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Listing: House, hospital in C20. c1770
with later alterations and additions.
Comment: Originally this house, known as The
Beeches, would have been one of the earliest of many gentlemen's residence
that were built along the still rural parts of the road from Wolverhampton
to Penn. It is said to be named after the many copper beech trees
which were a feature of its garden. It was originally the farmhouse of
Upper Penn Farm, later known as Beeches Farm and occupied by the Lanns
family. During the later part of the 19th century it was occupied by Martha
Warner. The house was acquired by Francis J. J. Gibbons
of the Gibbons lock, door furniture, ornamental metalwork, etc. company.
Francis also owned the Cunard Cycle Co and was keen on aviation, helping to
set up the 1920 aviation meeting in Dunstall Park. He lived at the
Beeches until 1923 when he moved to Penn Hall. He sold the Beeches to
Henry Evers Palfrey, a sheepskin rug manufacturer, who lived there until
1935 when the house and grounds were purchased by the Royal Hospital to
become a women and children's convalescent home. One would guess that
the bay to the left was a hospital extension from the days when sunlight was
thought to be a cure for all ailments, especially children's. The Hospital
erected many buildings at the rear of this house and the whole site remains
in hospital use.
According to a report from the Wolverhampton Primary Heath
Care Trust (the current owners) in the Express and Star, 9th
April 2004, this building "looked after hundreds of local children
suffering from such serious illnesses as tuberculosis and polio between
1935 and 1989". During World War II child patients from the Royal
were evacuated here. In 1951 the first children's ward opened at
the Royal for acutely ill children. Children were treated there
and then sent to Penn when their condition improved. Apart from
the usual doctors and nurses this hospital employed young girls, too
young to enrol as trainee nurses, who lived in the top of the house, and
were introduced to nursing by carrying out basic treatments and playing
with the children. The hospital also had its own gardeners to
maintain the grounds and to run the kitchen garden and greenhouses which
provided fresh produce for the hospital.
The house stopped being used for children in 1989 and got
into a very run down condition and seemed to be suffering from the
subsidence which is common in this part of town. But in 2000 the
NHS announced plans for the refurbishment of the hospital and the
restoration of the house. This has now been completed and the
house, and other new facilities on the site, was officially opened on
17th May 2004. It has been re-named The Beeches Training and
Education Centre, and is used for training in health and social care;
and it is also available for local groups to use.
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