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san4uzel · Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 72 Location: British

Whittingham Hospital Goosnargh, Lancashire UK

Built: 1869 Closed: 1995
Opened: 1893 Demolished / Renovated: N/A
Location Age: 139 years old Abandonment: 13 years
Location Genre: Psychiatric
Current Status: Abandoned
Located In: Goosnargh, Lancashire

The Fourth County Lunatic Asylum at Whittingham was built in 1869 and opened on April 1st, 1893 in response to needs of an additional psychiatric hospital in Lancashire. The facility was able to house just over 2,000 patients, but grew with three major additions to the original hospital complex (known as the St Luke's Division); St John's (the Annex - 1880), Cameron House, and St Margaret's (the New or West Annex - 1912). Also included on campus was an infectious diseases sanatorium (Fryar's Villa), train station, theater with hospital brass band and orchestra, church, and post office. In the early 1920's, the facility was renamed "Whittingham Mental Hospital", and after the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the military used the St Margaret's Division as an emergency hospital to treat both military and civilian casualties until 1946. Shortly thereafter, the staff at Whittingham produced the first EEG machine from war surplus material. The patient population rose to over 3,500, making Whittingham Mental Hospital the largest in the country. To get a better look at the size and layout, here's an aerial photo of the hospital

In 1965, the hospital magazine "Contact" published two articles touching upon shortcomings in student training on the wards, which were followed by letters from student nurses complaining about conditions for patients that were ignored by the Hospital Management Committee. In 1967, a book called "Sans Everything" was published, describing conditions within long term care facilities, which stirred the student nurses once again. A meeting was held and the students voiced opinions of mistreatment and fraud. The Head Male Nurse quickly squelched the fire by threatening the students with actions for libel and slander against their complaints, and nothing was brought up until March of 1968...

A new psychologist had toured the wards, and did not like what he saw at all, and published his opinions in several articles. The student nurses now felt like they had a voice on the outside to help, but another meeting was called and they were told to "put up or shut up" by the Head Male Nurse. The Hospital Management Committee discovered heard about this meeting and the previous one in 1967, and reprimands were issued to the Head Male Nurse and Matron, both of whom decided to retire thereafter.

An investigation was conducted, and complaints of mistreatment were reported in two male and two female wards in the St Luke's division, with the worst being in Ward 16 for women. Complaints were reported such as patients being locked in small rooms under staircases, in washrooms, and outside in the airing courts regardless of weather. Others include patients being dragged by their hair, a "wet towel treatment" where a damp towel would be wrapped around the patient's neck to induce unconsciousness, nurses setting fire to a patients clothing while worn, beatings and vermin infestations. During the 1968-69 fiscal year, as much as £49,000 had been unaccounted for as well. The allegations were denied, but staff members were discharged and peace was restored.

New movements in psychiatric treatment led to the popularity of de-institutionalization; small psych wings were added to general hospitals rather than keeping patients in these large, ancient asylums. Once the new treatment center opened in Preston, the Whittingham Hospital was shut down in 1995. English Partnerships plans to demolish the buildings for housing and offices in 2008.

GHOSTS ;- the ghosts of world war 2 soliders have been seen in the St Margaret's Division area of the hospital, the ghostly sounds of crying, women screaming have been heard by security staff patrolling the NOW
Abandoned ward 16 womens wing, also screaming and slapping nosies heard in the areas of ward s3, are these the cries of the once mistreated patients of ward 16 and s3 St Luke's division wing ?

san4uzel · Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 72 Location: British

MORE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF Whittingham Hospital

(information provided by a Ken ashton, a former employee at the hospital)

An extract from a booklet "Whittingham Hospital - One Hundred Years 1873 - 1973": "No matter what the future, Whittingham Hospital can hold its head high with pride. It has contributed to the welfare and comfort of countless people who otherwise would have spent their days in misery. It has played its part in the development of treatment for the mentally ill. It is still sturdy in stature capable of meeting any reasonable demands made upon it. It stands as a monument to the fact that wisdom does not decrease with age. 'For as much as all knowledge beginneth from experience, therefore also new experience is the beginning of new knowledge'....(Hobbes)

Whittingham Hospital opened officially on 1st April 1893, built by bricks made on site, the source being what became to be known as the "duck pond" but referred to on maps as the "fish pond". The kiln for the manufacture of the bricks was situated, apparently, in what is known "Super's Hill Woods", at the back of the hospital, on the road to Grimsargh. The hospital was built in four "phases", the first being St Luke's (the Main), followed by St John's (the Annex), then Cameron House, and lastly St Margaret's (the New or West Annex). In addition to these 'divisions' there was also a Sanatorium of fourteen beds built for Infectious Diseases, which became known as Fryars' Villa, later to become part of the accomodation for the resident staff. The hospital served the community for almost 150 years, and, in its' day, was a virtually self sufficient community.

Proposal for an additional Asylum within Lancashire was called for and, following decisions as a result of the Local Government Act of 1888, it was decided to build an Asylum. The first choice of site was just behind Fulwood Barracks in Preston, but this gave way to a preferential site at Got Field Farm, to be known as Whittingham. This site was chosen, primarily, because there was a good natural supply of fresh water more readily available than other sites, and it was within easy reach of Preston.

Potted History

On completion of St Luke's division, the first part of the hospital to be built, rules for staff were published; staff had to be on duty by 0600 and retire to bed by 2200. They were allowed to go out one day every three weeks and one Sunday every month. Any 'attendant' who lost a patient, had to pay the expenses incurred in their retrun to the hospital. In 1878 Cooper & Tullis built the Annex (St John's division) following the purchase of 68 acres of land. The Annex was completed in 1880 and then accommodated 115 patients. The Post Office was constructed within St John's division with the agreement of the Postmaster General; the hospital now had its own Post Office! In 1884 telephone communications were established with Preston at an annual cost of £20. In the same year, an Infectious Diseases Sanatorium was established, known as Fryars' Villa, named after Alderman James Fryar who, at one time, was Chairman of the Hospital Committee.

In 1890 the "Lunacy Act" was passed by Parliament; this was one of the greatest pieces of legislation in the history of Asylum. 1892 saw arrangements being made for the grounds to be illuminated by the new 'electric lamps', and this was completed in 1894.

In 1901 the introduction of 10/- (ten shillings - (50 pence today)) per week was introduced for staff on annual leave in lieu of rations. The attendant staff wanted a shorted working week at this time, as their recorded working week was 98 hours! Annual leave at this time was; 10 days for Attendants; 12 days for Second Charges and 14 days for Charge Attendants. The daily diet of patients and staff included one glass of Ale which was brewed on site in the hospital's own brewery!

1912 saw the construction of the New Annex (or West Annex) to become known as St Margaret's division; prior to this, Cameron House was completed and opened and named after James Cameron.

In 1914 the Clock Tower, which was a prominent landmark, rising from above the main corridor in St Luke's division, was taken down, never to be returned to its place of splendour, and faded into history - it is only seen on very old photographs, some of which we hope to include in later editions. St Margaret's officially opened in the same year, 1914, and the patient population in the following year, 1915, is recorded as being 2,820.

In 1918/19 the New West Annex (St Margaret's) was evacuated as an Asylum and turned over to the Military for their use in the care of sick and injured from the First World War. There are four graves in the hospital cemetery which are under the care of the War Graves Commission relating to casualties of the First World War (there is one from the Second World War too, although this one appears to be the grave of an Italian internee).

Committee records show at this time, the change of name from "Whittingham Asylum" to "Whittingham Mental Hospital".

The Commissioners noted in 1929 that an 'open door' principle was practised on a number of wards, and in 1930 Parliament passed the first "Mental Health Act", resulting in the first "voluntary" patients being admitted. The term "Asylum" was replaced by "Mental Hospital" and the term "Lunatic" was replaced by "person of unsound mind". In 1932 the patient population exceeded 3,000 for the first time, and at this time, staff numbers are recorded as being 433.

Since the beginning, the hospital had its own Brass Band and Orchestra, both of which achieved very high standards. Both patients and staff were members of these two functions. Later Whittingham developed a sporting tradition, which was encouraged by the Management Committee, and achieved a reputation of which it is justly proud - cricket is still played on the hospital pitch today and it is home to Whittingham and Goosnargh Cricket Club.

The "open door" principle was extended and patients had access to the grounds of the hospital and the local village, Goosnargh. The hospital grounds by this time had become a work of art and, up until closure, were maintained to a very high standard and were a pleasure to wander through.

At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the patient population was 3,533, which made Whittingham Mental Hospital the largest in the country. Wards 31 to 36 (St Margaret's division) were vacated and patients accommodated in other hospitals to allow the Military once again to have access to the facility, and this part of the hospital become known as the Whittingham Emergency Hospital. These wards consisted of 900 beds and many casualties, both military and civilian, were treated there, the first being evacuee casualties from Dunkirk.

A Major from the Royal Army Medical Corps was responsible for discipline and had his own compliment of military personnel for the duration. Prisoners of War were also treated in this 'emergency hospital' at this time. The military vacated the hospital in 1946 and the hospital returned to its' intended function.

The innovation of staff at Whittingham produced the very first EEG machine. This was a result of the collaboration between Dr C S Parker and Mr Charles Breakall, and the encephlograph was born! This equipment was produced from War Surplus material which, at the time, was being sold for £2.10.0d (two pounds, ten shillings) per hundredweight! An article was published in the "Lancet" describing this new innovation, and considerable interest was expressed by the American Department for Space Medicine, the forerunner of NASA.

1953 saw staff shortages such that recruitment had to be carried out from overseas. This proved a success, staff were recruited from places such as France, Italy, Denmark, Ireland, Malta and Mauritus, broadening gently, the cultural scope of Whittingham.

During this period there was also a sad event in that Whittingham's very own railway was closed down. The railway began in 1887 and ran from the British Rail junction at Grimsargh through to Whittingham, carrying stores, supplies, staff, patients relatives and visitors. The final run of the Whittingham train was made in 1957 ending seventy years of service.

1960 saw the implementation of the new "Mental Health Act" and this, in addition to the new forms of pharmacological treatment available saw vast improvements for people with Mental Illness problems. This was, alas, also the beginning of the end of Whittingham. Large and outmoded Victorian institutions such as Whittingham were deemed not to be the way forward in the treatment of Mental Illness (a fact since proved, without a doubt, wrong!) and small, 'specialised' units were to be created adjacent to large general hospitals. Even with the modern treatments available today, "asylum" in itself was a valued form of treatment and a very worthwile one too. There was then, there is now, and there always will be, a very real need for asylum!

The Inquiry

The unrest at Whittingham can be traced back to 1965 when two items appeared in the hospital magazine "Contact", the author being a Medical Assistant in Psychiatry. These articles highlighted unrest amonst students and shortfalls in training on the wards. These were followed by a letter from a student who complained of conditions for patients within St Luke's division. There then followed a constant flow of complaints from student nurses, mostly, but not wholly, about female wards. The then Hospital Management Committee chose to ignore all these complaints. Smouldering discontent caught alight when, in 1967 a book entitled "Sans Everything", describing conditions in long stay institutions, was published.

On 18 July 1967, the student nurses association held a meeting with the head tutor in the chair, voicing their concerns and lodging serious complaints of cruelty, ill treatment and fraud. The Head Male Nurse then acted quickly; he called a meeting of all the students; the meeting was reported to have been "stormy". The students were told that the content of their complaints was material for the law courts and they were threatened with actions for libel and slander; because of the fear of reprisal or being singled out, the students would not pursue the matter further. The Head Male Nurse and the Matron then demanded the names of students and details of the complaints. The meeting ended and the minutes were suppressed; nothing further occurred until March 1968 when a new Psychologist took up post.

The new Psychologist was appalled at the conditions on some of the wards, and said so! This action identified the new Psychologist with the dissident students interests. It was at this time that the students, the Psychologist and the Assistant Medical Officer in Psychiatry pooled their discontent. Another meeting was held and the students were told by the Head Male Nurse to "put up or shut up". The Hospital Management Committee heard about this meeting and discovered the suppression of the minutes of the previous meeting of July 1967 and issued reprimands. Both the Head Male Nurse and the Matron retired.
An inquiry into allegations was announced and a new Chief Nursing Officer was appointed within one month of the announcement. The inquiry divided the complaints into three specific headings: 1) Care of Patients, 2) Organisation of Services, and 3) Financial Control. The complaints of ill treatment of patients referred to four wards, two female and two male, the worst being ward 16 (female), all within St Luke's division. The complaints listed: Patients left untreated; Patients given only bread and jam, regardless of menu; given a spoon only regardless of diet; food mixed up and served as "slops"; Patients restricted in fluids during and after meals; put to bed in only vests; left queueing on the stairs waiting for a bath; certain patients locked in rooms under the stairs; Patients put out and locked out in the airing courts, regardless of weather conditions; certain patients locked in the washrooms. Until September 1969 this ward (16) had remained under the control of one Sister who had been in post for 47 years!

Ward S3 was mentioned in that students alledged they had witnessed patients being dragged by their hair.

On ward 3, a male ward, the main allegation was that there were incidents of the "wet towel treatment"; this involved twisting a wet towel or bed sheet round a patients neck until the patient lost conciousness. Patients were also alleged to have been seen to be punched and locked in a storeroom.

On ward S2, another male ward, it was alleged that two male nurses had poured methylated spirits into the slippers of one patient and into the dressing gown pocket of another, and set them alight.

There were more complaints of wards being too hot or too cold and damp, and temperatures of 46 degrees or less were reported. There were allegations of patients being roughly treated and restrianed by being tied to chairs.

It was also reported that some wards were infested with cockroaches and ants, all of which crawled onto patients, their clothes and bedding. There were some complaints that the food was inadequate.

Under the second heading, there were complaints that: insufficient provision of adequate medical staff had been made; not enough nursing staff; wards too crowded with no new equipment; poor training on the wards; bad communication between male and female sides, medical and nursing staff, and between junior and senior staff; bad deployment of nursing staff.

Under the final heading, Financial Control, it was alleged that there was a lot of petty theft at ward level, and more serious fraud: books not being kept; books that didn't tally with actual figures; theft of property and goods; theft of cigarettes (some being sold back to the patients at inflated prices). One Charge Nurse was quoted as saying, "if you were not in on the corruption, you didn't get on". There were other statements made to the effect that: "everyone's in the racket, just look at who changes their car every year and who takes regular holidays abroad; who takes their wife out for expensive meals two or three times a week; how many people were having new bungalows built recently?", then the individual is recorded as stating "I'm not saying any more".

All complaints were firmly and consistently denied by all involved. In 1968-69, £91,000 was issued from sources for patients use, yet only £42,000 was recorded as having been spent in the hospital shop(s) - the remaining £49,000 is not easliy accounted for!

St John's Church

As with all Victorian Institutions of the day, Religion played a great part and, it was to this end that a Church was built within the grounds and was named St John's. The contract for the erection of a Church and a Chaplain's house was awarded in September 1871, estimated costings being £4,632.00 and £1,579. 8s 2p respectively.

The house was subsequently not errected at the time and when it was the cost had risen to £2,000! An organ was purchased and installed in the Church at a cost of £250 and arrangements were made to provide heating by means of hot water, heated by gas.

St John's Church was Church of England, and provision for Roman Catholics was made in a room set aside in one of the wards. In June 1875 the Church was licensed by the Bishop of Manchester. The first hospital chaplain was the Rev W T Palmour. The Asylum cemetery was consecrated in 1895, again by the Bishop of Manchester and the chaplain was subsequently awarded 2/6d for each burial service performed.

Some difficulty had arisen in 1870 between the visiting Magistrate and the Vicar and Churchwardens of St Mary's Church in Goosnargh. The Church were anxious to limit the number of burials in Goosnargh cemetery to those members of families already buried there. From what information (to date) we have been able to obtain, it would appear a facture had occured in relations with the hospital and the village. The Committe of Visitors stated that they had no intention of providing a separate burial ground for the insane! However, whatever the outcome, a cemetery was created within the hospital grounds next to St John's Church. Basically this was divided into two halves, one for people who could afford to bury their dead and the other half as a Pauper's Cemetery.

As newly recruited staff back then, the author (ken ashton) had visited the cemetery and have various memories of the layout and graves. There are five War Graves in the cemetery, four from the First World War and one from the Second.

The last Chaplain in post, the Rev S Timbrell, made a point of burying the last few patients to be interred there in each corner of the cemetery. Alas, this, it would appear was a wasted gesture. As now a visit to the site, there would no way of identifying where any graves other than the War Graves were! The only indication is that the name plates from the individual graves have been gather together and placed on a pile of stones. The cemetery is virutally unrecognisable and is now listed as being "grassed over"; there is no evidence of the Pauper's cemetery at all!

St John's Church is the only building on the entire site to be 'listed', and has Grade II listed status, contrary to the belief of many people who worked there thinking that St Luke's frontage and the Ballroom had preservation orders on them - they do not!

The End is Nigh!

Following the inquiry, a number of changes were made, the "rotten apples" were removed and, in conjunction with the 'modern' approach to Psychiatry as opposed to Lunacy and Mental Illness, with the modern drugs available, changes were obvious!

The hospital groungs were an open parkland used by the majority of patients either on their own or with the assistance of ready and willing staff, all eager to put the past behind them and prove the value of the institution. A breath of fresh air had been breathed into the old Victorian structures. Various forms of 'therapy' were instituted which included the likes of occupational therapy, industrial therapy, and resocialisation became the by-word of the day - resolcialisation into the modern world, and all staff were encouraged to these ends. Although, if truth be known, the end was in sight, it was a simple matter of the realisation of the loss of such an 'institution' and its established grounds that made people unable to accept this.

The wrongs had been put right, the place was finctioning to the credit and benefit of both patients and staff, and the community, and "Asylum" was offered in the real sence of the word!

It only became evident and 'in your face' when a new management team were introduced. Ken Ashton at the time, although a nurse, was also a staff representative, and one day asked the new management team what their objectives were. - they responded, "to close the place".

At this time a new Psychiatric Unit had been opened attached to the new general hospital in Preston - what a difference, no green pastures; no tranquil atmosphere; no parklands, only a small unit from which patients were restricted in their movements and subjected to the goings-on in a busy general hospital.

The long stay patients had either been returned to their point of origin or placed in supposedly suitable units dotted about Preston. People who had been put into Whittingham by society were now being moved out. It is interesting to note that on the scale of trauma, death of a nearest and dearest being the top, moving home is second! Whittingham was the home of these people who had been in there for years and they had no say in their movement and placement.

The rapid close down was almost complete; patients had been 'relocated'; staff had been moved far and wide, the school of nursing had been moved, along with nurse training to a new era, not necessarily better, and most certainly not conducive to "hands on" patient care! It is now necessary to obtain a degree to become a nurse. This like other 'political' initiatives was and is sadly lacking, and, at the end of the day, who looses out?

Having unfortunately had to take retirement on the grounds of ill health, Ken Ashton one day attended a meeting of professional nurses, prior to giving up involvement completely, and was dismayed to hear an undergraduate student nurse say to her mentor, a district nurse, "when I am qualified and your age, I don't want to be going about wiping bums and the like, I want an office of my own" - nursing?

The staff at Whittingham have argued long and hard that, whilst accepting that the old outdated Victorian buildings were no longer suitable, the site itself was of immeasurable benefit for patient care and for the provision of care for the people for whom it was intended, even taking into account the march of time and progress. Small, purpose built units should have been errected on site, particularly with the long stay patient population in mind, to create a small theraputic community, shielded from everyday stress and pressures, which would allow people to get well in measured time. Some units have been built on the site, but they are primarily forensic and/or secure. The remainder of the land is supposedly to be sold for building a new housing estate.

One of course has to ask who are we to say these things, after all, we do not sit in some anonymous office in a far distant place, with no connection to the patients, staff or area, making decisions which affect local issues, the welfare and well-being of people. Obviously people who have seen and experienced such places do not know better than those political mandarins when it comes to the care of out fellow man.

The End

Towards the end, the staff side insisted that management allow them to have appropriate input into the redundancy and replacement of staff. A difficult task was emarked upon to ensure that as many staff as possible were found alternative employment and that redundancy was kept to a minimum. It was with a heavy heart that on that fateful Friday evening, Ken Ashton closed the office for the last time, and being, what felt like the last person on earth, walked down the corridor of St Luke's and closed the front door behind him on his final journey away from Whittingham. The door was now frimly closed to an era and a way of life.

A Hospital Museum ?

The Museum of Lancashire services, hold a few artefacts from the old Whittingham Hospital Museum. Most of the displays mentioned in the "inventory" of the Museum were present with, unfortunately, some notable exceptions. Some staff at Whittingham Hospital were pleased to have been in a position to donate some items they had recovered from the hospital (with Managements' permission) on closure in 1995, thus increasing the Museum's holdings. It is hoped that, in the not too distant future, a case will be presented to the authorities of the Museum to encourage them to allow an exhibition to be held, open to the public. This would be in a few years time, permission having been granted as it would take time to organise and promote such an exhibition. The Museum authorities have started a quest to discover the whereabouts more of the contents of the old hospital. However most things like the "tissue samples" which were on display in glass jars have all been destroyed on the instructions of the then Management of the Guild Trust following a panic over the tissue retention issue at Alderhey Chrildrens Hospital (not that anyone would have claimed ownership of the cut throat or other samples displayed!) but a few items remain like the stomach contents of some patients which were removed after death are still in the collection, buttons, stones, pins etc. It's quite amazing to learn that the largest of these collections was only discovered after the patient who had swallowed them, always unseen, only came to light after he collapsed at 08.15 in the morning and died that evening; and that there must be almost a pound in weight of swallowed items! There is some silverware which was found and retained, but not as much as can be remembered on display in the entrance hall of St Luke's by the Administrators' office old hospital staff claim.
A special note ;- there is a copy of the 1881 Census and it was interesting to note that the Chaplain at the time was Mr Palmour. Both he and his wife are buried in the cemetery at Whittingham .