History of the Infirmary

Since it was founded in 1729, the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh has been on four different sites. Robertson Close 1. The original Edinburgh Infirmary, Hospital for the Sick Poor, Physicians' Hospital, or Little House was located at the head of Robertson's Close.  This hospital had only four beds, but received the Royal Charter in 1836. High School Yards 2. The hospital moved to larger premises in High School Yards, near Infirmary Street in 1741.  These were designed by William Adams.  There were 228 beds and 12 cells in the basement for "lunatics".  It was here that Professor James Young Simpson first demonstrated the anaesthetic properties of Chloroform. Lauriston Place 3. Work began In 1872 on a new hospital on a 'clean air' site in Lauriston Place, opposite George Heriot's School, built to replace the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in High School Yards.  The Lauriston Place hospital opened in 1879 and continued in use until May 1, 2003. Little France 4.  The hospital is now, in 2002, in the process of moving to its latest site, a new £184m building at Little France in the southern suburbs of Edinburgh.

Thank you to Peter Kirk, Swanston, Edinburgh  for giving me the location of the original Edinburgh Infirmary, and for giving me details of the web site. Further details have been added from an article  in the Edinburgh Evening News, January 20, 2007, pp16-17

 

High School Yards Building and the Covenanters' Monument

The Edinburgh Infirmary at Infirmary Street was demolished in 1884. An Ionic column from the infirmary's colonnade was used the following year to create a monument to the Covenanters (1666), outside Dreghorn Barracks in Redford Road. This monument also commemorates the Romans, Cromwell in 1650 and Charles Edward Stuart in 1745.

The details above are taken from the Edinburgh University School of Geoscience web site, which also includes a photograph of the monument

 

Lauriston Place Building

Hospital at Lauriston Place    © The Birds-Eye View of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary from the north-east (scroll up the page to see it) clearly shows the lay-out of the site.  In the background, the open area of land is The Meadows. The Meadows      © David Bryce was invited to design the hospital in 1872.  His design was built and opened in 1879.  It occupied this site close to the centre of Edinburgh, between George Heriot's School and The Meadows, until very recently.  The Edinburgh Royal Infirmary at Lauriston Place is now (2002) about to close and be replaced by a new hospital being built at Little France in the SE suburbs of Edinburgh. The Lauriston Place site is to be redeveloped as housing, offices and hotel.

 

Little France

The 'New Edinburgh Royal Infirmary' © The Edinburgh Royal Infirmary moved to a new  purpose-built hospital at Little France, beside the A7, Edinburgh to Dalkeith road, about 4 miles  SE of the centre of Edinburgh in 2002.