Walnuttree Hospital
 The Society has just applied to have the historic buildings listed. Since the hospital is one of the two sites being considered for the Health Care Facility there is concern that this action of ours may delay realisation of our longed for “hospital”.
Walnuttree Hospital is within the Conservation Area, it is locally listed, the Local Plan for what it’s worth says that “development will consist of primarily the conversion of those buildings which are of architectural merit. This is a critical site in a key location in the conservation area and securing a high quality development is paramount”.
So why bother with trying to get it listed? Simply because we want to see it properly safeguarded as a building of quality embedded in the fabric and history of our town. Listing would not prevent the “hospital” being located there but we fear that the NHS Trust and their developers would prefer the low risk, cleared site option to the more complex task of incorporating new facilities within the existing building or attached to it.
What follows is an extract from our application.
Section C – Claims to special architectural and historic interest *
Please refer to supporting documentation where necessary.
1.The site
The Walnuttree Hospital sits within the original Anglo-Saxon/Early Medieval boundaries of the town. The site lies adjacent to St Gregory’s church, which is Grade 1 listed, and in close proximity to other Grade II listed buildings. The existing Hospital buildings have provided a settled and attractive backdrop to these important listed buildings for some 150 years. The Hospital site is bordered by the mill race on its western boundary and beyond the mill race stretch the historic Sudbury Town Commonlands (Local Nature Reserve, County Wildlife Site, Special Landscape Area). Finally, the Hospital lies within the Town Conservation Area. It would be thus be difficult to overstate the importance and sensitivity of this site, both within the townscape and in relation to the nearby natural landscape.
2. Sequence of buildings on this site
St Gregory’s parish workhouse formerly occupied this site. This was founded in 1702 but in turn incorporated large parts of an earlier building - Simon of Sudbury’s early 15th century College. The parish workhouse was demolished in 1836 to make way for the new Workhouse but it is possible that some of the foundations of Simon’s College survive in the cellars of what is now the Hospital. The 15th century gateway which once linked the College to the adjacent collegial church of St Gregory’s is still in place (Grade II listed.)
3. The building of the Walnuttree Hospital
This powerful and imposing neo-Tudor building was built as the Sudbury Union Workhouse and was opened in 1837 to house some 400 inmates. The three storey structure is built of warm red brick with slate roofs; the top storey incorporates rows of gabled dormer windows.
The architect of the Workhouse was John Brown of Norwich and the builders were Messrs Warner Liddiard and Robert Kitton of Cornhill, London. The building work encountered many difficulties; one clerk of works was dismissed as incompetent and his successor turned out to be illiterate; a fire broke out which destroyed all the workmen’s tools – in the end the architect had to come down from Norwich and live on site to ensure that the work was completed to his satisfaction. The first inmates were admitted in June 1837.
The Sudbury Workhouse served the new Union of 46 parishes across N.E.Essex and S.W.Suffolk, an area of 119 square miles. The stern regime within its walls made it a place of dread for Victorian paupers. Over the years, in 1848, 1875-6 and in 1920, additional buildings were added but the central core of John Brown’s building survives to this day – identifiable by the rows of gabled dormer windows on the top floors.
In 1929 the Workhouse was taken over by West Suffolk C.C. and it evolved into a local hospital. However, some of the former workhouse inmates continued to live there, the last of whom was Lily Ambrose. Lily was born in 18798, sent to the Workhouse in 1914 because she was carrying an illegitimate child, and finally died there in 1985, still clasping the doll she had held since her own baby was taken away from her at birth.
4.The importance of these buildings
For both good and ill this building has been at the heart of the life of our town for over 170 years. It is a vast construction in Sudbury terms and the quality of design is extremely high. Its importance is recognised in the Babergh District Council Local Plan Alteration No 2 (2006). Policy SD13 states that “future development and changes to the site must be sensitive to its history and existing buildings in terms of scale, design and roofscape, especially when viewed against the backdrop of the town from the adjacent Sudbury meadows”: and, in a supporting statement, 10.44, “Development will consist primarily of the conversion of those buildings, which are of architectural merit. This is a critical site in a key location in the conservation area and securing a high quality development is paramount”. These statements, together with the Local Listing of the complex, indicate an acceptance by the District Council that these buildings are of considerable importance.
5. The argument for statutory listing of these buildings.
a) We believe that the architectural quality and historic associations of this building complex are sufficient on their own to merit listing. This imposing and historic building is a good representative of its type and worthy of greater recognition and protection.
b) There is a growing awareness that statutory protection should be extended to old buildings such as hospitals and workhouses which are just as much a part of the nation’s building heritage as old houses, churches and palaces. This awareness is reflected by the publication of the English Heritage Health and Welfare Buildings Selection Guide March 2007. There the Selection Criteria Summary (p4) states that “Pre-1840 general hospitals, pre-1968 hospitals with pavilion plans, and workhouses prior to 1845, will be listable unless heavily altered.” It might be argued that the additions made to the Sudbury buildings since 1837 constitute “heavy alteration” but, as the Selection Guide notes elsewhere (p2), “Alteration is inevitable in such intensively used buildings; the survival of the essential key elements will be the key determinant.” Here in Sudbury those key elements remain to this day since all the additions have either been reversible extensions to the original core or detached from it (eg the 1920 ‘Reception Building’ at the entrance which is now the Out-Patients Department.)
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