final guest blog by maddie hale

It’s been just over two months since I started my placement at the George Marshall Medical Museum and the time has flown by! This year has obviously been very different because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this has affected the way that work experience can be carried out. I had no idea what to expect when I started this placement, as this was my first time doing any sort of history-related work experience.

 At our first (virtual!) meeting, Louise Price, the curator of the museum, introduced me to the museum and we brainstormed ideas for possible projects, like creating resources for schools, transcribing oral interviews, or researching patients from Powick Asylum. Researching patients was the first thing I had a go at, and, as I’ve discussed in my previous blog posts, this is what I’ve been doing for the majority of my placement!

On the first day of my placement, I spent several hours searching for the patients using the Find My Past website, and I immediately knew this was what I wanted my project to be on! In my previous blogs, I’ve talked about the difficulties with using sources like censuses, and birth, marriage, and death records, and the entirety of my time doing this research has been a learning curve. The more I researched, the more interested I was, and the more I was able to create a picture of the patients’ lives. Being able to work on something centred around mental health has been really special for me, and I feel like I’ve really gotten to know some of these people and their lives rather than just seeing them as patient numbers.

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I can’t wait for everyone else to get to know them as well as I do, and my summaries of these patients will be on the Medical Museums website, and will be displayed in the museum when it re-opens! Current circumstances have obviously meant that I haven’t been able to visit the museum in person, and I’m incredibly excited to be able to go and see it in person, hopefully soon!

I’ve absolutely loved doing this work experience placement, and I would even say that it’s been my favourite part of my university experience so far! I’ve learned about the way the museum is run, I’ve been able to learn how to work with primary source material, like the museum’s database of patient case notes, and I’ve written blog posts, which is something I’d never done before and has been hugely helpful for me in reflecting over the work that I’ve done! The museum’s database is available to access on the website if you’re interested in learning about the patients, which I highly recommend having a look at! Doing this research has really opened my eyes to what historical research can do, and volunteering with the museum is something that I would absolutely love to do in the future!

It’s been an absolute privilege to be able to do this placement, and I feel very lucky that I have had such a wonderful supervisor to guide me. Louise and I have had weekly meetings which have been extremely helpful for my placement and have become something I look forward to every week, especially with the pandemic meaning that we can’t get out and about to see people as much as we’d like! Mostly I’d like to say a big, big thank you to Louise, who has definitely been one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed this so much!

I’d also like to say thank you to my module supervisor, Elspeth King, for arranging my placement, and for all of her help and guidance with my work experience module!

If you ever get the chance to do a work experience placement with the George Marshall Medical Museum, take it! You’ll definitely love it as much as I have!

Guest blog by Maddie Hale, Work Experience Student

I’m coming towards the end of my placement with George Marshall Medical Museum, so I’m now starting to compile the work that I’ve done! It’s been almost two months since I started my placement, and I’ve spent the majority of my time researching patients at Powick Asylum, to try and find out about their family history, and their lives outside of the Asylum.

As I described in my last blog, I’m definitely learning as I go along, and over the past few weeks I feel that I’ve become more confident with using source material such as censuses, marriage records, and birth and death records. I talked before about the difficulties of using these sources, and I’ve definitely run into more obstacles since! This has meant that for some of the patients, I’ve been able to find extensive family histories, but for others, I’ve been unable to find them outside of Powick at all!

One of the more peculiar things that I’ve come across is the 1901 census for Powick. I’ll use Joseph Lowe as an example to demonstrate this. Below is a snippet from the 1891 Halesowen Census, which lists that Joseph Lowe is a fifty-year-old rivet maker from Halesowen, and that he lives with his housekeeper and domestic servant Jane Jones. Typically, this is what most censuses look like, although they do vary between years and places!

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1891 England, Wales & Scotland Census
Islington, Halesowen, Stourbridge, Shropshire & Worcestershire, England

However, the 1901 Powick Census looks a little bit different.

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1901 England, Wales & Scotland Census
Powick, Upton on Severn, Worcestershire, England

Instead of names, the patients have been listed by their initials alone, and there is no indication at all of where they were from. This is the only census I have come across in my research so far that looks like this, and as you can probably guess, it hasn’t been very helpful!

For Joseph Lowe, I knew he was a patient at Powick in 1901, so I searched for his initials in the census, and found two results. His case notes had told me his age that he was a nail and rivet maker, which helped me to determine which J.L. was him.

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1901 England, Wales & Scotland Census
Powick, Upton on Severn, Worcestershire, England

 In this case I was able to find the patient I was looking for, but patients with more common initials, or a more common occupation, are much more difficult to find, and this means that there are some gaps in the research that I’ve done.

I’ve been able to find quite an extensive family history for some of the patients I’ve been researching, and every person’s is different! Joseph Lowe’s life was quite interesting. He lived at the same address for his entire life, even after both of his parents died, and he didn’t marry until he was 50, when he married Jane Jones, who had been his housekeeper for over 20 years!

I’ve really enjoyed getting to know all of the patients I’ve been researching, and being able to create a picture of their lives. Mental health is something that’s very important, both to me and to Louise Price, the curator of the museum. Louise has tasked me with creating summaries of these patients and their lives, for visitors of the museum to be able to read, and to get to know them as people, not just as patients! I’m very excited for people to be able to learn about these patients when the museum re-opens. This research is very time-consuming, and it’s definitely hard work, but it’s also one of the most rewarding things that I’ve ever done! 

Anthony Keck and Worcester Infirmary, Guest Blog by Sarah Dentith (Ganderton)

This year, as Worcester’s Infirmary building on Castle Street, Worcester reaches its 250th anniversary we would like to take a closer look at Anthony Keck the architect who designed it; who he was, and what else he designed.

Although it closed as a hospital in 2002 the beautiful building designed by Anthony Keck and opened to patients in 1771 is now owned by the University of Worcester. In normal times the public can visit a small museum there in association with the George Marshall Medical Museum, celebrating the hospital’s history which includes photographs and plans of the original building. Keck’s design was chosen for Worcester Royal Infirmary from a selection of competitive entries, a couple of which are available to view at the Worcestershire Archives. His design was very similar to Luke Singleton’s design of Gloucester Infirmary which had opened in 1756. Construction of the infirmary to Keck’s plans began in 1767 on what had once been an artichoke field, and which was purchased especially for the building of the infirmary. It was built from Bath stone and bricks made on nearby Pitchcroft, now Worcester’s racecourse and the completed building was opened in 1771.

Keck designed several other things in the local area. His designs were mainly for private houses but his connection with influential local families, may have led to more significant jobs especially in Worcestershire including the Worcester Infirmary building. And like the Worcester Infirmary, many of his creations are now listed by Historic England. For instance he worked for Revd Dr Treadway Nash, Worcestershire’s historian, in Bevere, and Ham Court in Upton-Upon-Severn. He also designed Upton’s Cupola to beautify the top of the church tower and Old St Martin’s church in Worcester’s Cornmarket. Old St. Martin's Church, Worcester was built in 1768, having taken four years, and cost £2,215, and is now Grade II*. In 1770 Keck worked in Upton to remodel St. Peter and St. Paul's which was Upton-Upon-Severn’s parish church and it’s oldest building. He designed its famed lantern and copper cupola known locally as the "Pepperpot" which is now Grade II* listed.

Keck was born in about 1726 in Randwick, Gloucestershire, to a family of Yeoman farmers in the Cheltenham area. He was possibly apprenticed to a builder-architect in the area. At the time of his marriage to Mary Palmer, in Lugwardine, Herefordshire on 29th June 1761 he was described as a builder. Keck and his wife settled in Kings Stanley and had two children, Thomas and Sarah. He was given the Freedom of Worcester in 1768 possibly for his work on the Old St Martin’s church.

Anthony Keck, was known as a mason and architect with a busy practice. He had workshops at Kings Stanley in Gloucestershire where he lived and between 1770 and 1790 he was possibly the leading architect in the three counties of Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. He produced country houses with plain exteriors and elegant interiors of Adamsian derivation, many with bowed wings. Nicholas Kingsley states that Keck like many other architects ‘worked extensively to tried and trusted formulae’. His houses tended to use a central block with pediment bay windows and few details.

His finest house is considered to be Penrice Castle, Glamorgan, but he also worked on extensions, alterations and rebuilding of a number of country houses, and added details such as orangeries and stable blocks to existing houses.

His work is associated with many privately-owned buildings and some public works:

·         Barnsley Park, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, redecoration work by Keck in 1780 for James Musgrave, who inherited a baronetcy in 1812. Grade I listed.

·         Barrington Grove, Middle Road, Barrington, Gloucestershire. Grade II listed, The manor house for Barrington village, Barrington Grove, the manor-house of Little Barrington manor, was rebuilt in the late 18th century, probably after 1779, possibly with Anthony Keck as the architect but incorporates parts of an older house. The house is of ashlar, and is two storied with attics, sash windows and six Doric pilasters. It was redesigned in the nineteenth century.

·         Beech House, Church Street, Stroud, Gloucestershire. Early C18, refronted c1770 by Anthony Keck in Flemish bond red brick. Now Grade II listed.

·         Bevere House, Claines, Worcestershire. Grade II* house remodelled by Keck 1765 for Dr Treadwell Russell Nash, the county historian, who bought the estate at Bevere shortly after his marriage in 1758 and lived there during the latter half of the Eighteenth Century.

·         Bowden Hall, also known as Creed's Place, today this is the Ramada Hotel Gloucester, Upton St Leonards, Gloucestershire. Keck is thought to have designed the first-floor veranda on the south elevation, in 1770.

·         Burghill Court, Herefordshire, built by Benjamin Biddulph who died before completion in the late 18th century, designed by Anthony Keck.

·         Canon Frome Court, Ledbury, England, Herefordshire. Dated 1786 and attributed to Anthony Keck for Richard Cope Hopton, replacing an earlier house. It is now Grade II listed.

·         Coytrahen House, Bridgend, Wales. The park and gardens were created during the ownership of John Popkin, who also built the house in the 1770s. It has a 170ft Palladian frontage a three storey central block and two pavillion wings. The Great Western Railway later cut a swathe across the park, the house was a red cross hospital in the First World War, abandoned in 1925 and sold 1946.

·         Ferney Hill, Ferney, Dursley, Gloucestershire. Grade II listed building. Former large country house, now local authority residential home built 1767-8 by Anthony Keck from Limestone ashlar and painted brick. Two-storey with attic centre, former stables and coach house to rear and tall 15-pane ground floor sashes flanking central doorway with moulded architrave and dentil cornice over on console brackets. 

·         Flaxley Abbey, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, formerly a Cistercian monastery. The family was created as the Crawley-Boevey Baronets in 1784 and about this time the house was substantially rebuilt, to Keck’s designs including a new front. It is Grade I listed.

·         Forthampton Court, Gloucestershire. Keck designed the former stable-block in about 1788 for Rev. James Yorke. It is now Grade II listed.

·         Ham Court, Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire. This was built in 1772  for Mr. E. G. B. Martin, Lord of the Manor, at the extreme south of the parish. It was demolished in 1926.

·         Highgrove House, Tetbury, Gloucestershire, now the home of the Prince of Wales. This was perhaps Keck’s last building, built between 1796 and 1798 in a Georgian neo-classical design.

·         Iscoed, Carmarthenshire. Today a ruin, but designed by Keck for William Mansel and built in 1772. Described by Pevsner as ‘one of the most important Georgian houses in Wales’.

·         Kentchurch Court, Grosmont Community, Monmouthshire. A medieval deer park with some late C18 landscaping associated with a country house belonging to the Scudamore family. The estate passed to John Scudamore, who in 1756 married Sarah Westcombe, an heiress. In 1795, the year before he died, he commissioned John Nash to alter the house. A substantial internal modernisation was undertaken after 1773 to designs by Anthony Keck. The House is now Grade II*.

·         Longworth Hall, Lugwardine, Hereford. Built in 1788 to Keck’s design, it is now Grade II listed and used as a hotel.

·         Margam Park, Glamorgan. 1793 saw the completion of the Orangery, designed by Anthony Keck.

·         Moccas Court, near the village of Moccas in Herefordshire, was built in 1775–81 by Anthony Keck for Sir George Armyand Cornewall to replace the existing Manor house. The house is grade I listed. He also probably built the grade II* listed Home Farm House with workshops and out buildings, and barn 1783-4.

·         Newton Court, Dixton, Monmouthshire. Built for George Griffin in about 1798-1802 possibly to a design by Anthony Keck who died 1797, but built posthumously.

·         Penrice Castle, Glamorgan, built in the 1770s by Keck for Thomas Mansel Talbot (1747–1813) of Margam and Penrice. This is Grade I listed and among the finest country houses in Wales.

·         Ryeford Double Lock, at Ryeford, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, for the Stroudwater Canal Company in 1779. It is now Grade II listed.

·         Slebech Park, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. The new house was built in 1776 for John Symmons, formerly of Llanstinan, who became the second husband of Anne Barlow, although he had to sell it just 2 years later due to financial difficulties.

·         Church of St Nicholas, Standish, Gloucestershire, Now Grade I listed with box pews dating from 1764 by Anthony Keck.

·         Stratford Park, Stroud, Gloucestershire. Remodelled and extended to the front (south) in the 1780s by Anthony Keck for Nathaniel Winchcombe. Now Grade II listed.

·         Underdown, Ledbury, Herefordshire. A small country house Grade II listed, rebuilt in 1780 by Keck.

·         Wormington Grange, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, a south-facing house similar to Bowden Hall. A Grade II* listed country house built in the 1770s of stone with a slate roof, with full-height bow windows.

Anthony Keck died in 1797 at the age of 70, with some of his designs being used in construction even after his death. He was buried at the village church in Kings Stanley where he had lived with his family at Beech House, the home he partly designed for himself and his family. In his will, he left his wife an estate in Temple Guiting, and left money for his granddaughter Mary and his son. Anthony Keck is outlived by the buildings he created in his lifetime, including Worcester Infirmary, which survive for us all to enjoy.

References:

https://www.british-history.ac.uk

https://historicengland.org.uk/

http://www.llangynwydlowercommunitycouncil.co.uk/Images.htm

https://www.parksandgardens.org/places/

https://peoplepill.com/people/anthony-keck-1/

Historic Building Non-Technical Record Report: The Former

Worcester Royal Infirmary, Castle Street, Worcester 2018, explorethepast.co.uk

Worcestershire place names, by Anthony Poulton-Smith

Upton in the Severn Valley, by Upton-upon-Severn Festival Committee

(Researched December 2020-February 2021)

 

Anthony Keck’s Life and Work Timeline

·         1726              Born in Randwick, Gloucestershire.

·         1761              Marriage to Mary Palmer, Lugwardine, Herefordshire.

·         1764              Church of St Nicholas, Standish, Gloucestershire (box pews).

·         1765              Bevere House, Claines, Worcestershire. Remodelled.

·         1765              Burghill Court, Herefordshire.

·         1767-8          Ferney Hill, Ferney, Dursley, Gloucestershire.

·         1768              Old St. Martin's Church, Worcester.

·         1768              Freedom of Worcester, Worcestershire.

·         1770              Beech House, Church Street, Stroud, Gloucestershire.

·         1770              Bowden Hall, Upton St Leonards, Gloucestershire.

·         1770              St. Peter and St. Paul's church, Upton-Upon-Severn, Worcestershire.

·         1771              Worcester Royal Infirmary, Worcester.

·         1772              Ham Court, Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire.

·         1772              Iscoed, Carmarthenshire.

·         1773              Kentchurch Court, Grosmont Community, Monmouthshire.

·         1770s           Coytrahen House, Bridgend, Wales.

·         1770s           Penrice Castle, Glamorgan.

·         1770s           Wormington Grange, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.

·         1776              Slebech Park, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire.

·         1779              Barrington Grove, Middle Road, Barrington, Gloucestershire.

·         1779              Ryeford Double Lock, at Ryeford, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire.

·         1780              Barnsley Park, Cirencester, Gloucestershire.

·         1780              Underdown, Ledbury, Herefordshire.

·         1780s           Stratford Park, Stroud, Gloucestershire.

·         1788              Longworth, Hereford.

·         1775-81        Moccas Court, near the village of Moccas in Herefordshire,

·         1783-4          Moccas Court Home Farm House with workshops, outbuildings and barn 1783-4.

·         1784              Flaxley Abbey, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.

·         1786              Canon Frome Court, Ledbury, England, Herefordshire.

·         1788              Forthampton Court, Gloucestershire.

·         1793              Margam Park, Glamorgan.

·         1797              Died at home at Beech House, Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire.

·         1796-98        Highgrove House, Tetbury, Gloucestershire. Completed posthumously.

·         1798-1802   Newton Court, Dixton, Monmouthshire. Built posthumously.