Daneswood hospital
Aspley Heath was considered very healthy in the nineteenth century based on the fact that it was quite elevated (up to 556 feet above sea level) and covered in pine woods, like the foothills of the Alps. It was also stated that the difference between Summer high temperature and Winter low temperature was smaller here than anywhere else in Britain. On the strength of this a number of medical facilities were established here: Daneswood; Edgbury, Homewood and The Mount.
Daneswood Jewish Sanatorium [X24/761/2]
Daneswood was built as a private house in about the early 1880s for a Mr.Cleghorn and in 1903 was chosen by a couple named Bischoffscheim as a sanatorium for Jews, it lasted until May 1956 when it was reopened as a convalescent home. The house was later converted into flats. In 1927 this part of Bedfordshire was valued under the terms of the Rating Valuation Act 1925; every piece of land and property was inspected to determine the rates to be paid on it, [DV1/C/242]. The valuer first investigated the Lodge and found a brick and slate "bungalow" with two living rooms, a kitchen and conservatory downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs! The bathroom was outside. The place had electric light, mains water and drainage.
The sanitorium itself was built of brick and slate and could accommodate 30 patients; there were 4 nursing staff and 6 domestic staff. On the ground floor were the matron's room, recreation room, staff dining room, patients' dining room, patients' hall, dispensary, cellar, men's lavatory with wcs, line room, matron's store room with wc, kitchen, scullery, larder, maids' dining room and women's lavatory with two wcs.
The first floor consisted of: lavatory with 2 wcs; sister's bedroom; matron's bedroom; a ward for 3 women inside and 3 outside (on the verandah); two wards for two women and a woman's single room; two bathrooms; a staff lavatory; two wards for three men; a ward for two men in and two outside on the verandah; two single rooms for men; a men's and women's "slush room"; two bathrooms; 2 wcs.
Daneswood Sep 2007
On the second floor was a ward for four people, two wards for two and two single rooms; a slush room; 2 wcs; a bathroom and lavatory. There were also two nurses' bedrooms (above the "women's quarters"); a double master bedroom and a single master bedroom and two attics.
Outside were a lean-to glasshouse measuring 8 feet by 30 feet, a covered verandah on the south side of the house and a store. There was also a brick and tile engine house containing 53 cells of 105 volts, a boiler for sterilizing the pump, a 6.5hp Vert engine, a spare motor, draught fan dynamo and warmer and a rainwater pump. In a pumphouse was a 2-3hp motor pump and a 163 feet deep well. There was a brick and slate washhouse with a washing machine, drying machine with 15 feet of shafting, a 2 roller callender with 6 feet of shafting, a radiator for airing, an ironing stove, store and wc. Two bedrooms lay on the floor above this.