Littlemore Hospital was a mental health facility on Sandford Road in Littlemore, Oxfordshire.

Littlemore Hospital
Littlemore Hospital
Littlemore Hospital is located in Oxfordshire
Littlemore Hospital
Shown in Oxfordshire
Geography
LocationLittlemore, Oxfordshire, England
Coordinates51°43′05″N 1°13′36″W / 51.7180°N 1.2268°W / 51.7180; -1.2268
Organisation
Care systemNHS
TypeSpecialist
Services
Emergency departmentN/A
SpecialityPsychiatric Hospital
History
Opened1846
Closed1998
Links
ListsHospitals in England

History edit

The hospital, which was designed by Robert Clarke using a Corridor Plan layout, opened as the Oxford County Pauper Lunatic Asylum in August 1846.[1][2] The ward spurs were extended to a design by Henry Jones Underwood in 1847.[1]

Littlemore railway station was opened, giving improved access to the hospital, in 1864, and two additional pavilion blocks connected by a recreation hall were completed to a design by Edwin Dolby and Henry Tollit in 1902.[1][3] During the last few months of the First World War the hospital served as the Ashurst Military hospital and it was then renamed Littlemore Hospital in 1922.[1]

After some of the pavilions saw service with the Emergency Hospital Service during the Second World War, the whole facility joined the National Health Service in 1948.[1] Dr Bertram Mandelbrote, who carried out pioneering work on creating therapeutic communities, became superintendent at the hospital in 1959.[4]

After the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s, the hospital went into a period of decline and closed in 1998.[1][5] The main hospital building was converted into apartments as St. George's Park.[1] Some of the rear blocks were acquired by Yamanouchi (now Astellas Pharma) for use as a research facility [6] but then sold on, in 2008, to the SAE Institute for use as a training establishment.[7] Meanwhile, a modern mental health facility known as the Littlemore Mental Health Centre,[8] which includes the Ashurst Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and Phoenix Ward (Adult Male in-patient), have been established on the opposite side of Sandford Road.[9]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Littlemore Hospital". County Asylums. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  2. ^ "We have much pleasure in announcing". Nottingham Review and General Advertiser. England. 16 June 1843. Retrieved 6 January 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 689. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
  4. ^ "Bertram Mandelbrote – pioneer in care of mentally ill". Oxford Mail. Newsquest. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  5. ^ "Littlemore Hospital, Oxford". Oxfordshire Health Archives. Archived from the original on 17 March 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  6. ^ "Planning application: SAE Oxford, Littlemore House" (PDF). Oxford Council. 8 September 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  7. ^ "Plan for media college at Littlemore". Oxford Mail. 31 January 2008. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  8. ^ "Littlemore Mental Health Centre". NHS. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  9. ^ "Ashurst Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (Littlemore mental health centre)". Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. Retrieved 30 December 2015.