A Short History of Abergele Hospital
An initiative of the City of Manchester sought an appropriate site to establish a Sanatorium to care for the increasing number of adults and children with Tuberculosis in Mid Lancashire; Plas Uchaf Estate, Abergele was chosen, being sited on a sunny South facing hillside surrounded by pine trees and farmland. The South Manchester Board of Guardians acquired 434 acres of the Estate with the first incumbents of 10 men. 13 women and 10 children all with TB being housed at Plas Uchaf and Pen-y—Coed for the purchase price of £24,406 in 1910.
In June 1925 a contract was awarded to S F Hopley of Prestatyn for the sum of £12,822 to construct a bridge to gain access to the main road, the bridge spanned 315 feet in length rising to 96 feet in height above Gele stream. The bridge was named by the resident children as “The Echo Bridge”.
- The bridge named Echo — tall and fine
- A work of wonder in our time
- Did span the Gele Gorge so steep
- And through the bridge did patient’s peep
A new Children’s Section opened in 1931. The need for beds to treat Adults with TB gradually declined with the remaining adult patients at Plas Uchaf transferred to a 36 bed ward named the J B Morrison Unit.
The Manchester Lounge v as opened in 1967 and services increased to provide lung function testing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy services, a hydro pool, radiology unit, operating theatres, rheumatology and orthopaedic services.
Just as in our previous home at H M Stanley, St Asaph Abergele staff have been witness to the metamorphosis of the Health Service and Care changes. It is now part of Ophthalmology’s path to embrace the hospital of Abergele and continue to add to its long successful history of clinical innovation and an excellent standard of patient care into the 21st Century.
