Convalescent, Nursing, and Maternity Homes
Over the last 150 years the promise of clean air and bracing walks have made Arnside an ideal place for rest, care and convalescence. Over these years several houses and purpose-built establishments have been used for this purpose. As childbirth became more regulated early in the 20th Century maternity homes also became popular and Arnside was again well placed for women needing a safe place for their confinement. In addition, during the Second World War Arnside became a safe haven for women and children from nearby cities and Barrow-in-Furness. Five of these establishments were Trerose Maternity Home, Dungarth Antenatal Hostel, Arnside Nursing Home, Briarfield convalescent home and Grange View.
Trerose Maternity Home and Dungarth Antenatal Hostel
Built in 1907, and originally called ‘The Chase’, the first of these two houses, on High Knott Road, changed hands a couple of times and by 1935 was renamed Trerose. The 1939 Household Register of England and Wales shows Dungarth, the second of these houses, as one of several lodging houses on the promenade.
In June 1941 Trerose and Dungarth were requisitioned from their owners under the Government Evacuation Scheme for occupation as a maternity home and ante natal hostel. A Matron, Miss May Turnsall, was appointed In December 1941 and a second midwife, Miss Mercer, in July 1942. Trerose accepted ‘normal’ deliveries of mothers evacuated from Barrow and the North West coast, as well as private patients. No doubt their fees helped to fund the home. How many babies were born here is not recorded, but Dungarth, which took overflow from Lancaster Royal Infirmary, could take up to 20 antenatal mothers.
In the beginning these houses were only requisitioned until 1943, but mothers continued to come to Arnside all through the war and into the peace. The houses were finally de- requisitioned and sold in April 1946.
Arnside Nursing Home [now 47 Church Hill]
Somewhere around 1930 Mary Sheila Thompson, a registered nurse and midwife who had trained in Barrow in Furness between 1918-1922, bought what was then called ‘East Hill’ and opened it as the Arnside Nursing Home. In 1933 she married Robert Crossfield, one of the well-known local boat and house-building Crossfield family and continued to run the home as Nurse Crossfield. The 1939 Household Register of England and Wales shows there were 4 elderly residents as well as staff and possibly evacuees.
During the Second World War she began to take Maternity cases. Whether this was in addition to her elderly patients, or because her services had been required by the government, is not known. Through a family contacting the Arnside Archive to trace the birthplace of their uncle, what we do know that at the cost of a confinement was 22 pounds and 10 shillings. His mother recollected nursing him shortly after his birth, to the sound of bombs being dropped across the Kent estuary near Grange-Over-Sands.
The Grange View and Briarfield convalescent homes.
The most longstanding and imposing convalescent homes were Briarfield and, from the late 1930s, Grange View. Sited high on Knott Lane, looking over Arnside and the Kent Estuary, they offered a magnificent view and convalescence for many working people, over several decades in the 20th Century.
Briarfield was built for Thomas Wilkinson, who sold it by auction in 1905 when he moved to the West Promenade. It became the Briarfield Women’s Home in 1906, which was enlarged in 1928 and renamed Briarfield Convalescent Home. This was later taken over by the Manchester and Salford Hospital Saturday Fund which was founded in 1872. The Fund was a health insurance scheme through which working people were able to obtain treatment at certain Manchester hospitals and convalescent homes after paying a subscription. Donors either paid directly to the Fund or had the sum deducted from their wages. The convalescent homes were owned by the subscribers and were not open to non-subscribers. There was a men's home in Llandudno, North Wales, a women's home at Arnside, and a children's home at Bollington, Cheshire.
The Fund purpose-built Grange View in the mid-1930s, next to Briarfield. Both homes had the appearance of a fine country house or hotel and included a lounge, dining room, writing room, wash and locker rooms, bedrooms, and bathrooms for 50 -70 residents, as well as accommodation and offices for staff. The homes were not open to non -members, however they were well known within Arnside, employing many local people. Part of convalescence for residents was to engage in village life, joining in with church services and other activities.
A second floor was added to Grange View after the war which was opened by the Lord Mayor of Manchester. However, as healthcare changed so did the Manchester and Salford Hospital Saturday Fund’s convalescent scheme. In 1970 the Arnside Old Peoples Welfare Organisation was negotiating with Westmorland Council in a bid to buy Briarfield, which suggests that the Fund were already looking to reduce their size. The plan was to convert the accommodation, which then comprised of a lounge, dining room, writing room, wash and locker rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms for 70 persons and staff rooms, into sheltered accommodation units. Why this did not happen is not clear, but a fire in 1977 seems to have destroyed Briarfield, and Grange View closed in 1980 when the Fund consolidated its convalescence to its property in Llandudno, which was more economical to run.
A later plan to redevelop the Grange View proved too difficult and despite the design being compared to Morecambe’s Midland Hotel attempts to have it listed failed due to the additional floor. Consequently, when a buyer was found for the site, they demolished the remaining buildings and the current Grange Apartments replaced it, giving a new generation of people the opportunity to enjoy this commanding position.
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Manchester and Salford Hospital Saturday Fund – archive detail is here: https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/b489e047-e6b1-3992-aaa3-5e40e2147729?component=74f4ce12-3a1e-3d45-88b1-022280161538
Further detail can be found in the County Archives in Kendal.
The Arnside Archive has a number of photographs of the interior and exterior of the two buildings.
