Knowing Bangour is not long for this world, I decided to have another visit on a recent trip back home. There are quite a few parts I hadn't been in so I wanted cover some other places I hadn't put in my 2016 post - https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/bangour-village-hospital-west-lothian-october-2016.114176/
The usual faffing about due to dog walkers and security driving around still applies, the site is so popular these days they have a burger van parked up at the entrance now.
History from Wikipedia:
The hospital was modeled on the example of the Alt-Scherbitz asylum of the 1870s, at Schkeuditz, Germany, and represents one of the first village-plan psychiatric hospitals in Scotland. The Bangour institution comprised individual villas which would house approximately 30 patients each. The village also incorporated its own railway connection, a farm, bakery, workshops, recreation hall, school, shop, library and, latterly, a multi-denominational church.
The hospital was requisitioned by the War Office during both wars when it became the "Edinburgh War Hospital" and "The Scottish Emergency Medical Hospital", reverting to a psychiatric hospital between the wars and after 1945. During the Second World War the patients were evacuated to Hartwoodhill Hospital.
The number of patients rose to over 3,000 in 1918. Temporary marquees and prefabricated huts were erected to cope with the demand for bed space, for both patients and staff. This led to the creation of Bangour General Hospital in the surrounding grounds, which was to become noted in many medical fields, in particular its burns and plastic surgery unit which was established in 1940. It also had a 1st class Maternity Unit serving the whole of the county.
In 1989, St. John's Hospital opened in nearby Livingston, and services were transferred from Bangour General Hospital, which closed in the early 1990s. The Village Hospital also started to wind down after the opening of St Johns, with the last remaining ward closing in 2004.
Note how the spelling mistake in the name Alexander Mackenzie in the middle list was rectified:
Lots of very warped floors:
Continued...
The usual faffing about due to dog walkers and security driving around still applies, the site is so popular these days they have a burger van parked up at the entrance now.
History from Wikipedia:
The hospital was modeled on the example of the Alt-Scherbitz asylum of the 1870s, at Schkeuditz, Germany, and represents one of the first village-plan psychiatric hospitals in Scotland. The Bangour institution comprised individual villas which would house approximately 30 patients each. The village also incorporated its own railway connection, a farm, bakery, workshops, recreation hall, school, shop, library and, latterly, a multi-denominational church.
The hospital was requisitioned by the War Office during both wars when it became the "Edinburgh War Hospital" and "The Scottish Emergency Medical Hospital", reverting to a psychiatric hospital between the wars and after 1945. During the Second World War the patients were evacuated to Hartwoodhill Hospital.
The number of patients rose to over 3,000 in 1918. Temporary marquees and prefabricated huts were erected to cope with the demand for bed space, for both patients and staff. This led to the creation of Bangour General Hospital in the surrounding grounds, which was to become noted in many medical fields, in particular its burns and plastic surgery unit which was established in 1940. It also had a 1st class Maternity Unit serving the whole of the county.
In 1989, St. John's Hospital opened in nearby Livingston, and services were transferred from Bangour General Hospital, which closed in the early 1990s. The Village Hospital also started to wind down after the opening of St Johns, with the last remaining ward closing in 2004.
Note how the spelling mistake in the name Alexander Mackenzie in the middle list was rectified:
Lots of very warped floors:
Continued...
