In 1745 Bartholomew Mosse, surgeon and man-midwife, founded the original Dublin Lying-In Hospital as a maternity training hospital, the first of its kind.

In 1757 the institution moved to a different location where it became "The New Lying-In Hospital". This is the hospital complex that is referred to today as simply "The Rotunda".

The Rotunda Hospital is therefore unique as an institution in that it has continued to provide an unbroken record of service to women and babies since its foundation in 1745 and has occupied its present premises since 1757.

A more detailed account of the hospital`s history is available below in Adobe PDF format.

Should you wish to learn more about The Rotunda Hospital`s history, the book Masters, Midwives, and Ladies-in-Waiting edited by Alan Browne (a former Master of the Rotunda) and published by A&A Farmar, Dublin, (1995) gives a detailed account of developments in the Rotunda over the period 1945-95, which was the fifty year period of greatest change in the history of obstetrical care.