Killearn, Killearn Hospital
Hospital (Second World War)
Site Name Killearn, Killearn Hospital
Classification Hospital (Second World War)
Alternative Name(s) Killearn Emergency Medical Service Hospital
Canmore ID 206308
Site Number NS58SW 20
NGR NS 5100 8485
NGR Description Centred NS 5100 8485
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/206308
- Council Stirling
- Parish Killearn
- Former Region Central
- Former District Stirling
- Former County Stirlingshire
NS58SW 20 centred 5100 8485
Killearn Hospital, formerly Killearn Emergency Medical Hospital is situated on the SW side of the A81 road E of Killearn House (NS58SW 10). The hospital complex consists of many wooden chalet type buildings with verandahs, all now very dilapidated. Amongst the group are several rough cast buildings including some Motor Transport (MT) sheds.
In the post-war period the hospital became the Neurological/Medical/Surgical unit for the West of Scotland prior to transfer as the Institute of Neurological Sciences to the Southern General Hospital, Govan in 1970s.
At present some of the buildings away from the road are still in use, but many others are deteriorating and the entrance is blocked and there are 'keep out signs'
Information from Defence of Britain Project form, North Clyde DoB Group, 1997
Demolition Application (17 May 2021 - 19 May 2021)
This Data Structure Report forms the archaeological record of the historic building recording survey undertaken prior to the demolition of the existing buildings at the former Killearn Hospital at Killearn in Stirling. Thirty surviving buildings were recorded across the site although this did not form a complete record of the hospital complex as many of the buildings had been demolished, possibly due to the unsafe nature of some of the surviving structures.
Killearn Hospital (NRHE Site Number: NS58SW 20) was built in the early stages of World War II as part of the Emergency Hospital Service which anticipated numerous civilian casualties resulting from air raids. Land was requisitioned to the east of the ruined Killearn House, and a large number of Ministry of Works standard huts erected, based around a prefabricated framework of precast concrete with brick and fenestration infill. The hospital was completed in 1940.
During World War II, Killearn Hospital was managed by both the local authority and the military, as it was required to deal with injured service personnel and local emergencies. By the end of the war, it had 640 beds and neuro-surgical, orthopaedic and peripheral nerve injury specialist units. The complement is reported to have been reduced to 404 after the war (Stirling Council Archives).
In 1948 Killearn Hospital joined the National Health Service under the Board of Management for Glasgow Western Hospitals and, in the post-war period, became the Neurological/Medical/Surgical unit for the West of Scotland prior to transfer as the Institute of Neurological Sciences
to the Southern General Hospital, Glasgow in 1970s. Killearn Hospital was abandoned in 1972 (NRHE and Stirling Council Archives).
Approximately 57 buildings formed the Killearn Emergency Hospital Complex; 27 of these have now been demolished. The majority of the buildings had been stripped out internally and were in a very dilapidated state, but those that survived were subjected to photographic survey. With the aid of a ground plan of the hospital buildings supplied by the landowner [G.S.] it was possible to identify the functions of the majority of the buildings subjected to the survey, and produce a ground plan of the buildings’ locations and their method of construction illustrated by photographs.
Information from OASIS Id: guardarc1-422195 (Blair, A. H.) 2021
