# Prudhoe Mental Hospital (formerly Prudhoe Hall Colony) Aug 2009



## neninja

Having seen a recent report on this place on another forum it prompted me to put up a brief outline of my own visit which lasted about an hour and a half. I stopped here on the way to an appointment somewhere else and sadly didn't have my tripod so apologies for some of the pictures.

This hospital was founded on the site of Prudhoe Hall which was built in 1876. In 1913 the Hall and estate were acquired for the sum of £19,199 by the Joint Poor Law Guardians of Newcastle. Their intention was that it should become what was described at the time as “a colony for feeble-minded children”. Prudhoe Hall Colony was opened in August 1914.

After the First World War, it was considerably enlarged and was re-named Prudhoe Mental Hospital. When fully developed (after 1948), the Hospital had 1,500 patients, needing a large work force and providing employment for many families in Prudhoe. By the 1970's Prudhoe Hospital was the 5th largest mental institution in the UK. The majority of the site was closed in 2005 but there is still a hospital operation although about 90% of the site is no longer in use.

As is the case with so many of these hospitals, the majority of the estate is now in the control of English Partnerships. The area of the site described as the 'Children's Village' on the map (the most derelict area of the site) is owned by someone else although I've been unable to find out who. There are 2 listed areas of the site - Prudhoe Hall and it's Victorian kitchen gardens (1 & 3 on the map).

EP plans to redevelop the site with a new mental hospital, housing and country park.

Much of the Children's Village is in a poor state of repair with the roof tiles removed from several of the buildings. This was the first area mostly covered on this visit. Future visits will focus on the 1920's villas (marked 4 and 5 on the map) and also on the boys and girls villages. I suspect to cover this site properly will take several visits as the hospital buildings are spread over around 40 acres - the entire estate is spread over about 200 acres.

Map of hospital buildings






1920's Villas (marked 4 on map)





Childrens Village





















Interior of Deneside
















Building shown as school on the map











Isabel Wilson CBE - ISABEL GRACE HOOD WILSON, CBE, formerly Senior Commissioner, Board of Control for England and Wales.
Dr Isabel Wilson died on 8 December 1982 at the age of 87.
Isabel Wilson, past president of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association, was one of the leading psychiatrists of her time.
She became Senior Medical Commissioner to the Board of Control; subsequently she served as Principal Medical Officer to the Ministry of Health until her retirement.

I have been unable to link her to Prudhoe so I'm guessing that the building was named after her in recognition of her achievements.







This pdf is loaded with information about the site. Perfect as a guide as to which buildings are worth investigating

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/Prudhoe_Historic_Characterisation.pdf?1252270791


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## the|td4

great stuff mate, I drive past this place quite often on my travels, I might consider taking a look around now, thanks for the pics and info !


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## neninja

It's a really great place to look around. Apparently, it was designed around a 'continental' approach as to how to treat the mentally ill which involved maximising the views, open spaces etc. As a result many of the buildings are well spaced and on large terraces to look out over the estate.

Frustratingly, I only covered a very small area of the site due to limited time and would love to get a look inside the earlier 1920's and 30's buildings and the victorian kitchen gardens.

The areas of the site I explored appeared to be pretty much un-chav'd with very little tagging or graffiti in evidence and just decay caused by weather after the removal of some roofs. Most buildings looked water-tight and in decent condition.


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## OSPA

Nice one Neninja, Myself and Oddity looked around this site some months ago but never went in. By the looks of your map, we only saw a small part of it too! I might have to pay this a visit one day!


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