The County Infirmary opened on Prospect Hill in June 1802 and was seen as an auspicious start to the new century as regards health care in Galway. It was the first of many badly needed and long overdue improvements in the care of the sick and the indigent during the next half-century.
The building was three storeys high, 132 feet long and 28 feet in depth. The cut stone doorway in the centre gave access to a spacious hallway running the full depth of the building. A rear corridor ran the full length of each floor, with a stone stairway at each end giving access to other floors. The ground floor consisted of a boardroom, housekeeper’s room and a nurse’s bedroom to the left of the doorway, with a waiting room, kitchen and scullery to the right.
A surgery (operating theatre) occupied the centre of the first floor, with a large ward, 40 x 18 feet and a small ward 13 x 18 feet on each side. The top floor had a small ward in the centre with a large ward on either side.
It would seem that fewer women patients than men were expected, as only the south side of the first floor was designated for women. Additional rooms for staff and students were added later at the first and second floor levels, over the Dead House.
The large paved yard at the rear was flanked by a coach house and stables on one side, and by various outhouses including stores, privies and the Dead House. There was also a cesspool in the yard, 20 feet from the main building and only 18 feet from the pump, which was the only water supply to the building. It was not realised at the time that this cesspool, though covered, was a potential source of pollution.
Water closets and gaslights were provided in 1846, and the infirmary was connected to the new Town Water Supply in 1847, and to the town sewage scheme in 1875.
Our illustration is from a lithograph by Allen in Dublin, which was published on a certificate printed in 1866. This certified that a Mr. Michael Edward Murphy had diligently attended the clinical classes in the Galway County Infirmary and the Town Fever Hospital (where the Human Rights Centre is in UG today) during the sessions commencing November 1st 1865 and ending on May 1st 1866. Among the signatories on this certificate was Dr. Nicholas Colohan. This view from Prospect Hill shows what an elegant building it was. It was phased out as an infirmary in 1922, and closed in December 1924. Subsequently, it became the headquarters of the Galway County Council and, in 2003 it was demolished to make way for the new County Buildings.
