Lancaster Moor Hospital

Lancaster Moor Hospital, formerly the Lancaster County Lunatic Asylum and Lancaster County Mental Hospital, was a mental hospital in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, which closed in 2000 (the mental health departments left in 1991, but others remained).

Lancaster Moor Hospital
The 1816 building in 2008
Location in Lancaster
Geography
LocationLancaster, Lancashire, England
Coordinates54.049°N 2.772°W / 54.049; -2.772
Organisation
TypeSpecialist
Services
SpecialityPsychiatry
History
Opened1816
Closed2000
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameMoor Hospital, Blocks 40, 41, 42, 44 and 46
Designated24 January 1994
Reference no.1289436
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameMoor Hospital, New Block
Designated24 January 1994
Reference no.1195079
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameBoundary walls, railings, gates and gate piers at Lancaster Moor Hospital
Designated13 September 2006
Reference no.1391761

History

The 1883 building in 2010

The main building, which was designed by Thomas Standen, was opened as the First Lancashire County Asylum in 1816.[1] A further building, which was designed by Arnold W. Kershaw in the gothic style and known as "the Annexe", was completed in 1883 and is grade II listed[2] as are its walls, railings, and gateways.[3] The hospital's chapel, which was designed by Edward Graham Paley, was built in 1866 and is grade II listed.[4]

Campbell House, a facility for paying "gentlemen" patients, was completed in 1909 and the Ladies' Villa, a facility for paying "lady" patients, was completed in 1916.[5]

The hospital was a pioneering site for the humane treatment of the mentally ill with the introduction of treatments such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).[6] The writer Alan Bennett describes his mother's treatment in the hospital in his memoirs.[6]

Following the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s, the hospital went into a period of decline and closed in 2000; the Annexe and chapel have since been converted into apartments, and houses are being built in the grounds.[7][8]

See also

References

  1. Lewis, Samuel (1848). "'Lambley - Lancaster', in A Topographical Dictionary of England". London: British History Online. pp. 6–17. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  2. Historic England. "Moor Hospital, New Block (1195079)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  3. Historic England. "Boundary walls, railings, gates and gate piers at Lancaster Moor Hospital (1391761)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  4. Historic England. "Church of St Michael, Moor Hospital (1289454)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  5. "Lancaster Moor". County Asylums. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  6. Woodend, Joscelin (18 December 2013). "The Evolution of the Treatment of the Mentally Ill: How Lancaster County Lunatic Asylum Changed the Face of Treatment". New Histories. 5 (2). Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  7. Riley, Sue (5 February 2013). "Lancaster's Moor Hospital to be transformed in multi-million pound housing property development". Lancashire Life. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  8. Law, Cally (4 May 2014). "Asylum seekers". Sunday Times. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.