The Portland Royal Naval Hospital was a naval hospital on the

Isle of Portland An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English. However, there is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle or its difference, so they are considered synonyms. Isle may refer to: Geography * Is ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Serving HMNB Portland at

Portland Harbour Portland Harbour is located beside the Isle of Portland, Dorset, on the south coast of England. Construction of the harbour began in 1849; when completed in 1872, its surface area made it the largest man-made harbour in the world, and rema ...

, the hospital is located close to Castletown. Discounting earlier, temporary incarnations of the hospital, the permanent naval hospital was built at the beginning of the 20th century. It closed in 1957, when it was handed over to the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

, which still runs the hospital as NHS Portland Community Hospital.

History

Portland Community Hospital, Dorset from Merchant's Incline

Before the main hospital was constructed, an early incarnation was established in the naval dockyard, while the Portland Royal Navy's Sick Quarters and Zymotic Hospital (Infectious Diseases branch) was located at Castle Road, near the incline of the Merchant's Railway. Around the turn of the century, a permanent general hospital at Castle Road was established. Completed by 1906, the original site was made up of an officers' block, administration block, surgical block and medical block. An un-timetabled station, Portland Hospital Halt, provided railway access to the site. During World War II, an underground operating theatre was constructed. Along with the surgical block, it was the only section of the hospital to be in full-time operation. After suffering bomb damage in 1940, a decision was made for as many patients as possible to be moved to a less vulnerable site. Minterne House, located at

Minterne Magna Minterne Magna is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated midway between Dorchester and Sherborne. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 184. The village is sited near the source of the River Cerne among the chalk ...

in Dorchester, was requisitioned for this purpose, leaving Portland's hospital to become a casualty and emergency hospital only. Despite this, it would receive 5,222 inpatients over the course of the war. The hospital became surplus to requirements and was handed over to the National Health Service in 1957. The underground operating theatre, although rewired during 1954-5, was then stripped of much of its equipment. In 1996, the Portland Rotary were successful in gaining access to the theatre for a weekend of public tours. Steel gates were then put on the tunnel entrances and the theatre has remained closed to the public since. By 2005, some out-buildings of the hospital site were demolished to make way for Foylebank Way, a residential area for the elderly above 55 years of age.

References

{{authority control Defunct hospitals in England Hospitals in Dorset Isle of Portland Military hospitals in the United Kingdom Royal Navy Medical Service

History

See also

References