Talk:St Bernard's Hospital, Hanwell

Notes

• Map

Have used the map of the UK and Eire because it is more meaningful for overseas readers.

• Medical Journals

Be aware that historic references found in medical journals -although often sounding good- tend to be too inaccurate to be used for these purposes. This history goes so far back that there have been many a opportunities for the same mistakes and typo's to get copied from journal to journal and accumulate. So, please only use information from 'good roots'

• WLMHT needs is own article to be created.--Aspro 15:10, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

New image:

Aerial view of the hospital c.1920

Hanwell Asylum's Chapel - c.1875

--Aspro 09:26, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

History

(comments please)

• Apologies for not making myself known. I've never posted to Wikipedia before so I'm not entirely sure how it works. I stumbled across a reply of yours on the London historians blog which lead me to here. Thanks for the information and tips regarding preservation of them. I found them very useful indeed. Unfortunately I don't own a scanner ~ maybe photos of them would do? I'm a collector of all things related to lunatic asylums.
• I have a few Hanwell related documents from the 1800s, mainly commitment certificates, letters and postcards regarding patients etc. They may be of interest to you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.10.106.13 (talk) 01:11, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

Yes, they certainly are of interest. Don't know if you are editor Ianmurray5 (edit from IanMurray5 - No, not me) who just forgot to log in or whether you are a new editor who just happen to add this to his post. Either way, these document are historical useful. Suggest two approaches to use together in order to preserve them. (1) Scan them at high resolution on an ordinary flat-bed scanner and upload them to Commons. Being Victorian they are now out of copyright and can be uploaded there and thus make them available to other historians. I can help you with this process. The commitment certificates may be way-to-large for a A4 scanner to cope with but lets take one problem at a time. (2) To put it bluntly. You may get run over by a bus tomorrow, and those who are tasked to sort though your belongings may (and probably will) not recognise the significance of these documents and just bin them. Place them now in a large envelope with a large label saying that these MUST be donated to (say) studymore.org. Can help you with this also.--Aspro (talk) 15:48, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

• I thought the land was given by the Earl of Jersey? (said ianmurray5)
• I thought the original building was to house 150 patients and consisted of the central tower and one straight arm on each side (ie E & F blocks albeit only 2 story) with C, D and G, H blocks being the first of the later extensions? (said ianmurray5)
• I also wonder about the boundaries that you have given, should not the land include the farm across from the canal? (said ianmurray5)
• At the back there may well be some old unused buildings, but there were never many wards to be unused: Medway (probably the only unused) and Napier (now the Orchard Centre), most buildings at the rear were service buildings - Kitchen; Pharmacy; Stores; Clothing supplies; etc. (said ianmurray5)
• Hanwell was not the only plan for asylums, the villa system for instance
• The worlds largest asylum? Prove it. I gather it managed around 3,800 beds, the gossip was that it was the largest purpose-built in the UK, and possibly the world, but I don't think you have evidence (said ianmurray5)
• The John Connolly wing did not originally contain any rehabilitation wards, it's aim was to move the adult admission (Brent, Campion, Ellis & Beverley), and elderly admission wards (Darwin & ???) with their OT centres (Devon & the EMI one ?) from (mostly) the West side bungalow wards of the hospital providing modern facilities partially paid for by selling the west-side land to be sold and redeveloped. (said ianmurray5)

Historical thoughts

(please add your own)

Trying to remember ward names:

The letter numbering system (as found on the doors to the wards placed the lowest numbers on the bottom eg Darwin (D1) on the ground floor and Drake (D3), level 3,</ br> Does anyone have a photo of a ward door with the name number on it. I cannot remember which came first number or name. "(E1) Elgar" or "Elgar (E1)".

A Block

2 bungalow wards (one is currently the League of Friends shop/cafe)

• Addison & Arnold (A1 & A2)
  

B Block

• 8 wards (nearest of the main asylum building to Ealing General Hospital):

Balfour (B1)	Basement level	(ground floor near Ealing General Hospital as land slopes towards the river Brent)
Balmoral (B2)	" " " " " " " " " "	Became an OT centre
Brisbane (B3)	Ground floor	Example
Balfour (B4)	" " " " " " " " "	The original male admission ward
Blair (B5)	First floor	In the 1990s this was the original Forensic Secure Unit before the building of Three Bridges
Beverley (B6)	" " " " " "	In the 1990s this was the Acton area Acute Admission Ward
Buckingham (B7)	Top floor	In the 1990s this was the alcohol & drug rehabilitation programme unit, access via Blenheim ward
Blenheim (B8)	" " " " " "	In the 1990s this was the alcohol & drug detox unit

C Block :

• 3 wards on the corner between B & D blocks:

Chaucer (C1)	Ground floor	Later became Medical Records
Churchfield (C2)	Middle floor	Later became Ealing's Health Education Department
Coleridge (C3)	Top floor	Later became June ward and later the Information Systems Centre

D Block

D = 3 : Darwin (D1), Dean (D2) & Drake (D3)

E Block

3 Wards, although one was subdivided to create the Edward OT centre. Elgar on the ground floor was smaller as their was a walkway next to the staircase between D and E blocks. E = 4 : Elgar (E1), Elliot (E2), & Emmerson (E3) with Edward on the east end - was this E4 ?

Centre

This area comprises Offices and central functions such as the kitchens, original laundry and

F Block (Start of the Female Side)

F = 3 : Ferrymead (F1), Fairway & Featherstone (F2 & F3 can't remember the order)

G Block

G = 3 : Grant, Gotherington, Glenmore

H Block (on the corner between G & J block)

H = 3 : ?, Heron & Hermes
Note the basement was for many years 'The Bees Knees' patient's pub/bar

J Block (6 Wards, 3 high 2 wide)

J = 6 : June, Jericho, Jordan, Jameson, Jenna, Jarvis (J1- J6, cannot remember order)
June at one stage housed the most chronic female long stay patients

K Block (3 female wards)

K = 3 : Kestrel, Kingfisher & Kent
End of main blocks
L = 2 : Lindon House & Laural
M = 1 : M1 Medway (a two-story ward with later the dentists in the square building outside)
N = 1 : N1 Napier

WW1 building program on the West side for Shell Shock

O = 2 : Adelaide 1 & 2
P = 4 : Ellis, Devon, Campion (a two-story ward, male dormitory ward & bathroom upstairs), Brent - Medical records store in Devon after ward closed and before OT moved in

Bungalow Wards (WW2 Shell Shock replacing previous bungalow wards on West side

Q = 2+ : Remaining WW1 bungalow wards not demolished when R block wards built below Conway and used as a nurses home in the 1980s until demolishion.
R = 6 : Daniel, Connolly; Avon, Clyde; Shannon, Conway. Built in pairs along a central corridor in a chevron pattern

Other

S1 :  ??? Porters Lodge / Old Pharmacy beyond Linden House?
T = OT centre near old nursing home, Probably WW1 built I think below or part of Q block.

In addition, there were several small buildings two of which housed Art (lots of purple paint used there) and Music (great drum kit - took a lot of tension) therapies.

Comments (additions, mistakes, discussion) appreciated please. Ianmurray5 (talk) from 2012 - 2015 (UTC)

Note to other editors:

Michael Portillo who presents Great British Railway Journeys on the BBC will feature St Bernard’s Hospital in 2013.

Thanks Ianmurray5 (talk) 23:49, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

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