Warley Hospital was a psychiatric hospital located in Brentwood, Essex,

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. The site has since been redeveloped as private residences.

History

A site was identified within the Brentwood Hall Estate for the construction of an asylum. The asylum was designed by Kendall & Pope in the

High Victorian Gothic High Victorian Gothic was an eclectic architectural style and movement during the mid-late 19th century. It is seen by architectural historians as either a sub-style of the broader Gothic Revival style, or a separate style in its own right. Promo ...

style to a corridor plan layout. The foundation stone was laid on in October 1851 and the hospital was officially opened as the Essex County Lunatic Asylum in September 1853. Extensions included three country style homes in 1863, a new block for female patients in 1870 and another large block for male patients in 1888. A new chapel was added in 1889 and a new nurses' block in 1900. The facility became the Brentwood Mental Hospital in 1920. Brentwood Hall, which had been declared unsafe, was rebuilt and reassigned as an occupational therapy department. Following these further enlargements, the hospital had 2,000 beds by 1937. Several minor buildings were damaged in bombing by the German

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

in 1940 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 opposi ...

. The facility 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 and became Warley Hospital in 1953. After the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s, the hospital went into a period of decline and eventually closed in 2001. A medium secure unit known as Mascalls Park Hospital remained on the site until 2011. This site has since been developed for residential use by

Bellway Bellway plc is a residential property developer and home construction, housebuilder based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The company was fou ...

as Mascalls Park. Meanwhile the asylum buildings have been converted to luxury homes by City and Country, known as The Galleries, and the surrounding grounds of the original hospital building were developed for residential use known as Clements Park.

References

External links

Warley Hospital
Time Chamber {{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1853 Buildings and structures in Brentwood (Essex town) Hospitals in Essex Former psychiatric hospitals in England Defunct hospitals in England