Note

Date August 2007

Event ID 689479

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Note

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/689479

NT 28466 75449

In 1907, following the closure of the North and South Leith Poorhouses, a new combined poorhouse and hospital was estabished at Seafield by Leith Parish Council. This was the last poorhouse to be built in Scotland. During the First World War the poorhouse was taken over by the military, which introduced an operating theatre and nurses' home. Further improvements during the Second World War allowed the hospital to cope with emergencies such as bombing raids. In 1948 the newly establsihed National Health Service assumed responsibility for the Eastern General Hospital which became the hub of health services in the east of Edinburgh. Most of the buildings on the site of the former hospital have been demolished. Only the central administrative building survives, albeit in a derelict condition. This building was recorded by RCAHMS following a fire (EAL) August 2007.