Middlesex House, Pitsford, Brixworth

[jillruss]

I've finally found a death certificate for my great aunt after years of searching.

I had found her on the 1939 Register living in Pinner, Middlesex with my grandmother so wasn't expecting this death in Brixworth, Northamptonshire in 1952 to be correct but its definitely her.

I was pretty sure she'd had some kind of illness or health condition since childhood but knew nothing 'concrete'. The certificate seems to confirm this.

Does anyone know the area enough to tell me if Middlesex House was a hospital or some kind of care home? Perhaps she was evacuated there in WW2 - I lost track of her after 1939.

Any local knowledge would be very much appreciated.

Jill

[sugarbakers]

Still there, Jill ... these might help ...


Middlesex House, High St, Pitsford

An old post on a Rotsweb forum ... a hospital ...
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/NORTHANTS/2000-06/0961091156

... The house was bought by Middx county council on 1941 to house evacuated female patients. The House later became a geriatric hospital, closing around 1977 ...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jennyannethorpe/26628243226

... and a Sewing & Knitting Club this afternoon ...
http://www.pitsfordvillage.co.uk/local-events.html

[jillruss]

Thanks for that. It looks as if she was evacuated there and stayed on afterwards, though I doubt it was a private hospital as the costs would probably have been prohibitive for my poor rellies! Mind you, by all accounts they were a close family so perhaps the siblings shared the costs.

It looks like a nice place which I find strangely reassuring (given that I never met her). Big softie that I am!!

Thanks again for finding those links - I'm hopeless at googling!
Jill

[ExPitsford]

Hi, Jill - if this thread is still observed years later!

I used to live at Middlesex House and came across your query whilst pointlessly browsing nostalgic memories - trying to find old sales listings and internal photos, no luck. I'm not sure when my parents bought it, but I was born there in '85 and we moved away in the early '90s. It's probably for the best that I can't see how much it may have changed internally, being very attached and very easy to attach to old homes, but if it helps . . . yes, it was a very nice place. Very much a dream home for a child and probably has forever influenced my taste for cavernous older properties with large gardens. Specifics have long since blurred except a few mental snapshots, but I remember there was a sun lounge at the rear that might have been used on good days for convalescents. We sold some of the land by the road and the buyer built a house there; at some point after we moved an area of the back garden had a similar fate, judging by google satellite maps, and the tree in the middle of the courtyard has gone. Progress is overrated. I miss that tree.

The temptation to travel 100s of miles and join the knitting club is strong but I think that'd be too much; I just wanted to say that I have fond memories of the house and I'm sure it was a good place for your great aunt to be.

[jillruss]

Thanks for taking the time to post that, ExPitsford.

Altough I don't think I ever met her (though its possible when I was a very small child) its nice to know she lived in what sound like really pleasant surroundings.