Medicine in a church roof
The Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garret
The church we see today in St Thomas's Street dates back to the end of the 17th century when the church and hospital on this site were rebuilt. Here the monks and nuns had provided shelter and treatment for the poor, sick, and homeless for hundreds of years.
The Herb Garret
The new church had an unusually large garret in the roof space. The hospital's apothecary stored and cured herbs in the roof.
The Operating Theatre
Part of the herb garret was converted into a purpose built operating theatre in 1822. Previously operations were carried out in the ward. This was in the days before anaesthetics and antiseptic surgery.
When designing a special operating theatre it made sense to built in the church garret which was close to the women's surgical ward and at the same level.
This was truly a theatre because it was designed so that there could be an audience for the operations. Today the theatre and the medical instruments in the museum are a fearful reminder of the agonies of surgery before the days modern science and technology.
Submitted by: Andrew Hunt, 18 January 2007
