Maindiff Court Hospital ( cy, Ysbyty Maindiff Court) is a community hospital near

Abergavenny Abergavenny (; cy, Y Fenni , archaically ''Abergafenni'' meaning "mouth of the River Gavenny") is a market town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a ''Gateway to Wales''; it is approximately from the border wi ...

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

. It is managed by the

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (ABUHB) ( cy, Bwrdd Iechyd Prifysgol Aneurin Bevan) is the local health board of NHS Wales for Gwent, in the south-east of Wales. Headquartered in Caerleon, the local health board (LHB) was launched in Octo ...

. Its most noted patient was

Rudolf Hess Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, Hess held that position unt ...

, deputy to Adolf Hitler.

History

The hospital is built on the site of Maindiff Court, a mansion house built by Crawshay Bailey Jnr in 1875. After Bailey's death the estate was sold and in 1924 the estate was presented to Monmouthshire Asylum Committee becoming Maindiff Court Hospital. Maindiff Court was demolished and the neo-Georgian style brick hospital buildings were constructed in its place in the 1930s. Rudolf Hess in Landsberg Prison

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the facility was known as Maindiff Court Military Hospital and POW Reception Centre. Half of the site was used for recuperating wounded soldiers.

, Hitler's deputy, was held at Maindiff Court from 26 June 1942. Hess had his own room but he was guarded at all times. He was allowed a fair degree of freedom, often being driven about the local countryside, such as the local landmark, the

Skirrid Ysgyryd Fawr ( en, Skirrid) is an easterly outlier of the Black Mountains in Wales, and forms the easternmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The hill is often referred to locally as just The Skirrid. The smaller hill of Ysgyryd Fa ...

mountain. The British government never tried to hide the fact that Hess was being detained in Abergavenny. Indeed, when he first arrived, the staff of the hospital lined up in a formal reception to meet him. The news featured in many of the national papers of the time. According to the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

'' at the time, Hess was known locally as the "Kaiser of Abergavenny".

Services

Entrance to Maindiff Court Hospital - geograph

Maindiff Court today comprises four wards, a

day hospital A day hospital is an outpatient facility where patients attend for assessment, treatment or rehabilitation during the day and then return home or spend the night at a different facility. Day hospitals are becoming a new trend in healthcare. The num ...

and an ECT Department which lie within beautifully kept grounds. The original balustrade can be seen leading down to the day hospital. Ty Skirrid, a 12-bedded ward for the Gwent-wide forensic rehabilitation service, caters for men and women who have a mental disorder and have offended or are at risk of offending and provides on-going psychiatric treatment. Lindisfarne, a 3-bedded un-staffed unit, is overseen by staff from Ty Skirrid and provides unsupervised semi-independent living prior to discharge. Hiraeth Day Hospital provides 12 places a day for 5 days a week for the Abergavenny and rural communities. The ECT department provides

electroconvulsive therapy Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatry, psychiatric treatment where a generalized seizure (without muscular convulsions) is electrically induced to manage refractory mental disorders.Rudorfer, MV, Henry, ME, Sackeim, HA (2003)"Electroco ...

treatment facilities. The Gwent Specialist Substance Misuse Service has its North Team base on site and the North Monmouthshire Adult Community Mental Health Team also provide a service from this site.

References

External links

Maindiff Court Hospital
{{authority control Hospitals in Monmouthshire Hospitals established in 1924 NHS hospitals in Wales 1924 establishments in Wales Aneurin Bevan University Health Board