FULL EPISODE | CLASSIC TIME TEAM SPECIAL

Join Tony Robinson, Phil Harding and Helen Geake for another Classic Special from the archives, investigating Nelson's Hospital at Haslar, Gosport, near Portsmouth.

In 1745, the Royal Navy purchased Haslar Farm near the Portsmouth dockyard at Haslar in order to build Britain's first naval hospital. Costing £100,000, the 1800bed structure was the biggest construction project in the country. Completed in 1753, Royal Hospital Haslar treated sailors until it closed in 2009. As part of its closure, Time Team document excavations of the hospital's 9acre unmarked burial ground by Cranfield University. Of the 7,800 bodies calculated to lie there, some in multipleburial plots, examination of 30 excavated skeletons reveals the dangers and hardships of life at the time, such as amputations, ulcers, diseases and scurvy. The hospital's first chief physician, James Lind, also pioneered new hygiene techniques that helped reduce mortality.

Original broadcast date: 17th May 2010


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