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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Please note: Some of the terms used in this report are used in a historical context and reflect people’s attitudes and language at the time and may now be considered derogatory or offensive. As part of our coverage of Severalls Hospital, a former asylum in Colchester, we’re taking a look back at the history of…
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Warley Hospital was the first County Asylum to be built in Essex, following the passing of the County Asylums Act. The first patients were first admitted in 1853; 130 out of a capacity of 300 although by the turn of the century the site had expanded and accommodated just short of 2,000 patients. Psychiatric Hospitals…
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