Rauceby Hospital, originally called Kesteven County Asylum, is a now-defunct mental institution in the parish of Quarrington,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England. Originally opened in 1902, the main hospital building was closed in 1997 and the site has since been redeveloped as Greylees.

History

The hospital was designed by George Thomas Hine using an "

echelon Echelon may refer to: * A level formation ** A level or rank in an organization, profession, or society ** A military sub-subunit smaller than a company but larger than a platoon ** Echelon formation, a step-like arrangement of units * ECHELO ...

layout". Construction began in 1897 and it was officially opened as Kesteven County Asylum on 20 June 1902. The gardens were designed under a separate contract by William Goldring. An isolation unit, built in 1919 on the western edge of the site was never used as such; instead it housed those residents working on the farm. The facility became Kesteven Mental Hospital in 1924 and Rauceby Mental Hospital in 1933. In 1940 the building was taken over by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

; renamed as No.4 RAF Hospital Rauceby, it became a crash and burns unit under the control of nearby

RAF Cranwell Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. Among other functions, it is home to the RAF Colleg ...

. During its tenure as a burns unit plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe worked at the facility, along with other members of the " Guinea Pig Club". The wartime Burns Unit was situated in Orchard House, built alongside the hospital orchard. There was a major fire in the hall in 1945 and it was badly damaged although it was subsequently restored. The RAF handed the hospital back for civilian use in 1947 and it 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 Rauceby Hospital in 1948 although patients did not actually return until 1949. 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 through a period of decline and finally closed in December 1997. The site was subsequently developed for residential use by David Wilson Homes as " Greylees". The former isolation unit, now known as Ash Villa, functions as a 12-bedded in-patient unit for age 12–18 years within the child and adolescent mental health services under the control of the Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1902 Hospitals in Lincolnshire Defunct hospitals in England Former psychiatric hospitals in England Military hospitals in the United Kingdom Municipal hospitals Sleaford