Rainhill Hospital
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Rainhill Hospital was a very large
psychiatric hospital A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe Mental disorder, mental disorders. These institutions cater t ...
complex that was located in
Rainhill Rainhill is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. The population at the 2011 census was 10,853. Historically part of Lancashire, Rainhill was a township in the ecclesiastical parish of Prescot ...
,
Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. Founded in 1851 as the then Third
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
County Lunatic Asylum, the hospital was repeatedly expanded until the 1980's when a mixture of administrative changes and changes in policy saw patient services transfer to newer facilities and
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 ...
. Closed in 1992 and subsequently demolished, the site was redeveloped into a retirement village.


History

The facility was designed by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes and opened as the Third Lancashire County Lunatic Asylum on 1 January 1851. Additional wings designed by Henry Horner were completed in 1860. It became the County Lunatic Asylum, Rainhill in 1861. In 1877 a new annexe was designed by George Enoch Grayson and Edward Ould and constructed to the north-west of Rainhill Road. The annexe would later become known as the Avon Division. The Avon Division was designed to facilitate the accommodation of long-term, chronically mentally ill patients who were breaching capacity on what became known as the Sherdley Division which was subsequently mainly used for acute cases. The Avon Division was noted for its distinctive water towers and linear design. Some new buildings designed in a Tudor Revival style were added to the Avon Division in around 1900. The hospital was the location of the Great Porridge Strike on 6 April 1913 when the staff, members of the National Asylum Workers' Union, went on strike in protest when meat was replaced by oatmeal porridge. The facility became the County Mental Hospital, Rainhill in 1923 and at the peak of its activity, in the 1930s, there were approximately 3,000 inpatients resident at the hospital. From 1938 to 1949 the admissions part of the hospital served as a Royal Naval Auxiliary Hospital. From 1943 to 1944 the Medical Officer in Charge was Surgeon Captain Joseph Roland Brennan RN. The hospital 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 Rainhill Mental Hospital in 1948. 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 c ...
in the early 1980s, services transferred to Aintree Hospital and
Whiston Hospital Whiston Hospital is an acute general hospital in Whiston, Merseyside, though its postal address places it in adjacent Prescot. The hospital is managed by Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. History The original hospital at ...
; the Avon Division closed in 1987 and the Sherdley Division closed in June 1992. The
Scott Clinic Scott Clinic was a medium secure psychiatric unit located on the outskirts of Rainhill, Merseyside, England. It originated from and operated on the site of the former Rainhill Hospital. The unit was named after the late Dr. Peter Scott and provid ...
, a medium secure facility, moved to new facilities on the Sherdley Division site. The facility was demolished stages during the 1990s. The site was initially acquired by
Pilkington Glass Pilkington is a glass-manufacturing company which is based in Lathom, Lancashire, England. It includes several legal entities in the UK, and is a subsidiary of Japanese company Nippon Sheet Glass (NSG). It was formerly an independent company ...
for development of a new headquarters but instead Pilkington decided to sell off the site for residential use. The site has been developed and is now known as Reeve Court.


See also

*
Scott Clinic Scott Clinic was a medium secure psychiatric unit located on the outskirts of Rainhill, Merseyside, England. It originated from and operated on the site of the former Rainhill Hospital. The unit was named after the late Dr. Peter Scott and provid ...
, a medium secure psychiatric unit and the only mental health facility to remain on the former Rainhill Hospital site *
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 ...
, 1980's British government policy of
deinstitutionalisation Deinstitutionalisation (or deinstitutionalization) is the process of replacing long-stay psychiatric hospitals with less isolated community mental health services for those diagnosed with a mental disorder or developmental disability. In the 1950 ...
* Lancaster Moor Hospital, the first Lancashire County Asylum * Prestwich Hospital, the second Lancashire County Asylum *
Whittingham Hospital Whittingham Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in the parish of Whittingham, Lancashire, Whittingham, near Preston, Lancashire, England. The hospital opened in 1873 as the Fourth Lancashire County Asylum and grew to be the largest mental hospita ...
, the fourth Lancashire County Asylum *
Winwick Hospital Winwick Hospital was a mental health facility at Winwick, Cheshire, England. History The hospital site was previously part of the Winwick Hall estate. The hall, which was initially converted for use as a residential home for boys with mental heal ...
, the fifth Lancashire County Asylum * Calderstones Hospital, the sixth Lancashire County Asylum * Knowsley Resource and Recovery Centre, Whiston Hospital, a low secure psychiatric unit that was established following the closure of the Sherdley Division at Rainhill. The recovery centre was opened in 1990 as the Sherdley Unit, its namesake being an homage to its predecessor. * The Windsor Clinic, Aintree Hospital, an acute alcohol detoxification unit that was transferred to Aintree following the closure of Rainhill Hospital.


References


External links


Lancashire County Asylum
{{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1851 Buildings and structures demolished in 1992 Defunct hospitals in England Former psychiatric hospitals in England Hospitals in Merseyside Buildings and structures in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens 1851 establishments in England Demolished buildings and structures in Merseyside Hospitals in Lancashire