Glenside Hospital

Both this site and the adjacent Manor Park Hospital are crown property administered by Frenchay Area Health Authority. Glenside is set in attractive parkland with fine specimen trees, particularly bordering Blackberry Hill. The woodland riverside walks of the two hospital sites are contiguous. At Halfpenny Bridge they meet the ornamental woodland of Oldbury Court (now in city council ownership). The north bank of the River Frome is a public open space known as Snuff Mills, in the care of Bristol City Council.

The Former Isolation Hospital is an example of Victorian ‘railway architecture', with overhanging eaves, barge-boards, cast-iron posts and veranda supports. The roof-ridge of this one-storey building is capped with decorative ridge tiles and finials. Glenside Hospital is built of pennant stone with ashlar quoins and window and door surrounds ornamented with balusters. Slate roofs are decorated with finials and stone chimneys. There is an Italianate clock tower overlooking the complex of buildings. None of these buildings are listed, though there is a good case for them to be so.

The large are covered by the two hospital sites, the extensive use of local stone in their construction, the ornamental woodland walks by the river and the mature trees mean that Glenside and Manor Park Hospitals contribute much to the character of the environment of the Stapleton and Frome Valley Conservation Area.

Both sites are well-maintained by a team of gardeners. The wooded slopes down to the River Frome were rejuvenated in the 1980s by a Manpower Services team after many years of neglect. The clearance work has uncovered original footpaths and retaining walls and seats.