IF you lived in the Barbourne area of Worcester in the very early years of the 20th century, catching Covid-19, had it existed, would probably have been the least of your health worries.

Far greater would have been the threat coming from a large and ancient farmhouse which stood at the junction of Barbourne Lane and Waterworks Road.

Barbourne Lodge, as it became known, had a somewhat chequered history, which eventually went up in smoke, literally, when in 1905 the city council decided the place was so dangerous, it was decided to burn it down.

The problem was that the building, once also a distinguished school of dancing and music, had fallen into use as a “pest house” or fever hospital and  was considered so infected no one would buy it and return it to domestic use.

Citizens were convinced germs from deadly diseases would somehow escape from the property and cause city-wide epidemics. The final straw came when news leaked out that a patient had died of anthrax.

Although the body was cremated within the grounds, the disease was considered so virulent public panic was inevitable.

The horror in which such places was held at the time can be judged by a woman who knew it well as a child, telling a local historian: “The house was standing when I was very small and when passing it to go to the Dog and Duck ferry, my aunt would always say: ’Close your mouth, dear and run!’ She always thought germs would fly over the high garden wall and infect us.”

A proposal to demolish Barbourne Lodge came before the city council in 1898, but caused fierce debate because many councillors feared infection would remain on the site. Eventually it was decided to burn it down with only the cellars remaining.

It was a sad end for the property which for many years was the home of the Burney family, who ran a music and dance school there in Georgian times. One of the sons of the household became a freelance harpsichord player of sufficient note to have his portrait painted by Gainsborough.

This valuable picture in oils now hangs in an American art collection.

The Burneys entertained their fellow gentry and once welcomed as dinner guest Napoleon’s brother and his family. Prince Lucien Bonapart was then living as a privileged prisoner of war in Thorngrove, a country mansion at Grimley, just west of Worcester.

After the Burneys left Barbourne Lodge it almost certainly became a lunatic asylum for a while because it gained a new name – Bedlam – before its final use as a Victorian pest house and its eventual consumption by fire.