nocton hall hospital | surgery, x-ray, wards 46-56
11|05|08
Whilst walking the down the lengthy central corridor, or exploring the various barrack-like ward blocks,
we couldn’t help but be reminded of the former Canadian Red Cross Military Hospital near
Taplow in Maidenhead. Both hospitals had a similar history, as the CRCMH was
also built during the Second World War, and also long outlived its original purpose (and design parameters)
as a general hospital for the Taplow area.
Interestingly the CRCMH arranged its wards east-west along the central spine corridor,
whilst the Nocton Hall Hospital arranged them parallel. Why this decision was
taken isn’t known, but perhaps orientation of wards wasn’t important for the treatment of
short-term patients and the planning of temporary war time hospitals was flexible enough to
accommodate various building plots.
