St George's Hospital

St George's Hospital is a workhouse that has been converted into a hospital for people with learning disabilities. It was built between 1836 and 1838 for the Melksham Union, designed by H.E. Kendall. The building features a limestone ashlar front with dressed limestone on the rear ranges, and it is topped with Welsh slate roofs and brick stacks. The classical front range has four rear ranges arranged in a cross shape.

The structure is three stories high with a nine-window front. The central three bays project forward and feature a pediment, with a central six-panelled door that also has a pediment supported by corbels. The front has aluminium windows that have replaced the original sashes, with keystones and plain architraves on either side, along with three windows in the side bays. The first floor has nine windows with keystones, while the second floor has nine windows with corbelled sills but no keystones. The building has corbelled eaves and a pediment. There are single-storey flanking wings that also have aluminium windows, and the rear of the main range features aluminium windows as well.

Attached to the center rear of the main range is a three-storey wing that extends back to an octagonal three-storey block at the axis of the cross. The three-storey, nine-bay ranges run parallel to the front range, and a two-storey, nine-bay range continues to the rear, with shorter two-storey or single-storey wings attached to the ends of the main ranges. All rear ranges have either sash or fixed windows with glazing bars, along with cast iron rainwater goods.

The interior has been altered but still retains some original joinery and staircases. It was originally built as a workhouse under the 1835 Poor Law Act for the Melksham Workhouse Union, and the original layout remains largely unchanged. The front range included boys' and girls' schoolrooms, with a board room in the central part, while the rear wings and yards accommodated men and women in separate blocks. The central wing to the rear housed the kitchen and dining areas, and single-storey buildings contained workshops and stables, with a low building on the east side that contained cells for vagrants.