For a project at Uni I made a website about Park Prewett, mainly the easily accessible Pinewood Ward, a large building which could hold 60 Patients.
The Website has never been live, but I've decided to place all the stuff I did on the project onto here, to share with you.
Introduction
Where once stood grand structures, there now stands rubble. A century or more of work destroyed in an instant, under the regime of a government intent on social change and reform. With psychiatry recreated in local communities, the structures once the homes of many hundreds of people have been left to decay, be vandalised, burned to the floor, or simply to be reclaimed by nature, as patients are treated within the 'care in the community' scheme.
Some Psychiatric Hospitals and Lunatic asylums have been lucky, preserved by lack of funding for redevelopment, local planning regulations or preservation orders. Until recently, Park Prewett in Basingstoke was one of them. Pinewood Wards still stand, a relic of a bygone age of the mentally ill being sent away to a mysterious place where it was hoped they would be cured.
Asylum History
Since the 17th Century, British Lunatic Asylums and Mental Hospitals have been a thing of mystery, housing people deemed unacceptable in regular society. Throughout the Victorian era, many hospitals and asylums were erected after new legislation was passed in 1828 permitting local authorities to establish purpose built institutions to house appropriate persons.
Mental Hospitals and Lunatic asylums were often incredibly strict places in Victorian times; a prison for the unfortunate, perhaps. Residents included mothers with illegitimate children, the physically deformed, the mentally retarded, and those just not accepted into society. Ineffective, experimental and sometimes downright cruel treatments were administered to often unwilling patients, as doctors attempted to find solutions and cures for incurable mental illnesses. Attitudes towards the mentally ill changed a lot in the 160 years or so that Britain had a large number of active mental asylums, and those attitudes are evident in the treatment and admissions of the patients over the years.
With many shell shocked and psychologically damaged soldiers returning from the numerous wars in the 20th century, hospitals became overcrowded, and patients were admitted for less casual reasons, as they had done in the past. With Victorian standards of treatment consigned to the history books, patients were given serious medical treatment.
In the 1970s a deinstitutionalisation movement began to gather speed, as popular culture such as the film "One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest", and the book Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" portrayed asylums and hospitals as sadistic, ineffective places. Many asylums were closed down, boarded up and abandoned, with the “Care in the community” scheme launched in an attempt to re-establish a sense of community during a time of great change in Britain. At one time there were 120 mental hospitals in the country, now there are only 20.
Many of the Lunatic Asylums and Mental Hospitals had been built at a time of great architectural prosperity, and for that reason, there is a lot of objection to their demolition. Park Prewett Psychiatric Hospital (abandoned 1997) has been recognised by Basingstoke and Dean Council, and despite some areas being demolished, other parts are now being converted into luxury apartments and housing.
Other sites have not been so lucky. Beautiful Victorian structures have been left to decay, be vandalised, burned to the floor, or simply to be reclaimed by nature.
With the care in the community scheme failing to care for everybody, there is talk of reintroducing a communal housing and treatment system, albeit in a slightly different form to that of the asylum. Was it a mistake to close down and demolish the asylums, or is there still need for these fascinating buildings and their environment in a modern medical capacity?
Park Prewett History
Built between 1913 and 1915 by asylum architect GT Hine, for £250,000, Prewett was not opened until 1917, when during World War one it served as a military hospital for the Canadians. After the war it opened up as a psychiatric hospital and by 1936 had 1,400 patients. During World War Two it was again used as a military hospital, and after the war one wing was taken over by Sir Harold Gillies, the pioneering Plastic Surgeon. Prewett was served by its own railway line until 1950, but the line was shut down due to lack of usage.
Prewett was closed in 1997 after major changes in the way Mental Health care was handled.
Care in the Community
Care in the community was the key contributing factor to the closure of the Asylums and Hospitals. Sir Roy Griffith's 1988 report on Mental Health Care, 'Agenda for Action' set the scene for the 1990 Community Care Act, which was the major legislation that set out Care in the Communty as we know it. The aim of the act was to remove the stigma that affects mental health, and to integrate asylum residents back into regular society.
The 1960s saw a change in attitudes towards the asylums after the 1959 Mental Health Act encouraged community care and removed the distinction between mental hospitals and other hopitals. Various psychiatrists questioned traditional regimes and sought to change attitudes towards the mentally ill, by integrating them and removing the stigma that came with mental illness. Traditional methods of treatment were condemmed, suggesting that the hospitals and asylums weren't cost-effective and didn't serve their patients well.
As District General hospitals sprung up to cater for the growing population, their psychiatric services took some of the pressure off the institutions, and due to this, the number of beds in the hospitals decreased from 150,000 to near 80,000 in around 20 years, from 1955 to 1975.
Since 1982 London has lost almost 60% of its beds designated for mental care at a time when demand is rising again, and questions are arising as to whether such huge changes in mental health care have really benefited society.
Parts of the Hospital
Patient Cells
Although the word cell indicates a prison-like confine, by the time Pinewood was closed down in 1997, Patients staying in cells had relative freedom to that of those staying in the hospital 40 years previous. Cells were reserved for disruptive patients and those who had been committed for a longer time. Hospital cells shared some characteristics with prison cells: They were barely big enough for a bed, had locks on the doors, and the staff could observe the patients through hatches above the doors. They were also arranged in rows. For long-term patients, hospital living would have been very boring, repetitive and unfulilling, but still, they would have been protected from the ills of society.
Victorian attitudes towards mental health care were such that it was acceptable to keep patients locked up, and even the norm. Inside a cell, padded or otherwise, a dangerous patient could do no harm to others. The padded cell has long been symbolic of Lunatic asylums and Mental Hospitals, an icon representing control, misunderstanding and restraint.
More modern cells are still representative of a bygone age of non-consensual admission and isolation. The dereliction evident in the 2007 images is a suitable metaphor for the decline of the institution and its out-dated values.
Toilets
With 13 toilets in the building, nobody should have been caught short. Sadly vandals have had their fun with Prewett, and most of the toilets have been smashed.
The Website has never been live, but I've decided to place all the stuff I did on the project onto here, to share with you.
Introduction
Where once stood grand structures, there now stands rubble. A century or more of work destroyed in an instant, under the regime of a government intent on social change and reform. With psychiatry recreated in local communities, the structures once the homes of many hundreds of people have been left to decay, be vandalised, burned to the floor, or simply to be reclaimed by nature, as patients are treated within the 'care in the community' scheme.
Some Psychiatric Hospitals and Lunatic asylums have been lucky, preserved by lack of funding for redevelopment, local planning regulations or preservation orders. Until recently, Park Prewett in Basingstoke was one of them. Pinewood Wards still stand, a relic of a bygone age of the mentally ill being sent away to a mysterious place where it was hoped they would be cured.
Asylum History
Since the 17th Century, British Lunatic Asylums and Mental Hospitals have been a thing of mystery, housing people deemed unacceptable in regular society. Throughout the Victorian era, many hospitals and asylums were erected after new legislation was passed in 1828 permitting local authorities to establish purpose built institutions to house appropriate persons.
Mental Hospitals and Lunatic asylums were often incredibly strict places in Victorian times; a prison for the unfortunate, perhaps. Residents included mothers with illegitimate children, the physically deformed, the mentally retarded, and those just not accepted into society. Ineffective, experimental and sometimes downright cruel treatments were administered to often unwilling patients, as doctors attempted to find solutions and cures for incurable mental illnesses. Attitudes towards the mentally ill changed a lot in the 160 years or so that Britain had a large number of active mental asylums, and those attitudes are evident in the treatment and admissions of the patients over the years.
With many shell shocked and psychologically damaged soldiers returning from the numerous wars in the 20th century, hospitals became overcrowded, and patients were admitted for less casual reasons, as they had done in the past. With Victorian standards of treatment consigned to the history books, patients were given serious medical treatment.
In the 1970s a deinstitutionalisation movement began to gather speed, as popular culture such as the film "One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest", and the book Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" portrayed asylums and hospitals as sadistic, ineffective places. Many asylums were closed down, boarded up and abandoned, with the “Care in the community” scheme launched in an attempt to re-establish a sense of community during a time of great change in Britain. At one time there were 120 mental hospitals in the country, now there are only 20.
Many of the Lunatic Asylums and Mental Hospitals had been built at a time of great architectural prosperity, and for that reason, there is a lot of objection to their demolition. Park Prewett Psychiatric Hospital (abandoned 1997) has been recognised by Basingstoke and Dean Council, and despite some areas being demolished, other parts are now being converted into luxury apartments and housing.
Other sites have not been so lucky. Beautiful Victorian structures have been left to decay, be vandalised, burned to the floor, or simply to be reclaimed by nature.
With the care in the community scheme failing to care for everybody, there is talk of reintroducing a communal housing and treatment system, albeit in a slightly different form to that of the asylum. Was it a mistake to close down and demolish the asylums, or is there still need for these fascinating buildings and their environment in a modern medical capacity?
Park Prewett History
Built between 1913 and 1915 by asylum architect GT Hine, for £250,000, Prewett was not opened until 1917, when during World War one it served as a military hospital for the Canadians. After the war it opened up as a psychiatric hospital and by 1936 had 1,400 patients. During World War Two it was again used as a military hospital, and after the war one wing was taken over by Sir Harold Gillies, the pioneering Plastic Surgeon. Prewett was served by its own railway line until 1950, but the line was shut down due to lack of usage.
Prewett was closed in 1997 after major changes in the way Mental Health care was handled.
Care in the Community
Care in the community was the key contributing factor to the closure of the Asylums and Hospitals. Sir Roy Griffith's 1988 report on Mental Health Care, 'Agenda for Action' set the scene for the 1990 Community Care Act, which was the major legislation that set out Care in the Communty as we know it. The aim of the act was to remove the stigma that affects mental health, and to integrate asylum residents back into regular society.
The 1960s saw a change in attitudes towards the asylums after the 1959 Mental Health Act encouraged community care and removed the distinction between mental hospitals and other hopitals. Various psychiatrists questioned traditional regimes and sought to change attitudes towards the mentally ill, by integrating them and removing the stigma that came with mental illness. Traditional methods of treatment were condemmed, suggesting that the hospitals and asylums weren't cost-effective and didn't serve their patients well.
As District General hospitals sprung up to cater for the growing population, their psychiatric services took some of the pressure off the institutions, and due to this, the number of beds in the hospitals decreased from 150,000 to near 80,000 in around 20 years, from 1955 to 1975.
Since 1982 London has lost almost 60% of its beds designated for mental care at a time when demand is rising again, and questions are arising as to whether such huge changes in mental health care have really benefited society.
Parts of the Hospital
Patient Cells
Although the word cell indicates a prison-like confine, by the time Pinewood was closed down in 1997, Patients staying in cells had relative freedom to that of those staying in the hospital 40 years previous. Cells were reserved for disruptive patients and those who had been committed for a longer time. Hospital cells shared some characteristics with prison cells: They were barely big enough for a bed, had locks on the doors, and the staff could observe the patients through hatches above the doors. They were also arranged in rows. For long-term patients, hospital living would have been very boring, repetitive and unfulilling, but still, they would have been protected from the ills of society.
Victorian attitudes towards mental health care were such that it was acceptable to keep patients locked up, and even the norm. Inside a cell, padded or otherwise, a dangerous patient could do no harm to others. The padded cell has long been symbolic of Lunatic asylums and Mental Hospitals, an icon representing control, misunderstanding and restraint.
More modern cells are still representative of a bygone age of non-consensual admission and isolation. The dereliction evident in the 2007 images is a suitable metaphor for the decline of the institution and its out-dated values.
Toilets
With 13 toilets in the building, nobody should have been caught short. Sadly vandals have had their fun with Prewett, and most of the toilets have been smashed.
