IN PICTURES: The last days of Peterborough District Hospital

For many, Peterborough’s old District Hospital will conjure up a mixture of memories, some good and some bad.

Whether you loved or hated the Thorpe Road site, it’s hard to believe that it has now been more than 15 years since this once integral feature of city life ceased operations.

The building itself first opened in 1928 when Field Marshal Sir William Robertson decreed a living memorial was needed for those people in the city (and of the 6th Northamptonshire Regiment) who died as a result of the First World War.

The neo-Georgian facility became part of the newly-launched National Health Service in 1948, coming under the banner of No. 12 Group (Peterborough and Stamford) Hospital Management Committee of the East Anglian Regional Hospital Board.

The huge building that was to become the main Peterborough District Hospital was added in phases throughout the 1960s, with a Maternity Unit following suit in 1970.

The Peterborough Hospitals NHS Trust, which initially comprised Peterborough District Hospital and Edith Cavell Hospital was established in 1993.

In 2010, these two hospitals transferred to a single site on the grounds of the former Edith Cavell Hospital in Westwood, with the aim being to provide a flexible facility more suited to modern healthcare.

The District Hospital treated its last patients that same year, and was subsequently left to its fate.

The facility was demolished in 2015, and the Thorpe Road site has since been redeveloped to accommodate a housing estate and primary school.

Thanks to these wonderful shots from Peterborough Images Archive, we can remember how the old place looked shortly before it closed for good.