The Lawn is an early nineteenth century

Greek revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

building on Union Road, in Lincoln,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, England, to the west of

Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln Minster, or the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln and sometimes St Mary's Cathedral, in Lincoln, England, is a Grade I listed cathedral and is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Lincoln. Construc ...

. The complex features a walled garden and children's play area. The building housed The Lawn Hospital for Mental and Nervous Diseases from 1921 until 1985.

History

The hospital's origins lie in a bequest by Dr Paul Parnell to establish an asylum in Lincoln. After delay caused by indecision by the management of the asylum, the project went ahead in 1817, and a facility designed by Richard Ingleman in the Greek revival style opened as the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum in April 1820. It was at the asylum that, in the 1830s, Robert Gardiner Hill, with the support of

Edward Parker Charlesworth Edward Parker Charlesworth (1783–1853) was an English physician, known as an innovator in psychiatric treatment. Life He was son of John Charlesworth, rector of Ossington, Nottinghamshire, and was brother of John Charlesworth, the father of ...

, pioneered a mode of treatment that suited "all types" of patients, so that mechanical restraints and coercion could be dispensed with—a situation he finally achieved in 1838. In 1839 Sergeant John Adams and Dr.

John Conolly John Conolly (27 May 1794 – 5 March 1866) was an English psychiatrist. He published the volume ''Indications of Insanity'' in 1830. In 1839, he was appointed resident physician to the Middlesex County Asylum where he introduced the princip ...

were impressed by the work of Hill, and introduced the method into their

Hanwell Asylum St Bernard's Hospital, also known as Hanwell Insane Asylum and the Hanwell Pauper and Lunatic Asylum, was an asylum built for the pauper insane, opening as the First Middlesex County Asylum in 1831. Some of the original buildings are now part of ...

, by then the largest in the country. Hill's system was adapted, since Conolly was unable to supervise each attendant as closely as Hill had done. By September 1839, mechanical restraint was no longer required for any patient.Edited by: Bynum, W. F; Porter, Roy; Shepherd, Michael (1988) ''The Anatomy of Madness: Essays in the history of psychiatry''. Vol.3. The Asylum and its psychiatry. Routledge. London EC4 The facility became known as the Lincoln Lunatic Hospital in 1905 and The Lawn Hospital in 1921. Patients were to be "persons of the superior class who shall contribute to the general expense of the establishment according to their ability and persons in more limited circumstances whose payments shall be relieved, when an opportunity may offer, out of the disposable funds of the charity."

Mary Barkas Mary Rushton Barkas (7 September 1889 – 17 April 1959) was a psychiatrist, physician and author from New Zealand. She worked at the Bethlem Royal Hospital, where she was the first female house physician, and the Maudsley Hospital in London, ...

, a respected psychiatrist, worked as Medical Superintendent at the hospital between 1928 and 1933. The hospital joined the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

in 1948 and, following the introduction of

Care in the Community Care in the Community (also called "Community Care" or "Domiciliary Care") is a British policy of deinstitutionalisation, treating and caring for physically and mentally disabled people in their homes rather than in an institution. Institutional ca ...

, closed in 1985. City of Lincoln Council acquired the hospital and operated it as an events venue until August 2016 when it sold it to R. W. Stokes & Sons who have redeveloped the property as a new business headquarters, cafe, restaurant and theatre. A tropical glasshouse, the

Sir Joseph Banks Conservatory The Sir Joseph Banks Conservatory is a tropical house at Woodside Wildlife Park in Lincolnshire, England. History The Sir Joseph Banks Conservatory is a tropical house, originally constructed in 1989 within The Lawn complex in Lincoln. It wa ...

, was moved from the site in late 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawn Neoclassical architecture in England Hospital buildings completed in 1920 History of Lincolnshire Tourist attractions in Lincolnshire Buildings and structures in Lincoln, England Defunct hospitals in England Former psychiatric hospitals in England

History

See also

References