IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Moat Road, WALSALL, WS2 9PS

A rear-view of part of the Walsall Manor General Hospital.

This is the hospital's department of histopathology (cellular pathology) and includes a Coroner's court and the adjoining mortuary. I worked in this building from 1994 to 2005 but it is soon to be moving to a new large facility at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton. The wooden fence on the right encloses an external body store for the mortuary. This addressed the winter capacity issue that had seen bodies stored in a refrigerated lorry trailer in the estates yard. By 2005 when I left it was realised this was no longer acceptable and money was spent to provide a more dignified solution. This is a common problem and other hospitals are also seeking solutions.

I worked here from 1994 to 2005 but none of these buildings were there then. The hospital underwent a major £174 million redevelopment from 2007 to 2010. The hospital has 550 acute beds and serves a population of 270,000. This was a dreadfully dull and later wet Monday afternoon and the pictures were not very good.

The van is parked in the mortuary entrance where bodies are received. The wooden fencing surrounds two modular external body stores that were installed to address capacity issues. The part of the building to the left houses the histopathology department but that is due to move to a new large facility at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton. I worked in that department from 1994 to 2005 and a merger with New Cross was discussed more than once but it has taken until 2020 to become a reality.

A satellite campus of Walsall College. I did a BTEC in popular music here in 2000-1; back then, it was the home of the performing arts and leather departments, though I don't know whether that is still the case.

Hospitals require oxygen and it is stored as a cryogenic liquid in large tanks and passed through evaporators before passing to the wards. Ice can be seen on the first part of the piping leaving the tank.

Formerly The Forge & Fettle public house, this is now operated as an Indian restaurant.

This Grade II Listed building is the only surviving part of the former workhouse that became part of the Manor Hospital. When I worked there from 1994 to 2005 there was still one block of workhouse buildings used as wards and offices but they were in poor condition and posed a considerable risk. They were demolished when the new hospital buildings were built. This building has been empty for as long as I can remember and although various uses were considered (e.g. a postgraduate centre), nothing has happened. I would like to see a good use made of this rather elegant structure.

This building supplies the sterile supplies for the hospital - for example theatre packs for operations.