Exminster Hospital is a former mental health facility at

Exminster Exminster is a village west of the Exeter Canal, Exeter ship canal and River Exe in Devon, England, south of Exeter, with a population of 4,379 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. Exminster is an ancient village associated with a A ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The hospital, which was designed by

Charles Fowler Charles Fowler (17 May 1792 – 26 September 1867) was an English architect, born and baptised at Cullompton, Cullompton, Devon. He is especially noted for his design of market buildings, including Covent Garden Market in London. Life Educati ...

using a radial plan of the

panopticon The panopticon is a design of institutional building with an inbuilt system of control, originated by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century. The concept is to allow all prisoners of an institution to be ...

type, opened as the Devon County Lunatic Asylum in July 1845. It was used as military hospital during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and then became known as Devon Mental Hospital in the 1920s. It was badly bombed during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and joined the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

as Exminster Hospital in 1948 before becoming known as Exe Vale Hospital (Exminster Branch) in the 1970s. After 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 c ...

in the early 1980s, the hospital went into a period of decline and closed in July 1985. The main building was converted into apartments between 2001 and 2008 and is now known as Devington Park.

References

Defunct hospitals in England Hospitals in Devon Hospital buildings completed in 1845 Hospitals established in 1845 1845 establishments in England Former psychiatric hospitals in England Grade II* listed buildings in Devon Hospitals disestablished in 1985 1985 disestablishments in England {{UK-listed-building-stub

History

See also

References