The present Outpatients building was formerly the hospital’s laundry. It was built in the 1830s, at the same time as the boundary walls and the Apple House. When first built, it was probably used as a storage facility for garden produce or garden tools as it was located in an area of the gardens given over to fruit and vegetable growing. The building was then extended and repurposed as the laundry in 1879 and extended again in the early twentieth century. It was still used as a laundry in the 1990s, before becoming the Outpatients department.
The laundry requirements for 100 patients must have been considerable. Warneford patients did not have to wear a uniform (unlike the patients of public asylums, such as the Littlemore); they were provided with a list of the clothing to bring with them, such as breeches, bloomers, bonnets and nightcaps, and suitable clothes for both indoors and outdoors. These garments, together with all the bedlinen, had to be laundered and dried. Sometimes patients would help with chores in the laundry and with other domestic duties, such as cleaning or food preparation.
Image: View of the laundry in 1915 (Insall Assocs)
