Harperbury Hospital - May 2011 (Pic Heavy)
A little more than your normal history first:
The Mental Deficiency Act, gave local County Councils the power to compulsorily detain such certified patients, allowing their segregation from the community.
WW1 delayed any progress but by 1919, the Middlesex County Council began to examine various options. In 1920 its Mental Deficiency Committee decided to establish a colony for such patients.
1924 saw the council purchase the 420-acre Porters Park estate (Named after its first owner in 1340, Roger Le Porter). Rumour has it, Mr C. Raphael, the wealthy owner, sold the land to the Council to annoy the golf course that had refused him membership.
The estate was to be the site of both the Middlesex Colony for Mental Defectives and Shenley Hospital. London Colney aerodrome had occupied part of the land during WW1 - Albert Ball (1896-1917) andEdward Mannock (1887-1918) both star aviators of the Royal Flying Corps were based there. Three of the aerodrome's aircraft hangars were incorporated into the new Colony.
The Hangars Certified Institution opened in October 1928 and its first patients, eight high-grade male adults, were admitted, they were care for by untrained male attendants. The cleared out the hangars, were converted into wards and formed the foundation of the new Colony. Within a mater months there were over 80 male patients from the County living and working theree. Additional buildings were added in 1929 and the patients were also dug and established the gardens.
The first of the new buildings opened in February 1931, by December, in excess of 300 male patients were in living there. There was a further addition of an administration centre, on the north-south axis, containing offices, clinic rooms and a dispensary. Behind this were kitchens, storerooms, workshops and a laundry. These buildings were flanked by 2- or 3-storey villas for male patients to the east and for female patients to the west. The De Salis Recreational Hall (named after the Chairman of the Council's Mental Deficiency Committee) could seat 700 people and was equipped with a stage and a cinema projector. Building work continued in stages until 1936. The villas were built around three loop roads, which divided the site into male, female and children's sections. Each villa containing wards were designed for different grades of mental handicap, and each was arranged around recreational playing fields and gardens.
The Institution was renamed the Middlesex Colony when it was officially opened in May 1936 by the then Minister of Health, Sir Kingsley Wood.
The Colony was expected almost self-sufficient, with patients capable of employment providing the labour. Rural life was deemed therapeutic and farming was the major occupation of the male patients..
By the outbreak of WW2, the Colony had 1194 patients.
In 1948 the Colony became part of the NHS under the control of the Verulam Group Hospital Management Committee.
In 1950 the Middlesex Colony was renamed Harperbury Hospital.The Hospital continues to grow in beds. By 1964 overcrowding in the wards had become a severe problem. The accommodation intended for 1354 patients contained some 1587, and it was said that a cyclist could easily ride over the rows of closely packed beds. It was reported on one occasion that a nurse had to crawl across the beds to reach a patient at the far end who was having an epileptic fit.
The farm closed in 1973 as it had become uneconomic and the former bakery became a Handicraft Centre.
Harperbury Hospital finally closed in 2001, the last of the large institutions in the area.
Visited as a backup to the primary explore with Messr's Nelly and Skeleton Key thanks lads for a top day. If anyone want to put their life in Nelly and SK's you couldnt ask for a better pair although watch Nelly he is a little too handy with the tripod....twice to my camera and once to the family jewels in the space of 30 minutes.
A word of warning and Mods please feel free to remove this part if you are unhappy with it, I spotted two gents in a car with what appeared to me to be guns, I suspect air rifles but I decided a closer look was probably avoided...
On with the photos -
The padded cell -
We stumbled across the pool and SK couldn't wait to get in, just peeled off and left his clothes on the floor....
He had a bath afterwards though but something tells me he didn't feel as safe in the bath...
Thanks for looking I hope you enjoy
A little more than your normal history first:
The Mental Deficiency Act, gave local County Councils the power to compulsorily detain such certified patients, allowing their segregation from the community.
WW1 delayed any progress but by 1919, the Middlesex County Council began to examine various options. In 1920 its Mental Deficiency Committee decided to establish a colony for such patients.
1924 saw the council purchase the 420-acre Porters Park estate (Named after its first owner in 1340, Roger Le Porter). Rumour has it, Mr C. Raphael, the wealthy owner, sold the land to the Council to annoy the golf course that had refused him membership.
The estate was to be the site of both the Middlesex Colony for Mental Defectives and Shenley Hospital. London Colney aerodrome had occupied part of the land during WW1 - Albert Ball (1896-1917) andEdward Mannock (1887-1918) both star aviators of the Royal Flying Corps were based there. Three of the aerodrome's aircraft hangars were incorporated into the new Colony.
The Hangars Certified Institution opened in October 1928 and its first patients, eight high-grade male adults, were admitted, they were care for by untrained male attendants. The cleared out the hangars, were converted into wards and formed the foundation of the new Colony. Within a mater months there were over 80 male patients from the County living and working theree. Additional buildings were added in 1929 and the patients were also dug and established the gardens.
The first of the new buildings opened in February 1931, by December, in excess of 300 male patients were in living there. There was a further addition of an administration centre, on the north-south axis, containing offices, clinic rooms and a dispensary. Behind this were kitchens, storerooms, workshops and a laundry. These buildings were flanked by 2- or 3-storey villas for male patients to the east and for female patients to the west. The De Salis Recreational Hall (named after the Chairman of the Council's Mental Deficiency Committee) could seat 700 people and was equipped with a stage and a cinema projector. Building work continued in stages until 1936. The villas were built around three loop roads, which divided the site into male, female and children's sections. Each villa containing wards were designed for different grades of mental handicap, and each was arranged around recreational playing fields and gardens.
The Institution was renamed the Middlesex Colony when it was officially opened in May 1936 by the then Minister of Health, Sir Kingsley Wood.
The Colony was expected almost self-sufficient, with patients capable of employment providing the labour. Rural life was deemed therapeutic and farming was the major occupation of the male patients..
By the outbreak of WW2, the Colony had 1194 patients.
In 1948 the Colony became part of the NHS under the control of the Verulam Group Hospital Management Committee.
In 1950 the Middlesex Colony was renamed Harperbury Hospital.The Hospital continues to grow in beds. By 1964 overcrowding in the wards had become a severe problem. The accommodation intended for 1354 patients contained some 1587, and it was said that a cyclist could easily ride over the rows of closely packed beds. It was reported on one occasion that a nurse had to crawl across the beds to reach a patient at the far end who was having an epileptic fit.
The farm closed in 1973 as it had become uneconomic and the former bakery became a Handicraft Centre.
Harperbury Hospital finally closed in 2001, the last of the large institutions in the area.
Visited as a backup to the primary explore with Messr's Nelly and Skeleton Key thanks lads for a top day. If anyone want to put their life in Nelly and SK's you couldnt ask for a better pair although watch Nelly he is a little too handy with the tripod....twice to my camera and once to the family jewels in the space of 30 minutes.
A word of warning and Mods please feel free to remove this part if you are unhappy with it, I spotted two gents in a car with what appeared to me to be guns, I suspect air rifles but I decided a closer look was probably avoided...
On with the photos -
The padded cell -
We stumbled across the pool and SK couldn't wait to get in, just peeled off and left his clothes on the floor....
He had a bath afterwards though but something tells me he didn't feel as safe in the bath...
Thanks for looking I hope you enjoy
