800 Comments for Great Barr Colony (St Margaret's Hospital)

Hi expatbrummy don’t know if you remember any of the staff who worked at Maggies my dad, mom and stepmom all worked there in the 70s and 80s. We used to go to the social club. I remember the discos

Frazier, no, it's been demolished. It's not that hard to find out that info, as Motts did in fact give an update on it.

Is this still here ???

Wow neat! I've always wondered what this place looked like when it was in operation, but haven't come across any photographs. Thanks for sharing!

This is the photo that is most like the staircase I remember from about 1950 ish. If it is the one, there is a doorway to a dining room near where the photographer is standing.

For a while I think we might have stayed in rooms just off a staircase like this one. In about 1951, until our accommodation was ready. Though I just don't remember where we actually lived. There were houses there for doctors' families, because we visited one a number of times. There were French windows, and a nice garden outside them.

This reminds me of the staircase I used to play on while talking to one of the cleaning staff - back in about 1950 or 1951. There was a lot of dark polished wood, panelling. And a room with a long polished wood table where all the doctors and other senior staff ate their midday meal. If I was spotted in the doorwary or on the stairs opposite this dining room, I would be lifted onto a chair next to one of the doctors (a cushion first being put on it so I coudl reach), and given a plate with some lunch on it.

Interesting reach into your distant memories! I'm not certain about this particular hospital, but most of these kinds of places did indeed have housing for doctors and nurses on the grounds, especially when it was situated far from a town or city.

This resembles my memory of the staircase opposite the dining room that the medical staff had their lunches in.

I lived at this hospital in about 1950, for only one or two years. I remember being pushed along a gravel drive, with flower beds close by, to visit the home of one of the doctors who worked at the hospital. The doctor must have had a house on-site (does that make sense?). The doctor and his wife had french windows in their sitting room with long chintzy curtains that blew around in the breeze. It could have been at this hospital that there was what seemed like a huge dining room where the medical staff ate their lunch. Occasionally I was there, put on a chair with cushions, and offered some lunch. This dining room was off a corridor near an entrance door, I think, and there were carpeted stairs going up opposite the dining room door. Possibly they led to the flat we lived in for a while. But I was only 18 months to 2 years old, so I might be remembering it wrongly.

It was the Scotts personal chapel

When it was in use for managers ect there were large paintings of the Scott family on the walls going up the large staircase one of the supervisers told me she was convinced she saw the ghost of Lady Scott on the landing

This was a weighing machine for patients that were bed ridden ect

Worked at St Margaret's as a domestic and then as a superviser for a few years homes were very basic we had some laughs with the high grade patients one of them even told me I should live there as you had £7 pound a week to spend and got your meals free and clothes washed.

I visited the site recently. My dad was the head gardener many years ago and we lived onsite. The Hall in those days (1950's) was immaculate . Dad had to keep the terraced lawns in pristine condition as the bosses had their offices in the Hall !
So sad to see it now,please don't let it get to the stage where it cannot be restored. It must be close to that now