# Stratheden Hospital - Aug 18



## UrbandonedTeam (Sep 12, 2018)

This was the first explore of our recent Scotland trip. We were very excited to see an asylum as preserved as this one in terms of the artefacts inside.



Stratheden Asylum











When the hospital was opened on 1 July 1866, it was known as the Fife and Kinross District Asylum. 159 patients were recorded on the roster although it was built to accommodate up to 200. The first chief physician, John Batty Tuke, pioneered the hospitals "open door" policy and helped change traditional methods of psychiatric care. Due to eventual overcrowding, the hospital was extended in 1896. Costing over £20,000, the extension increased the patient capacity to 600 and a further two new hospital wings were also built in 1905 due to the increasing number of patients. The creation of the NHS in 1948 completely re-organised the British health system and its hospitals. With the introduction of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947 the name of the hospital changed from 'The Fife and Kinross District Asylum' to 'Stratheden Hospital' on 7 July 1948. 1960 saw the arrival of Dr Douglas Haldane, an energetic and recently appointed young consultant child psychiatrist. He had the novel idea of calling his department "Child and Family Psychiatry", a name that was to catch on elsewhere. His unit was located at 'Playfield House' and was opened in the grounds of the hospital. As the label implied, it catered for children, adolescents and their families. Eventually, in 1975 two purpose-built buildings were set aside for the in-patient care for whole family groups, along the lines of the Cassel Hospital, south of the border. The other consultant child psychiatrist appointed to the hospital was Dr Simon Lindsay, who had been a trainee of the distinguished child analyst Melanie Klein. Lindsay was said to have been the only direct Kleinian in the whole of Scotland. Plans for a new Intensive psychiatric care unit at Stratheden were approved in 2014 and construction began in 2015. The extension cost £4.4 million and includes a communal lounge, rooms for rehabilitative and therapeutic activities, access to an outdoor courtyard, private meeting rooms for visits from families or visitors, an IT suite and eight new patient en-suite rooms. It was opened in May 2016. 



This place seemed to be located in a place which had serious trouble with creating pavements so after we got off the bus nearby, we walked along a main road having to hop into the field every time a car went past on our side. Once we arrived, it was a lot easier than expected. It appears that they literally don't give a crap about the derelict part of the hospital, as it is left very accessible and noticeable.






























































































That's all for that - will have more coming in the following weeks. Here's the link to my documentary styled video of this exploration, I cover the site's past, present and future through cinematics and narration:



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Thanks for reading


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## BikinGlynn (Sep 12, 2018)

That's pretty cool nice one. How long did it take u to set up the floor cleaners lol


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## UrbandonedTeam (Sep 12, 2018)

Haha we didn't but it must have took absolutely ages


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## krela (Sep 12, 2018)

BikinGlynn said:


> That's pretty cool nice one. How long did it take u to set up the floor cleaners lol



They've been like that for as long as I can remember!


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## Brewtal (Sep 12, 2018)

Nicely done mate! Glad you had a successful trip! Can’t wait to see the rest of your pics!


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## Sam Haltin (Sep 13, 2018)

A nice set of photographs a pity the hospital is getting worse.


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## Pincheck (Sep 13, 2018)

Shame to see so many windows smashed


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## UrbanX (Sep 13, 2018)

Nice set. Looks a lovely place with still lots to see. 
Thanks for sharing!


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## Mikeymutt (Sep 13, 2018)

Very nice I enjoyed it here and got a selfie behind them floor cleaners.stussy and project mayhem set them up about four yrs ago


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## KPUrban_ (Sep 13, 2018)

Nice one, unusual to see the grass is cut.


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## Pincheck (Sep 17, 2018)

will also say, sadly the place has also been a victim of the traffic passing through it With artifacts going missing. Some explorers out there should be called Burglars as that's basically what they are *Thieves*


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## mookster (Sep 17, 2018)

The floor cleaners are a throwback to the famous old hoover room and the lesser photographed floor buffer rooms in West Park, it makes me smile seeing something similar again.


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## prettyvacant71 (Sep 20, 2018)

Great pics, probably not a good idea to mention how easy access is with so many places getting arson hits nowadays plus its still a live site.


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## UrbandonedTeam (Sep 20, 2018)

Sealed like a jam jar according to Brewtal's sources, I must have just had a lucky day


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## Scattergun (Sep 20, 2018)

BikinGlynn said:


> That's pretty cool nice one. How long did it take u to set up the floor cleaners lol





Mikeymutt said:


> Very nice I enjoyed it here and got a selfie behind them floor cleaners.stussy and project mayhem set them up about four yrs ago



It was during the 2015 summer pile in. As mookster quite rightly put, it appears to be inspired by the West Park hoovers. They're known to move about a bit, as wild floor polishers do. I've seen pictures of them being ridden by various people. Not sure why. They always come back into (more or less) the illustrated formation eventually. Prior to that they were all parked up next door. 


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It's looking a bit the worse for wear and a little sparser these days. The place still does a nice external mind.


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## wolfism (Sep 20, 2018)

Aye, floor polishing machines move around a bit but they eventually flock together again, a bit like sheep do - presumably for protection against wolves.


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## Cuban B. (Sep 20, 2018)

If I'm going to be honest with you, I was in there recently, and it looked like the German's had done a bombing run on the place.


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## Scattergun (Sep 20, 2018)

Disgraceful... Damn Nazis at it again.


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## wolfism (Sep 21, 2018)

To be fair, that's quite a nice collection of floor polishers - but the best I've seen was in one of the wards at Glen Struan Hospital. Now long forgotten, but it was a popular spot back in the day.


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## KPUrban_ (Sep 21, 2018)

Cuban B. said:


> If I'm going to be honest with you, I was in there recently, and it looked like the German's had done a bombing run on the place.



Looks like a bowling alley


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## Scattergun (Sep 22, 2018)

Wait, is that a swastika...


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## HughieD (Sep 22, 2018)

Great report and that last pic is hilarious!


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## Cuban B. (Sep 24, 2018)

wolfism said:


> To be fair, that's quite a nice collection of floor polishers - but the best I've seen was in one of the wards at Glen Struan Hospital. Now long forgotten, but it was a popular spot back in the day.



Glen Struan was always one that eluded me. Whenever I went up it was sealed tighter that a badger's ring.


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## Cuban B. (Sep 24, 2018)

On the other hand, Inverstruan Parochial had a wide variety of floor buffers. Some of them looked like they dated back to the 1960s. The earliest I've seen must've been in Struanlee though. That one had wooden handles and a bakelite plug socket - a real eye opener for the floor polisher buff.


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## Scattergun (Sep 25, 2018)

The Struan Infirmary had a fair selection of floor cleaning appliances although mostly modern and were showing battle scars from being bashed along walls. Royal


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