Carlton Hayes Chapel
The main hospital buildings were all demolished in 1996, but a few remote buildings survive.
The Superintendent’s house is now the headquarters of Leicestershire ambulance service. The gate lodge is partially converted to housing.
The engineer’s house is a Santander “branch” used for staff training.
The chapel remains empty, unused, sitting quietly, half covered in ivy. Waiting.
It looks virtually untouched since Dweeb’s visit 4 years ago.
NP for now please so others might have a look.
In 1989 the bulk of the hospitals records were collected by the local record office. The quantity of these records is staggering (the index is 30-odd pages) and includes some fascinating documents as well as photos from 1907 and 1989. Apologies if I’ve gone OTT with the history and archive photos, but they’re far more interesting than my snaps.
History of the hospital
In 1794 limited asylum accommodation was established at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. The asylum's first physician, Dr Thomas Arnold had established his own private asylum in Belgrave Gate, Leicester (Belle Grove Asylum) and until 1852 there was a private madhouse in Wigston Magna. Poorhouses and later workhouses also received pauper lunatics, a practice which continued even after the opening of county asylums; they did not take proper responsibility for them until after 1874.
The poor conditions in these early asylums and the inadequacies of the system finally led to proposals in 1834 for the establishment of a county asylum. The building was completed in 1837 near the racecourse on Occupation Road, which became Victoria Road in 1867 and University Road in 1929. The first patients were transferred in May 1837.
The finance and management of the Leicestershire Lunatic Asylum was shared between a joint visiting committee of representatives from the County and the Charity set up in 1834. The Regulations of 1837 divided the inmates into four classes. Class I included Pauper, Vagrant, Criminal and Dangerous Lunatics who were sent to the asylum by order of the Justices. Class 2 was for the same group, but paupers from other counties. Class 3 included non-paupers aided by the Charity and Class 4 was for private, self-financing patients. In 1849 patients were taken from Rutland and the name was changed to the Leicestershire and Rutland Lunatic Asylum. By the 1860s however there were overcrowding problems and the Leicester Corporation decided to build its own asylum at Humberstone. The Leicester Borough Lunatic Asylum (later known as the Towers Hospital) was opened in 1869.
The transfer of Borough patients from the County Asylum reduced the need for expansion at the Victoria Road site, but by the end of the nineteenth century overcrowding was once more a serious difficulty. In 1899 a suitable site for a new institution was found at Narborough and the land was purchased in 1900. After considerable wrangling over costs, the building work finally commenced in 1904. The architects were Everard and Pick of Leicester and the builders William Moss and Sons of Loughborough.
The official opening of the new asylum took place on 1st October 1907, but it was not ready for patients until the spring. The pauper patients were transferred in February and March 1908, with the charity patients following in August and September. The old asylum remained empty until 1914 when, on the outbreak of the first World War, it became an army medical hospital. The 5th Northern General Hospital, as it was known, closed in 1919 and the following year the building was purchased by Thomas Fielding Johnson, who presented it for use as a University College. The college opened in 1921 and the former asylum is now the Fielding Johnson building on the present University Campus.
In 1914 the name of the new asylum at Narborough was modernised to become the Leicestershire and Rutland Mental Hospital and in 1939 it was changed again to Carlton Hayes Hospital. The hospital continued to be administered by the two County Councils and the Charity until it became part of the National Health Service in 1948.
In 1909 there were 279 male and 321 female patients. By 1947 this had risen to a peak of 912.
Carlton Hayes Hospital closed down on 1st March 1996 as a result of the policy of caring for mental patients in the community. Patients began to leave in Autumn 1995 and the site was gradually taken over by the Alliance and Leicester Building Society.
A couple of bits on the chapel from the hospital handbooks c1926 and 1959
“The Chapel, with seating accommodation for about 500, is a detached building, easy of access from both the male and female sides of the Asylum. It contains no special features except distinct entrances for each sex. A small closed porch or lobby is placed on each of the four entrances, to which epileptic patients seized by fits during services may be removed”
“Spiritual Health”
“The most that medical science can do is to remove impediments that are hindering a patient in the performance of his duties in life; furthermore, the achievement of full health, by which we mean the dedication of all mental and physical functions to the Will of God, often requires specialist assistance which doctors are not qualified to give. Recognising this, the Medical and Nursing staffs of Carlton Hayes are at all times ready to co-operate with the clergy in the management of their patients.”
….the hospital retains 3 chaplains [Catholic, C of E, Nonconformist]…Mass is held every Sunday and is well attended.
From the Chaplains’ journal -
September 28th 1941 “The Chapel was tastefully decorated for Harvest Festival by Matron and her staff. The rector and choir of Enderby village attended”
Christmas day 1942 “96 patients took Holy Communion”
Water
An agreement dated 1956 between the Leicester Corporation and Sheffield Regional Health Board (who administered the hospital at the time) to supply up to 120,000 gallons of water a day in return for a one off payment of £5,000 towards a new reservoir and increased supply pipe, and then an annual charge based on consumption.
On the middle-right of this pic, partially hidden by the trees, is the chapel.
Middle-left is where I was born and spent my first 17 years. My mum worked for 21 years as a secretary, sister worked in the kitchen until it closed and brother was a gardener in the summer holidays. As kids we used to walk home through the grounds and into the admin building to wait for my mum to finish work. At Christmas we went to shows given by staff in the Recreation hall.
Taken on the day of the official opening.
172 invited guests attended and ate a 10 course lunch.
Part of the history of St John’s, Lincoln includes the wartime evacuation of female patients. Some of them came to Carlton Hayes.
Compare the relative wages; the gardener and the Chaplain were both paid more than the head female nurse!
Recreation hall, taken on the day of the official opening and set up for lunch.
Finally, a few photos from 1989.
Isolation room
Mortuary
Archive material copyright The Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. Copied with permission but reproduced as yet without permission.
The main hospital buildings were all demolished in 1996, but a few remote buildings survive.
The Superintendent’s house is now the headquarters of Leicestershire ambulance service. The gate lodge is partially converted to housing.
The engineer’s house is a Santander “branch” used for staff training.
The chapel remains empty, unused, sitting quietly, half covered in ivy. Waiting.
It looks virtually untouched since Dweeb’s visit 4 years ago.
NP for now please so others might have a look.
In 1989 the bulk of the hospitals records were collected by the local record office. The quantity of these records is staggering (the index is 30-odd pages) and includes some fascinating documents as well as photos from 1907 and 1989. Apologies if I’ve gone OTT with the history and archive photos, but they’re far more interesting than my snaps.
History of the hospital
In 1794 limited asylum accommodation was established at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. The asylum's first physician, Dr Thomas Arnold had established his own private asylum in Belgrave Gate, Leicester (Belle Grove Asylum) and until 1852 there was a private madhouse in Wigston Magna. Poorhouses and later workhouses also received pauper lunatics, a practice which continued even after the opening of county asylums; they did not take proper responsibility for them until after 1874.
The poor conditions in these early asylums and the inadequacies of the system finally led to proposals in 1834 for the establishment of a county asylum. The building was completed in 1837 near the racecourse on Occupation Road, which became Victoria Road in 1867 and University Road in 1929. The first patients were transferred in May 1837.
The finance and management of the Leicestershire Lunatic Asylum was shared between a joint visiting committee of representatives from the County and the Charity set up in 1834. The Regulations of 1837 divided the inmates into four classes. Class I included Pauper, Vagrant, Criminal and Dangerous Lunatics who were sent to the asylum by order of the Justices. Class 2 was for the same group, but paupers from other counties. Class 3 included non-paupers aided by the Charity and Class 4 was for private, self-financing patients. In 1849 patients were taken from Rutland and the name was changed to the Leicestershire and Rutland Lunatic Asylum. By the 1860s however there were overcrowding problems and the Leicester Corporation decided to build its own asylum at Humberstone. The Leicester Borough Lunatic Asylum (later known as the Towers Hospital) was opened in 1869.
The transfer of Borough patients from the County Asylum reduced the need for expansion at the Victoria Road site, but by the end of the nineteenth century overcrowding was once more a serious difficulty. In 1899 a suitable site for a new institution was found at Narborough and the land was purchased in 1900. After considerable wrangling over costs, the building work finally commenced in 1904. The architects were Everard and Pick of Leicester and the builders William Moss and Sons of Loughborough.
The official opening of the new asylum took place on 1st October 1907, but it was not ready for patients until the spring. The pauper patients were transferred in February and March 1908, with the charity patients following in August and September. The old asylum remained empty until 1914 when, on the outbreak of the first World War, it became an army medical hospital. The 5th Northern General Hospital, as it was known, closed in 1919 and the following year the building was purchased by Thomas Fielding Johnson, who presented it for use as a University College. The college opened in 1921 and the former asylum is now the Fielding Johnson building on the present University Campus.
In 1914 the name of the new asylum at Narborough was modernised to become the Leicestershire and Rutland Mental Hospital and in 1939 it was changed again to Carlton Hayes Hospital. The hospital continued to be administered by the two County Councils and the Charity until it became part of the National Health Service in 1948.
In 1909 there were 279 male and 321 female patients. By 1947 this had risen to a peak of 912.
Carlton Hayes Hospital closed down on 1st March 1996 as a result of the policy of caring for mental patients in the community. Patients began to leave in Autumn 1995 and the site was gradually taken over by the Alliance and Leicester Building Society.
A couple of bits on the chapel from the hospital handbooks c1926 and 1959
“The Chapel, with seating accommodation for about 500, is a detached building, easy of access from both the male and female sides of the Asylum. It contains no special features except distinct entrances for each sex. A small closed porch or lobby is placed on each of the four entrances, to which epileptic patients seized by fits during services may be removed”
“Spiritual Health”
“The most that medical science can do is to remove impediments that are hindering a patient in the performance of his duties in life; furthermore, the achievement of full health, by which we mean the dedication of all mental and physical functions to the Will of God, often requires specialist assistance which doctors are not qualified to give. Recognising this, the Medical and Nursing staffs of Carlton Hayes are at all times ready to co-operate with the clergy in the management of their patients.”
….the hospital retains 3 chaplains [Catholic, C of E, Nonconformist]…Mass is held every Sunday and is well attended.
From the Chaplains’ journal -
September 28th 1941 “The Chapel was tastefully decorated for Harvest Festival by Matron and her staff. The rector and choir of Enderby village attended”
Christmas day 1942 “96 patients took Holy Communion”
Water
An agreement dated 1956 between the Leicester Corporation and Sheffield Regional Health Board (who administered the hospital at the time) to supply up to 120,000 gallons of water a day in return for a one off payment of £5,000 towards a new reservoir and increased supply pipe, and then an annual charge based on consumption.
On the middle-right of this pic, partially hidden by the trees, is the chapel.
Middle-left is where I was born and spent my first 17 years. My mum worked for 21 years as a secretary, sister worked in the kitchen until it closed and brother was a gardener in the summer holidays. As kids we used to walk home through the grounds and into the admin building to wait for my mum to finish work. At Christmas we went to shows given by staff in the Recreation hall.
Taken on the day of the official opening.
172 invited guests attended and ate a 10 course lunch.
Part of the history of St John’s, Lincoln includes the wartime evacuation of female patients. Some of them came to Carlton Hayes.
Compare the relative wages; the gardener and the Chaplain were both paid more than the head female nurse!
Recreation hall, taken on the day of the official opening and set up for lunch.
Finally, a few photos from 1989.
Isolation room
Mortuary
Archive material copyright The Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. Copied with permission but reproduced as yet without permission.
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