An abandoned cholera hospital on a tiny island off the coast of Cardiff is to be brought back to life as a visitor attraction.
Flat Holm Island, a small spot of land just over three miles into the Bristol Channel from Lavernock Point in the Vale of Glamorgan, has a long history as a haven for wildlife and remoteness.
However, despite being condemned in the 1930s and abandoned after the Second World War, Cardiff council have now secured more than £500,000 to turn some of the island's buildings into a a visitor attraction. The £645,000 award from the National Lottery Heritage Fund forms part of the council's £1.1m funding for the island.
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While the island is known for it's natural beauty being home to seabird colonies – with more than 77 protected species of wildlife and plant life on the land – it is also shrouded in a dark history.
Alongside the lighthouse and wildlife sits an abandoned and dilapidated former cholera hospital where sick and infectious patients were sent to live and die.
In 1865 the then War Office purchased 10 acres of land on Flat Holm and the island was under military occupation between 1866 and 1903. The hospital, originally in tented form, was first authorised in 1883 to protect Cardiff from ship-borne cholera.
In July 1883 a steamship called Rishanglys left three seamen on the island who were believed to be suffering from cholera, one of whom subsequently died.
In 1892 after a serious outbreak of cholera in Hamburg, Germany, five infected vessels were discovered and moored off Flat Holm. According to the Cardiff Harbour Authority patients were removed and taken to Flat Holm’s hospital.
The following year cholera broke out again and two more patients were taken to the hospital on the island, which has extensive views of the coasts of England and Wales.
By 1896 so many patients needed to be treated at the hospital that the harbour authority billed the building as "insufficient" and a new hospital was built specifically as a sanatorium for use by cholera patients.
The hospital was later used by other Bristol Channel ports and for isolation of victims of other infectious diseases but in 1935 the Ministry of Health condemned the building.
Flat Holm was later re-occupied by the military during the Second World War and developed as an important and active anti-aircraft installation. The isolation hospital was then taken over by the armed forces and converted for wartime service between 1940 and 1944.
Now, more than 85 years since the hospital closed, alongside other historical buildings on the island it will be revamped as a visitor attraction.
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Cardiff council’s Flat Holm: A Walk Through Time project will re-connect the city with its forgotten island by letting visitors take a walk through Flat Holm’s history. Guided tours will explore the island’s military and maritime history, its natural heritage, and the Severn estuary and there will be a self-guided tour of the island.
The island’s old cholera hospital and laundry buildings will be made stable and the roof of the foghorn station repaired to make it safe and accessible to the public.
Clearing away Flat Holm’s scrubland will also allow the island’s native wildlife and plantlife to flourish.
The three-year project includes extensive renovation of the Grade II-listed Fog Horn station, stabilisation of the cholera hospital and laundry buildings, and renovation of the Second World War searchlight station.
The project will also feature a number of photographic and arts projects as well as linking in with local authorities on the English side of the Bristol Channel to celebrate Marconi Day and the island’s links to Guglielmo Marconi who sent the first wireless signals over open sea between the island and Lavernock Point.
Cabinet member for culture and leisure Peter Bradbury said: “Flat Holm island is a hidden treasure right on Cardiff’s doorstep – it’s steeped in history that stretches from the Bronze Age all the way to the birth of modern communications technology, and as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, it’s home to some unique flora and fauna. This project is all about preserving that heritage, protecting its rich wildlife, and bringing the island’s fascinating stories to a wider audience.”
Peter Sampson, Chairman of the Flat Holm Society, said: “The grant, together with the all the other investment planned, will enable us to secure the island and its unique heritage for future generations, which has always been the aim of the society.”
