St Crispin's Hospital

St Crispin's Hospital was a large psychiatric facility on the outskirts of Duston village in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England. It was established Northampton Mental Hospital in 1876 and closed in 1995. The site has since been redeveloped for residential use with a small mental health unit still remaining there.

St Crispin's Hospital
The Asylum as it is today, the ward in view behind the tower has been converted to flats
Shown in Northamptonshire
Geography
LocationNorthampton, England
Coordinates52.243°N 0.958°W / 52.243; -0.958
Organisation
Affiliated universityNone
PatronNone
Services
HelipadNo
History
Opened1876
Closed1995
Links

History

Work started on the hospital in 1873.[1] It was designed by Robert Griffiths using a corridor layout and opened as the Northampton Mental Hospital in 1876.[1] Additional blocks for children with mental health difficulties and for epileptics were completed in 1887.[1] It served as a military hospital during the First World War and after the war it became Northampton Mental Hospital.[2] It had joined the National Health Service in 1948 and two female patient villas were completed in 1954.[1]

The hospital was used as a filming location in the 1977 series of Doctor Who, in a six-part story called The Talons of Weng-Chiang. The mortuary was used to represent a Victorian operating theatre.[3]

Following the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s the hospital went into a period of decline and closed in 1995.[4] The children's block and the superintendents' house were developed by Taylor Wimpey for residential use between 2005 and 2008[5] and a small area was applied for the construction of Berrywood Hospital, a modern mental health facility.[6]

In August 2014, over 80 Firefighters responded to an emergency call as a large fire broke out.[4] One of the buildings was also seriously damaged in March 2015 after it was set on fire by arsonists.[7]

  • The Main Hall held up with scaffolding after a major fire
  • The Main Hall and Clock Tower
  • The ward blocks have been stripped of most of their original features

References
  1. "St Crispin's Hospital". County Asylum's. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  2. "St Crispin Hospital, Northampton". National Archives. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  3. "Doctor Who Locations - St. Crispin's Hospital". Doctor Who Locations. 13 November 2007. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  4. "Three arrests over hospital site fire in Northampton". BBC. 14 August 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  5. "Developers finally submit plans to convert fire-ravaged hospital near Duston into homes". Northampton Chronicle and Echo. 25 January 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  6. "Northamptonshire County Asylum- St Crispin's Hospital". The Time Chamber. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  7. "Police issue danger warning on former St Crispin's Hospital site in Northampton". Northampton Chronicle and Echo. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
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