Catmose Vale Hospital, Attached Boundary Wall And Two Outbuildings To North West

Hospital, formerly workhouse, attached outbuildings and boundary wall. Built 1836–7, designed by W J Donthorne, with 20th-century alterations and additions.

The building is constructed from coursed ironstone with ashlar limestone dressings, quoined corners and openings, and coped gables with exaggerated kneelers. It features ashlar and brick ridge stacks beneath a blue slate roof.

The main range follows an 'E' plan, with an advanced entrance block linked by a recessed spine cross-range to flanking advanced wings that enclose small courtyards on either side of the entrance. The entrance block extends westwards to separate the yards into two distinct areas. The whole complex is enclosed by a boundary wall joined to the outer walls of the flanking wings and incorporating ancillary outbuildings.

The east elevation is symmetrical with a 1.4.3.4.1 bay arrangement. The entrance block spans three bays and is gabled, originally with a bellcote now removed. The central bay rises three storeys and is dominated by a full-height mullioned and transomed panel incorporating a ground-floor entry with 20th-century double doors flanked by single lights. Above this, stacked first and second-floor five-light windows sit above blind mullioned stone storey panels between floors, with mullions running continuously from ground to second floor. An exaggerated hood mould to the second floor reduces the window width to three lights above the second-floor transoms. The doorway features 20th-century half-glazed doors within splayed ashlar returns to window cills. A plinth mould links the cill and extends around the front and side walls of narrow two-storey flanking service bays, above which a shallow parapet continues the string course linking with the hood mould of the central bay. Single-light windows serve the half-landing levels of the service bays.

The two-storey spine range extends on either side of the entrance block, with a canted three-storey link incorporating tudor-arched doorways with flanking lights at the angles of adjoining ranges. Two-light first-floor windows and single-storey second-floor openings serve this section. Four-bay two-storey spine ranges feature ovolo-moulded two-light mullion and transom windows to the ground floor and two-light mullioned first-floor windows below shallow gabled dormers.

The gabled wings at the ends comprise three bays each, with an off-centre doorway to each inner wall, fitted with moulded surrounds and tudor-arched heads. Ground-floor mullion and transom windows of three lights and first-floor openings of two and three lights sit within shallow dormers. East-facing gables contain three-light mullion and transom windows to ground floors, two-light mullion windows to first floors, and breather-like vents to the attic. All window openings feature eared surrounds.

The west elevation of the spine range and the projecting central extension to the entrance block incorporate quoined surrounds to windows, many now fitted with 20th-century joinery. Two-storey canted link walls feature tudor-arched doorways. Tall ground-floor openings serve the central extension, which connects to the boundary wall. A three-bay single-storey outbuilding stands at the centre of the western part of the wall. To the north-west, a five-bay single-storey outbuilding extends eastwards towards the spine range.

The interior is plain and functional, reflecting the building's original workhouse purpose, but remains largely unaltered in spatial terms. The distinction between communal areas and smaller quarters is still evident. Plain boarded doors, staircases, link corridors and some hearths survive.

As an early example of a post-1834 Poor Law Amendment Act workhouse, this building represents the first generation of such institutions, which displayed a preference for severe Tudor or Elizabethan styles.