This is very moving for me as at 4:35 (my brother spotted this) I can see my mum walking past 2 soldiers holding a child. My mumwas killed tragically 30 years ago when I was only 18. This very small snippet brings tears of love. My mum and dad were the second to last people to marry in the chapel before it was closed. I live in North Devon now but hope to visit the chapel once the restoration has taken place.

A fantastic post, filling a massive void. I was brought up in nearby Hound Road and the grounds of RVH were my stomping ground as a young boy. It was a great place to explore. The gates to the grounds were always open at both ends (Netley foreshore and Hound Road) and a lot of the villagers used the grounds as a short cut, quite often passing the cricket pavillion where, on a Sunday afternoon it was normal to see a large crowd watching the action in their deck chairs. In about 63 or 64, as a Cub or Sea Scout, I marched around the building behind the RAMC soldiers during a St Georges Day parade. I remember the church service that followed in the Chapel. My mother worked in the Officers Mess building (shown with twin towers - now apartments). Even as a young boy I could not understand why they demolished it. I watched the building being torn down. Thick clouds of dust and endless lorries carrying away the rubble to be used in the building of the nearby M27. Have a look out for a book called Spike Island (The Memory of a Military Hospital) by Phillip Hoare for more details. Thanks for posting and reminding me of some happy memories.

I understand for a good many people it was a house of horrors they were only too glad to be away from, and likely shed no tears to see it fall.

I must have been one of the last patients to be treated there. In late 1974 I spent about 6 months there, after which I they medically discharged me from the army. My memory of the place is a bit sketchy as you would expect after several treatments of ECT so this film is a real peace of my history. Thank you for posting it.

This hospital was enormous by any standards. The chapel was at the centre, and is preserved as a visitor centre and venue. It is the building with the green copper dome, and it's big. It gives scale to the wings either side of it, now all gone. Outlying buildings, formerly part of the Hospital, include the Police HQ and training college, and various former accommodation blocks within the Royal Victoria Country Park, converted to apartments. Lots of ghosts around! The village of Netley has this shade of a Victorian mega- military hospital and the ruins of 12th c. Netley Abbey too. And it is a great place to live!

How interesting. In 1960, I was a soldier in training and as such was 'used' for lots of odd Army duties. One of them was to go to the abandoned Hospital and dismantle hundreds of metal beds from the wards and transport them to an ordnance store for use by the Army. Whilst there I spent a lot of time exploring this amazing building and on one occasion I climbed to the very top of the tower and enjoyed a fantastic view of Southampton Water and over to the Isle of Wight. Thanks for the memories your film brought back.Robert.

I think this film is wonderful. History encapsulated in a small film. I assume the ceremony and march-past was to commemorate the closing of the hospital. It was wonderful to see those old soldiers from the Royal Hospital Chelsea also. I was a young trainee soldier in mid-1960 and together with others were employed to dismantle hundreds of beds in the hospitals wards and remove them, with other stores and equipment to a depot somewhere in Hampshire for re-use. Whilst there, my friend and I explored this vast hospital over the weeks we stayed and worked there, and at one point we climbed to the top of the tower of the hospital for a wonderful view and just in time to look down on the liner Queen Elizabeth as she made her way down Southampton water. An experience never forgotten. Thank you for putting this film on show for everyone. Robert.

Thank you!

what a fantastic piece of film! Probably the best in the history of Netley Hospital that exists! I am even more annoyed about this beautiful victorian building being demolished, about 6 years after this film was taken. Would have made some superb luxury apartments, overlooking the waterfront.

Thank you for sharing. I was born in Netley, my dad was a Sergeant in the RMC. We moved to Reading when I was 3 (1957). I have very vague memories. I think we must have gone back for a reunion or something when I was about 6

Great post of RVH Netley in it's twilight days and fitting music too!

I was stationed at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley as a RAMC medical officer in 1953. Florence Nightingale disliked it because the wards were all at the back, facing NE, overlooking the railway yards, while the magnificent SW facing facade was simply a quarter-mile long corridor. Wide enough for 2 Jeeps to pass each other when the Americans were in occupation. In the 50s this main block was the Convalescent depot for Southern Command, and the EMS bungalow hospital and the Victorian P Block were the Psychiatric Hospital for the British Army. It became too expensive to maintain, remained unsold for several years, so had to be demolished - very sad.

Great old footage! I never knew what the whole building looked like. My Gran was a nurse there in WW2 so it's nice to see how she would have remembered it

Breaks my heart, how could it be demolished, horror

Wonderful insight to a building and a society that defines British care of its armed forces over a hundred years.Thanks Julie I had no idea of the architectural splendour of the building, a sad loss to our heritage.

Thank you for uploading this. It has been a real pleasure to see it in 3D. My grandma was a young Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse there during WW1 and the postcards she had kept, got me interested in looking it up when I started to do our family tree. Thanks sooo much for sharing.

Fantastic video Geoff. I do love your channel and the gems you find. Several thoughts occurred to me. First, although cine, the dynamic range is actually quite impressive. Many modern cameras would have exposed the foreground buildings at the expense of the sky being over-exposed, but the balance here is quite good. Naturally it is not HD but very good nevertheless and an interesting historical record. The location is quite beautiful. A few years ago when I was looking into the family history, I discovered that on my maternal side, my great-grandfather was born at this hospital while his father was stationed there as part of a Royal Army Service Corps detachment. I would have to look back in the files to work out exactly when that was, but either the 1891 or 1901 census. This was the first I had heard of Netley and I did a lot of reading about it then. It sounds like it was built by a project manager with my sort of practical ability, i.e. very little. The wards faced away from the beautiful vistas and there was an unpleasant odour from the works department that prevented having windows open etc. I believe there was an issue with large hospital ships accessing the jetty too, meaning patients had to be decanted from one vessel to another, then on to land. Once again, thanks so much for your channel.

This would have been very handy in 2013 when I had to model the entire thing for a BBC programme!! :)

My Late father was Senior C.R.E. At this hospital from 1937-1943. & designed a lot of the 97th U.S field hospital. Behind whats is the police units.

Maybe it was for Dunkirk or Battle of Britain or both as this would be the 20 year Anniversary of both and of course it's summer. A lovely piece of history that we are losing fast. x

I remember my Dad and family talking about the loss of it, such a same it's mostly all gone. They said it was too big and not well planed. I know it was something to do with Lord Palmerston, but who's the architect? I bet some of those old blokes could spin a yarn or two.

Love the old soldiers and march past I wonder what this was for - not November looks too warm.

I love this film very interesting to see. Shame it was pulled down and only the chapel stands today. I find it an insult to all those who died here. Love the Jags is that Endeavour in clip 2.14?? ha ha. Thank you.

Wow. Thank you so much for posting this film. Where did you find it? Is there any more. I and my friends spend a great deal of time at Netley Sailing Club. We love the park and have a natural curiosity for the history. I think that must be the QM1 in dock at :48.

It cost the ministry of defence too much for the upkeep of the building.There was a small fire then it was decided it was to be demolished.Florence Nightingale hated the building.Seems like she got her wish.

I was there 1956. RAMC. Those long long corridors. Those poorly mates from the Far East.

I think the beginning of the film shows the true route that the American Jeeps (which reputedly drove up the internal corridors) made. There is no evidence, visual or otherwise, that substantiate this myth. You can also clearly see the George 111 Cannon bollards, which stood in front of the building. I wonder what happened to them?

great film , this is like gold dust . still criminal it was all but pulled down though , then afterwards they built ugly things like the tricorn centre in Portsmouth ??????

Why was it pulled down?

Is this some kind of shutting down parade?

I was born in 1957. My birth certificate states Victoria Hospital, Nottinghamshire..would this be the same place?

Why destroy something so magnificent. Only to bury history.

Amit Dilare Amit Dilare