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Tyne & Wear Building Preservation Trust gains support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for plans to save Keelmen’s Hospital in Newcastle

By October 11, 2024No Comments
A photograph of Martin Hulse and Karen Kilgour outside the Keelman's hospital. They are both smiling. The building behind them has boarded up windows and graffiti.
T+WBPT has received initial support* from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for the Grade II* Keelmen’s Hospital, it was announced today. Made possible by National Lottery players, the project aims to restore the building and bring it back into use as affordable housing.
Development funding of £437,732 has been awarded by the Heritage Fund to help the Tyne + Wear Building Preservation Trust and Newcastle City Council progress their plans to undertake detailed survey and design work for the conversion of the historic building. They will then apply for a further grant from the Heritage Fund of approximately £4.5 million to facilitate the full restoration of Keelmen’s.
The keelmen of Tyne and Wear were a group of men who worked on the keels, flat-bottomed boats that carried coal from the banks of the shallow Tyne out to ships that were too large to sail up the river. As a result, these keelmen were integral to the effective running of the coal industry.
The Keelmen’s Hospital was built in 1701 as an almshouse for sick and aged keelmen and their families, being paid for, somewhat remarkably, through the keelmen’s own charitable donations. The Keelmen’s Hospital Society was set up to fund and manage the hospital and the document ‘Articles of the Keelmen’s Hospital Society; with Rules and Regulations for the Hospital’ published in 1829 provides insight into not only what it was like to be a member of the society, but also to live at the hospital. Fines for members of the society included half a crown for ‘threatening or provoking a brother to fight, or saying or doing that which tends to take away his livelihood or good name’, one shilling for ‘being disguised with drink at a funeral’, and a sixpence fine for ‘great rudeness of their wives’. Residents, meanwhile, were specifically forbidden for keeping chickens in the corridors.
The building was built outside of the medieval city walls, and became a dominant building overlooking the river.  The Keelmen’s Hospital is a unique and special element of Newcastle’s built heritage.  The distinctive clock and turret was added in 1772.
Some will remember the building as student halls of residence, and others will have family linked to the original use as housing in the city. However, for over 15 years it has been mothballed and the time has come to restore its purpose and define a new role for this beautiful building.
Originally the building had 54 rooms.  Each was about 9 foot by 15 foot with a fireplace and a window.  All the toilets were in an outside shared facility, as there was no running water to the rooms.  Apart from the introduction of gas lighting, the rooms stayed unaltered until the 1960’s when it was unsurprisingly condemned as unfit for residential accommodation.  The future proposal is to convert the building into 20 much needed affordable housing units for Newcastle City Council, whilst retaining the important historical features of the building
This grant has been made possible by financial and technical support from Newcastle City Council, Historic England and the Architectural Heritage Fund. The first action is to submit planning and listed building consent applications for the required changes and then the design team will deliver the detailed design of the proposed new scheme.
Shona Alexander (Chair of T+WBPT) said “T+WBPT is a small charity that undertakes amazing restorations of fabulous buildings. We are delighted with this initial support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and look forward to working in close partnership with both the local community and Newcastle City Council to make this happen.”
It is expected that building works will begin in Spring 2026 and the 20 new units will be ready for occupation in 2028.
For further updates on Keelmen’s and the Trust’s other projects, visit their website www.twbpt.org.uk, or follow them on Instagram @tyneandwearbpt

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