Chorlton, Lancashire Poor Law Union

History
A township workhouse at Gorton was in operation prior to the enactment of the Poor Law Union Act.

Chorlton Poor Law Union formally came into existence on 3rd February 1837. It comprised the following constituent parishes

Ardwick_St_Thomas,_Lancashire, Birch_in_Rusholme,_Lancashire , Chorlton_cum_Hardy,_Lancashire , Chorlton_upon_Medlock_All_Saints,_Lancashire Chorlton_upon_Medlock_St_Saviour,_Lancashire , Didsbury,_Lancashire Gorton_St_James,_Lancashire , Hulme_St_George,_Lancashire , Hulme_St_Mark,_Lancashire ,Hulme ,Openshaw,_Lancashire , Stretford_St_Matthew,_Lancashire.

The first Chorlton Union workhouse was located the junction of Stretford New Road and Leaf Street. The building, presumably a former township workhouse, accommodated 300 inmates.

The Withington Workhouse
The new workhouse was located on a green-field site at Barlow Moor, Withington, at the north side of what is now Nell Lane. The building was erected in 1854-5 and was designed by William Hayley, Son and Leigh Hall. The workhouse cost about £53,000 and accommodated up to 1,500 inmates.

In 1864-6 a pavilion plan hospital was erected at the north of the workhouse. Designed by Thomas Worthington, it comprised five well-spaced ward blocks, linked by a covered way, and each accommodating 96 patients.

Following the opening of Worthington's hospital, the original hospital blocks were converted for use as lunatic wards.

An isolation hospital was built at the west of the site in 1872, next to the workhouse cemetery. It housed over 50 patients and its construction cost £2,000. Nurses' homes were erected in 1885, 1903 and 1913-15 at the north-west of the workhouse. The workhouse's medical facilities were further expanded in 1902 by the erection of two new hospital pavilions at the north of the site.

In 1910, ownership of the site passed to the Township of South Manchester. In 1915, the Poor Law Unions in the Manchester area underwent a major re-organization with the formation of a single new Manchester Union. The former Chorlton workhouse was then renamed Withington Hospital. After 1930, control passed to Manchester Corporation until 1948 when the hospital became part of the National Health Service.