Hospital mysteries spark appeal for help
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Avoch-based Jim Leslie is behind the History of Highland Hospitals Project, which has spent the last 10 years working to uncover the rich past surrounding the region’s healthcare buildings.
It has found several with virtually no written history – and recently come across one in Strathpeffer which was previously unknown to the project.
“No, it isn’t the Nicholson Mackenzie which opened in 1898 to accommodate poor people coming to take Strathpeffer’s spa waters but rather an earlier and possibly simpler version of it,” said Mr Leslie.
This earlier hospital dates back to the early 1830s when wealthy benefactor Captain JE Gordon – the MP for Dundalk and a prominent protestant speaker – promoted a hospital to accommodate the poor.
It was called the Strathpeffer Infirmary or Institution and was “established for the relief of the destitute and suffering poor who annually resort to the mineral waters from the surrounding counties”.
By 1834, John Hay Mackenzie of Cromartie had granted a half acre site and the estimated cost was £500. It was designed as an “infirmary barracks” with dormitory and dining room to accommodate up to 50 people who would stay five to six weeks with a matron in charge. The hospital was run by trustees and the minister of Fodderty held weekly services there.
The infirmary was open by August 1836 when a fundraising bazaar was held in its large room.
But despite some key information, the project does not know how successful the hospital was and has limited details on who ran it and raised funds for it.
“What we do know is that the hospital fell into disrepair and, in 1857, it was recommended that ‘the unsightly old wooden Infirmary be demolished’ which indeed it was,” said Mr Leslie.
“The remaining funds (£164) were handed over to the promoters of the Ross Memorial Hospital in 1872. Forty years later, the Nicolson Mackenzie Hospital managers noted that “an infirmary for the reception of patients to be treated by the mineral waters was built in Strathpeffer Spa in the first half of the (19th) century... but the principal supporters had died’ and due to this and other causes it was no longer used for the reception of the sick poor.”
The History of Highland Hospitals is run by Steve, Moira and Jim Leslie. They have published four books on the history of Highland hospitals and are working on the Hospitals of Ross and Cromarty. If you have any knowledge of the Strathpeffer Infirmary or any hospital in the region email Mr Leslie on jimleslie1@outlook.com or call 01381 620412.
For more about the project visit www.historyofhighlandhospitals.com
