Wednesday 18 May 2011

Harperbury Hospital - Shenley - May 2011

Harperbury Hospital opened as Hangars Certified Institution in 1925 and was known as Middlesex Colony until 1949.
The original hospital has now closed, although some facilities remain on the site. The following comes from the 1937 Kelly's Directory:

"The Middlesex Colony, begun in 1929, was opened on 20th May, 1936, by the Rt. Hon. Sir Kingsley Wood, M.P. Minister of Health.
The Colony is intended for mental defectives who are socially inadaptable in the community, or who are neglected or without visible means of support.
Male defectives who are capable of being employed are provided with suitable agricultural occupations on the land, or at various industrial occupations in the Colony's workshops.
Female defectives are suitably employed in the laundry, general kitchen or workrooms.
Children who are capable of it are given various simple occupations. The patients live in separate "homes" of the villa or pavilion type.
The Administrative Centre, consisting of the main administrative offices, dental and surgical clinics, dispensary, central kitchen, reception hall, workshops, laundries, &c. has been built on an axial line running north and south,
the Colony buildings for male and female being placed east and west around and overlooking playing fields.
An isolated site on the south side is allocated for the children's section.
The nurses' home is situated immediately to the west of the main administrative offices, adjacent to the main entrance from Harper Lane."






 
The Secure Unit













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