The Crichton is an institutional

campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like se ...

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

in southwest Scotland. It serves as a remote campus for the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, the

University of the West of Scotland The University of the West of Scotland ( gd, Oilthigh na h-Alba an Iar), formerly the University of Paisley, is a public university with four campuses in south-western Scotland, in the towns of Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley, Blantyre, South Lanar ...

, Dumfries and Galloway College, and the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

. The site also includes a hotel and conference centre, and Crichton Memorial Church, set in a park. The campus was established in the 19th century as the Crichton Royal Hospital, a

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

History

The last, and grandest, of Scotland's royal asylums was founded in Dumfries in 1838 by Elizabeth Crichton of

Friars Carse Friars' Carse is a mansion house and estate situated (NX 926 850) southeast of Auldgirth on the main road (A76) to Dumfries, Parish of Dunscore, Scotland. The property is located on the west bank of the River Nith and is known for its strong as ...

(1779–1862), a wealthy local widow. Elizabeth Crichton's initial intention had been to found a university in Dumfries but she was blocked from doing so by the existing

Scottish universities There are fifteen universities in Scotland and three other institutions of higher education that have the authority to award academic degrees. The first university college in Scotland was founded at St John's College, St Andrews in 1418 by H ...

. The original hospital building, now Crichton Hall, was designed by

William Burn William Burn (20 December 1789 – 15 February 1870) was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival,often referred t ...

and opened as the Crichton Institution for Lunatics in 1839. It became the Crichton Royal Institution in 1840. The Southern Counties Asylum, which was intended to provide facilities for paupers, was erected on the site in 1849 and subsequently amalgamated with the main facility. Elizabeth Crichton persuaded the phrenologist

William A. F. Browne Dr William Alexander Francis Browne (1805–1885) was one of the most significant British asylum doctors of the nineteenth century. At Montrose Asylum (1834–1838) in Angus and at the Crichton Royal in Dumfries (1838–1857), Browne introduc ...

(1805-1885) to become medical superintendent and to implement his innovative ideas of

occupational therapy Occupational therapy (OT) is a global healthcare profession. It involves the use of assessment and intervention to develop, recover, or maintain the meaningful activities, or ''occupations'', of individuals, groups, or communities. The field of ...

and

art therapy Art therapy (not to be confused with ''arts therapy'', which includes other creative therapies such as drama therapy and music therapy) is a distinct discipline that incorporates creative methods of expression through visual art media. Art thera ...

. Browne remained at the Crichton for almost twenty years (1838-1857) and made a decisive contribution to asylum psychiatry, setting benchmark standards in therapeutic administration. He also hoarded a vast collection of patient art. The Crichton became widely known in the twentieth century for psychiatric research under the leadership of German Jewish émigrés, including Dr Willi Mayer-Gross. Psychotherapist

Ursula Fleming Ursula Fleming (1930 in Liverpool – 1992 in London) was an English psychotherapist, Lay Dominican and author; she was considered an expert in her field of work. Fleming was educated at Crichton Royal Hospital in Dumfries in south west S ...

was educated at the hospital and Kate Fraser an early Scottish woman psychiatrist was a junior resident at the hospital. Among the people to have been treated there are artist

Charles Altamont Doyle Charles Altamont Doyle (25 March 1832 – 10 October 1893) was an illustrator, watercolourist and civil servant. A member of an artistic family, he is remembered today primarily for being the father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of She ...

(father of

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for '' A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

William James Blacklock William James Blacklock (3 March 1816 – 12 March 1858) was an English landscape painter, painting scenery in Cumbria, the Lake District and the Scottish Borders. Biography Blacklock was born in Shoreditch, London, the second of five children ...

, Lydia Miller (widow of

Hugh Miller Hugh Miller (10 October 1802 – 23/24 December 1856) was a self-taught Scottish geologist and writer, folklorist and an evangelical Christian. Life and work Miller was born in Cromarty, the first of three children of Harriet Wright ('' ...

), and feminist writer

Dora Marsden Dora Marsden (5 March 1882 – 13 December 1960) was an English suffragette, editor of literary journals, and philosopher of language. Beginning her career as an activist in the Women's Social and Political Union, Marsden eventually broke ...

. An unidentified female patient of Dr James Gilchrist featured as an illustration (''Figure 19'') in Charles Darwin's ''

The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals ''The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals'' is Charles Darwin's third major work of evolutionary theory, following ''On the Origin of Species'' (1859) and '' The Descent of Man'' (1871). Initially intended as a chapter in ''The Desce ...

'' (1872). The hospital was expanded in the late 19th century, when

Sydney Mitchell Arthur George Sydney Mitchell (7 January 1856 – 13 October 1930) was a Scottish architect. He designed a large number of bank branches, country houses, churches, and church halls. His most significant commissions include the housing develop ...

& Wilson added various buildings including the Crichton Memorial Church which is a category A

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. Further villas were constructed between 1910 and 1914 by Mitchell's assistant Ernest Auldo Jamieson, and yet further between 1923 and 1936. The hospital became the Crichton Royal Hospital in 1945 and it joined the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

in 1948. In 1995 the Crichton Development Company was established to regenerate the redundant hospital buildings. The redevelopment saw several of the hospital buildings converted for business park use, while the central area was maintained as a public park. A golf course was developed to the west of the site, and a hotel and conference centre were opened.

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

visited the site and unveiled a statue of Elizabeth Crichton in May 2000. The Crichton Development Company acquired a 125-year lease on the site in 2004 and Dumfries and Galloway College moved to a brand new purpose-built £40 million building within the grounds in 2008. The last of the mental health wards finally closed, concluding the site's use as a hospital, in 2013.

Courses

The courses on offer at the Crichton University Campus include business, computing, teacher training and nursing courses. The Crichton Carbon Centre, housed in the Rutherford/McCowan building, is one of only two places where the Carbon Management postgraduate degree is available in Scotland. The University of Glasgow offers an MA in Health and Social Policy, an MA Primary Education Programme with Teaching Qualification and a BSc in Environmental Science and Sustainability on the campus.

References

External links

*
The Crichton
Crichton Development Company website
Crichton University Campus, DumfriesUniversity of Glasgow, Dumfries CampusUniversity of the West of Scotland, Dumfries CampusDumfries and Galloway CollegeVideo footage of the Crichton Memorial Church and the campus grounds
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crichton, The Hospital buildings completed in 1839 Education in Dumfries and Galloway Hospitals in Dumfries and Galloway Former psychiatric hospitals in Scotland Category A listed buildings in Dumfries and Galloway University of Glasgow University of the West of Scotland Business parks of Scotland 1839 establishments in Scotland Buildings and structures in Dumfries Defunct hospitals in Scotland

History

Courses

See also

References

Further reading

External links