THESE images from our archives go back to the days when Colchester Military Hospital was still in operation.

New barracks were built in Colchester in 1856 and as part of this a 20 hut hospital complex was built which was replaced with the red brick hospital pictured here in 1896.

More than 200 patients were treated at one time in right wards in its heyday and the images here include some dramatic times including surviving a severe blaze and an explosion in the 1970s.

It closed to patients in the late 1970s when Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital QEMH in Woolwich opened but the building remained until much later when it was demolished.

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