The nearby brick buildings mark the former location of The Norfolk & Norwich Hospital which was foundered by William Fellowes and built between 1770 and 1775 by William Ivory with funding from the Norfolk & Norwich Festival. It was rebuilt in 1879-84 by Edward Boardman and T.H. Wyatt which left only a small part of the original building , of Ivory's structure,on the east side
This was one of the most forward thinking hospitals in the country and amongst the first where surgeons used anaesthetics and antiseptic techniques
The hospital held in it's museum The worlds Largest collection of bladder stones. This is partly due to outstanding medical practice and skill as well as a rather odd local affliction. In 1779 admissions to the hospital for “the stones” was at a rate of 1 in 55 patients . Where as nearby Addenbrooke's it was 1 in 1650. By 1817 the rate in Norwich had risen to 1 in 38. The collection of stones stopped in 1909.
In the 1990's it was decided that the Hospital had out grown this site and a new The Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital was built in Colney. The collection of stones moved to the new hospital which was first large Private Finance Initiative Hospital in the N.H.S. And the first new teaching hospital to be built in England in 30 years. The old site has been developed into housing and has retained some of the old features. The new streets and courts are named after people associated with the former hospital.
A medical term that originates from the N & N is Normal for Norfolk ( sometimes shortened to NFN or N4N) it may have started as a term to describe medical anomalies like the frequency bladder stone admissions but soon became a derogatory term for peculiar, odd or slow patients.
CONGRATULATIONS TO CANARY CACHER ON FTF