The Dispensary, Monmouth

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The Dispensary
The Old Dispensary, St James Square (geograph 5435281).jpg
Old Dispensary, St James Square
General information
Architectural styleGeorgian
Town or city Monmouth
Country Wales
Coordinates 51°48′47″N2°42′38″W / 51.81301°N 2.7106°W / 51.81301; -2.7106 Coordinates: 51°48′47″N2°42′38″W / 51.81301°N 2.7106°W / 51.81301; -2.7106
Completed<1868

The Dispensary is a Georgian town house which is fairly typical of many town-centre houses in Monmouth, Wales, dating from the mid 18th century, but with early 19th-century additions. It stands in St James Square, opposite the Catalpa tree. The building was listed at Grade II on 27 June 1952. [1]

Monmouth town in Monmouthshire, Wales

Monmouth is the historic county town of Monmouthshire, Wales and a community. It is situated where the River Monnow meets the River Wye, within 2 miles (3.2 km) of the border with England. The town is 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Cardiff, and 113 miles (182 km) west of London. It is within the Monmouthshire local authority, and the parliamentary constituency of Monmouth. Monmouth's population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8,877 in 2001.

St James Square, Monmouth square in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales

St James Square is a historic square in the town centre of Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located at the eastern end of Whitecross Street, within the medieval town walls. The area features the Monmouth War Memorial and the controversial, historic Indian Bean Tree. In addition, in 2010, the square was the site of discovery of the first Mesolithic artefacts in Monmouth. St James Square is lined with numerous listed buildings.

The Indian Bean Tree, St James Square, Monmouth

St James Square in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales is the site of a historic Indian Bean Tree. The Catalpa bignonioides, a native of the southeastern United States, was planted in the square about 1900. It was joined by the Monmouth War Memorial in 1921. After more than one hundred years of presiding over the square, the tree became the focus of controversy when it was condemned by the Monmouthshire County Council in 2005. The decision was met with fierce community opposition. The parties involved resolved their differences in 2006, and the tree received treatment, albeit some of it unauthorized. By 2011, the Indian Bean Tree in St James Square was flourishing.

The architectural historian John Newman [2] calls this the "one substantial eighteenth century house" in St James Street, though it is surrounded by later attractive façades. A dispensary was established here in 1857. This became the Monmouth Hospital and Dispensary, with nine beds, in 1868, and closed in 1903. The dispensary is one of 24 buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail, marked by a ceramic blue plaque on the wall.

John Newman (architectural historian)

John Arthur Newman is an English architectural historian. He is the author of several of the Pevsner Architectural Guides and is the advisory editor to the series.

St James Street, Monmouth

St James Street is a historic street in the town centre of Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. It appears as a segment of Whitecross Street on the 1610 map of the town by cartographer John Speed and is within the medieval town walls. On more recent maps, it extends from St James Square southwest to Almshouse Street. In 2010, the street was the site of discovery of Mesolithic era artefacts. St James Street is lined with numerous listed buildings.

Dispensary organization that dispenses medications, medical supplies, and in some cases even medical treatment

A dispensary is an office in a school, hospital, industrial plant, or other organization that dispenses medications, medical supplies, and in some cases even medical and dental treatment. In a traditional dispensary set-up, a pharmacist dispenses medication as per prescription or order form. The English term originated from the medieval Latin noun dispensaria and is cognate with the Latin verb dispensare, "to distribute".

History

A dispensary had been set up at Little Castle House, Castle Hill, in 1810, [3] but it moved to St James Square in 1868 where it became the town's hospital, funded by local benefactors. Sir James Paget (Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria), who inspected the premises in 1873, said it was one of "the most convenient and best ventilated and arranged Institutions he had ever seen". It mainly benefitted the poor although it was the deserving poor as those on parish-relief were given a low priority. The Dispensary served as a cottage hospital, except that cases involving childbirth, hospice cases and those with mental diseases were turned away. The annual cost of each bed in 1868 was about £40; this was raised by donations made at Monmouth's banks or directly at the Dispensary. The waiting room displayed the names of major benefactors, which included a gift of £1,000 from John E. W. Rolls [4] (a grandfather of Charles Rolls), who was President of the Institution. Rolls covered the cost of "The Hendre Bed" in perpetuity. The number of outpatients treated in 1876–1877 was over 1600; there were 60 inpatients. The Dispensary's catchment area extended to about eight miles outside Monmouth, including part of the Forest of Dean. [3]

Little Castle House, Monmouth

Little Castle House is a Grade II Listed building in Monmouth Wales. Also known as The Dispensary it was one of Monmouth's early medical facilities.

James Paget British scientist

Sir James Paget, 1st Baronet FRS HFRSE was an English surgeon and pathologist who is best remembered for naming Paget's disease and who is considered, together with Rudolf Virchow, as one of the founders of scientific medical pathology. His famous works included Lectures on Tumours (1851) and Lectures on Surgical Pathology (1853). There are several medical conditions which were described and later named after Paget:

Poor Relief Act 1662

The Poor Relief Act 1662 was an Act of the Cavalier Parliament of England. It was an Act for the Better Relief of the Poor of this Kingdom and is also known as the Settlement Act or, more honestly, the Settlement and Removal Act. The purpose of the Act was to establish the parish to which a person belonged, and hence clarify which parish was responsible for him should he become in need of Poor Relief. This was the first occasion when a document proving domicile became statutory: these were called "settlement certificates".

The lack of an operating room and the difficult stairs at the Dispensary had convinced the authorities that a new hospital was essential and this led to the Dispensary's closure. The Hospital moved from St James Square in 1903 to the Cottage Hospital on the Hereford Road. [5]

Cottage Hospital, Monmouth Hospital in Wales

The Cottage Hospital was a community hospital on the Hereford Road in Monmouth, Wales.

In 1907, the French Sisters were running a private school in the old dispensary building, offering both boarders and day pupils lessons in French, music, painting, drawing, needlework and general education. Soon afterwards, a children's home was established here, a use which continued up to the end of the twentieth century. [6]

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St James House, Monmouth building in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales

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References

  1. ↑ Old Dispensary, Listed Buildings, accessed January 2010
  2. ↑ Newman, John (2000) The Buildings of Wales: Gwent/Monmouthshire. ISBN   0-14-071053-1. University of Wales Press
  3. 1 2 Kissack, K. (1975) Monmouth – the Making of a County Town. ISBN   0-85033-209-5 Phillimore Press
  4. ↑ Illustrated Handbook of Monmouth p.39. 1875.
  5. ↑ Alan Sutton Publishing, Monmouth and the River Wye in Old Photographs, Alan Sutton Publishing, 1989, ISBN   0-86299-481-0, page 16
  6. ↑ "Children's Homes and Institutions in Monmouthshire, Wales". Children's Homes. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
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