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IS THE OLD OPERATING THEATRE WORTHY OF A BLUE PLAQUE?

12 March 2009

After it was announced as one of this year’s Blue plaque nominees, Southwark News takes a look at The Old Operating Theatre, and the intriguing past of one of the borough’s oldest landmarks.

The Old Operating Theatre on St.Thomas street takes visitors on a trip through the nineteenth century world of medicine and depicts a world of horrifying operations and brutal medical practices.

The Theatre, now a museum, has been in its current location since 1822. The emergency room, as it was often called, was actually built in the roof of an English baroque Church that was situated between two wards in the grounds of St. Thomas' Hospital.

St. Thomas's Church has no specific date as to when it was originally built, but a Thomas Cartwright erected the present building in 1703. Cartwright was the Master Mason of Sir Christopher Wren, who was a governor of the hospital at the time. Cartwright built the church in the style of Wren's earlier projects, which include the church at St. Mary le-Bow.

The entire building remained as a church until the decision was taken to use the large roof space for operations. Before operations took place in the church roof there was no designated place for operations taking place at the hospital. Instead, patients would have to have operations conducted in the wards of the Hospital.

Not only did the patients have to endure the lack of privacy while being operated on, they would also have the operations performed on them without any pain relief whatsoever. It was not uncommon for patients to die on the operating table in the church roof, as their operations often resulted in infections or a fatal loss of blood.

There was also a need for more space in order to house student apothecaries, who would study the operations at first hand.
Although many people suffered in the confines of the Old Operating Theatre, the historic landmark saw some medical breakthroughs as the theatre's herb garret, which sat next to the operating theatre, developed herbs and natural medicines for its patients.

The Old Operating Theatre has just finished the second phase of a restoration project that has kept the façade of the building under wraps since 2006. Although the majority of the work has been done, there is now going to be an extensive clean to bring it back to its original condition.

Karen Howell, Curator of The Old Operating Theatre, told the ‘News’: "The church section of the building will have a few more weeks of work on it, to clean it and bring back the original red brick colour. But once that is done then the church and museum will look like old".
Howell also spoke of her delight at the museum being nominated for a blue plaque: "The blue plaque scheme is a wonderful idea as it recognises and backs places like us and the London Heritage Trail.

The nomination complements the work that has been done on the building, and it is always good to raise the profile of the theatre".
Visitors to the theatre have the chance to experience what an operation would have been like in the nineteenth century as the museum holds a new and unique workshop every Saturday. 'Speed theatre' gives visitors the chance to witness a live demonstration of an operation, taking place amongst the wretched conditions that greeted its patients.

The blue plaque scheme currently has 25 nominations from all over the borough. You can now vote for The Old Operating Theatre or any of the other choices by calling 020 7252 2000 or email vote4icons@soutwark.gov.uk. If you would like more information about how to visit The Old Operating Theatre visit www.garret.org.uk or call 020 7188 2679.