitchen and quartermaster's block. These ranges are connected by two two-storey corridors. To either side and to the S of the classiifed diseases block, there are pavillion wards. There is a chapel to the N of the 48hrs reception. A fifth pavilion ward was built to the NE of the kitchen and a large outpatient's department was errected in front of the other administration block in the 1970s. The buildings are of red brick, have slate roofs and are two storeys high. There are a number of service buildings to the E of the hospital. The RAF Social Club is a single story building with a slate hipped roof, located E of the NE ward wing. S of the Social Club is the Hospital Supplies Department which is another single storey brick building with a slate hipped roof. To the SE of the hospital are two accommodation blocks built to the same design but on a differnt scale. The larger houses the RAF Institute of Community and Occupational Medicine while the other houses the Red Cross. They are two storeys high, of brown brick with hipped roofs, respectively slated and pantilled, and have a T-plan form. There are larger accommodation blocks to the N of the hopsital. The Senior Nursing Officer's Mess is a three storey H-plan block of brown brick with a pantiled roof. There is a verandah on the S side and a yard with outbulldings at the end of the N wing. The Junior Nursing Officer's Mess is situated nearby and is another three storey, brown brick building with a pantilled roof and a L-plan form. The Commanding Officer's house, Hospital House, is to the S and is a two storey brown brick house with an asbestos rile roof. There is a large amount of married staff housing of two-storey terraced houses with renderd facings and tiled roofs, gabled to the front. The Institute of Pathology and Tropical Medicine and the Institute for Health and Medical Training is sutuated to the E of the main complex. At the heart of the IHMT is a two storied stuccoed building surrounded by single storey brick blocks and two-storey concrete blocks. The Training laboratory is a single storey rectangular bullding of brown brick with a hipped pantilled roof. The Medical Library is to its S and is a two-storey rectangular building of brown brick with a hipped pantilled roof. The IHMT is based in the former Burns and Plastics Unit from World War II which closed in the 1970s and stood derelict for several years. The operating theatre block projecting centrally to the rear is of brown brick and has a flat roof. The hutted wards to the N are one storey high, of red brick and slate roofs; they are connected on their N sides by covered walkways. Each block is divided into 5 or 6 bays. The other are two timber blocks and a group of three brick buildings which form the mortuary cluster (B1).
The first RAF general hospital was set up at Halton Camp in January 1919. The general hospital huts were replaced by permanent brick buildings in 1924-7, at which time the establishment was renamed Princess Mary's RAF Hospital (B4).
After the First World War plans were laid for a permanent hospital, to replace the temporary wartime structure, and a headquarters formation moved into Halton House itself. Princess Mary's RAF Hospital was opened in 1927 with its younger partner, the institute of Pathology and Tropical Medicine, providing an excellent specialist and general service. Its closure in 1995 was a major blow to the local community as well as the RAF (B5).
Detailed building recording (B7).
Demolished May 2008 (B8).