Headley Court Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) was once one of the leading rehab centres in the UK. The 58-bed facility helped injured servicemen and women with rehabilitation and prosthetics and even went on to treat veterans. Corporal Andrew Garthwaite, was the first person in the UK to receive a mind-controlled prosthetic limb and spent…
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Lennox Castle Hospital lies in ruins in Lennoxtown, north of Glasgow. The large three-story building was designed by architect David Hamilton in 1837, not as a hospital but as a grand castle. The neo-Norman style building took four years to complete and featured a five storey-high tower. The building remained as a home until the…
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The Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, south Glasgow, is one of the cities main hospitals and has existed since 1786 when it opened as a general dispensary. The current, modern hospital building was officially opened in 1988 by Princess Alexandra which saw the previous building close. The previous hospital was designed by the Paisley architect…
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Lancaster was the fourth county to establish an asylum following the 1808 County Asylums Act and a site to the west of the town at Lancaster was chosen, on the edge of Lancaster Moor. The hospital expanded throughout the next century and at the turn of the 1900’s new villas were added, including the Ladies…
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Sutton Hospital opened as a cottage hospital in 1899, split across two semi-detached houses with just 6 beds between them. Just 3 years later it was moved to a new site with 12 beds across 4 wards and in 1930 moved again to its current location, which was named Sutton and Cheam District Hospital. As…
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St Martin’s Hospital in Kent has been described as being “truly remnant of the asylums of the early nineteen hundreds” and walking around this 129 year old building you can see why. With Victorian corridors spanning tens of metres and old wards with the original sashed windows, this building has reached the end of its…
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Today, the site of Runwell Hospital is nothing more than rubble, with over 500 homes now on the site, although turn back the clock a few years and it was a fully fledged hospital. Tucked away in the Essex countryside, not far from Chelmsford, Runwell opened in July 1937 as one of the last built…
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Talgarth is a small, quaint market town in mid-Wales and as of 2011 was home to less than 2,000 people. Driving through the narrow country roads you’ll eventually get to two large concrete gate posts – the original entrance to the former Mid Wales Hospital, known as Talgarth Asylum. Due to increasing demand on other…
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‘The Essex & Colchester Hospital’ was opened in 1820, following a plan by the Colchester Archdeacon to open a hospital for the poor. Along with seven other men, a plot of land was purchased and one of the country’s first hospitals for the poor was opened. It was funded by subscriptions and gifts from wealthy…
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In the years leading up to the Second World War the Government ordered the production of hundreds of thousands stretchers. They were built using two metal poles and wire mesh as metal would be easier to clean and disinfect and would be sturdier than wooden or fabric stretchers. Some 600,000 were estimated to have been…
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