Built between 1857 -59, to replace an eariler workhouse run by the Medway Union.. It was designed by Peck and Stephens, based on their earlier "Invicta" plan, to house 650 inmates and built by Mr James George Naylor at a cost of £13594. The site included vagrant and receiving wrds, main accommodation block, kitchin and dining hall, workshop, laundary and infirmary with fever and smallpox wards. By 1896 a new infirmary block and a church had been added. The church was orientated south-west rather than east. In 1930 site became Medway Hospital when it was handed over to Kent County Council on the end of the Poor Law. New nurses accommodation, a maternity wrd, a childerns ward and an infirmary were added before the hospital was transferred to the National Health Servies in 1948 as All Saints Hospital. The hopital finally closed c.1997 on the completion of a new Medway Hospital and demolished to make way for new housing. It is not clear what, if any, of the original buildings may have survived.(1-2)

It is thought that the entrance block and the nurses home would be retained. The hospitals name may have changed to County Hospital in 1996, but it is still marked Medway Hospital in Ordnance Survey maps(2)

At its opening IN 1857 the new workhouse comprised: entrance buildings and open shed; vagrants' and receiving ward; main building of men's and women's wards and infants; the Master and Mistress's apartment; the boilers and cooling apparatus; bread and meal areas; workshop, drying room and laundry; hospital, idiots' ward, itch ward, fever and smallpox wards; well house and engine; furniture and bedding store

<1> Royal Commision on the Historical Monuments of England, Royal Commision on the Historical Monuments of England: All Saints Hospital (formerly Medway Union Workhouse) (Unpublished document). SKE12401.

<2> Essex County Council Field Archaeology Unit, 2000, All Saints Hospital Magpie Hall Road Chatham Kent: Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment and Comprehensive Site Inspection (Unpublished document). SKE15858.