We are always pleased to receive comments on draft text posted on our website. Paul Freeman’s research about Brimington tied in with Ashgate Hospice’s former role as a Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD) hospital in the First World War (for causalities in that war). Our photograph here may well show the property – Ashgate House – during this period.
As is probabaly well-known, the Barnes family owned the property for some time. In 1915 the family offered the mansion to the Red Cross for use as a VAD hospital after Trinity Institute on Newbold Road (in Chesterfield), which had originally been taken over for the purpose, was declared full. The Ashgate hospital continued to receive wounded soldiers until it closed in March 1919, by which date 1,1015 men had been treated there and at Trinity Institute.
Thanks to Paul’s research and that of others, we have been able to update our draft text on Brampton to reflect this part of the former Ashgate House’s history. We still need to sketch in the later history, but will be doing so in the coming months. For example, after the Second World War, it became an annex, for rehabilitation, to the Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Royal Hospital on Holywell Street. In 1972 there were 45 beds there, some in a ‘Horsa’ building in the stable yard. Ashgate Hospice opened in 1988 using part of the former Ashgate House.
To find out more about the large parish of Brampton, which extended down Chatsworth Road to its border with Chesterfield, look at our draft text on Brampton at https://derbyshirevch.org/draft-text/. Look for the download on Brampton. Ashgate House is at page 60.
There’s also a short article on Ashgate House at https://northwingfield.wordpress.com/.
To find out more about VAD hospitals visit https://vad.redcross.org.uk/Auxiliary-Hospitals.