St. Georges Hospital

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St. Georges Hospital
Opened 1859
Current Status Presrved
Building Style Corridor Plan
Architect(s) Henry Welch
Location Coxlodge, Newcastle
Alternate Names
  • Northumberland County Pauper Lunatic Asylum
  • St George’s Park Hospital



History[edit]

St George’s Park Hospital opened in 1859, as the Northumberland County Pauper Lunatic Asylum. Tuke Villa was used for long stay patients. During its first 125 years or so, mental health care in Northumberland was based, largely, in St George’s Hospital. Since 1985 however, services have been increasingly focused and provided in community settings. The pace of change has quickened significantly, leading not only to a reduction in patient numbers, but in changes to the provision of hospital accommodation.

Back in 1859 there were 100 male and 100 female patients. By 1888, as additional hospital buildings were being built, the population had risen to 267 men and 244 women and in 1890 the Asylum was renamed the County Mental Hospital. View of the main Water Tower and Laundry.The name St George’s Hospital was adopted in 1937 , "much to the pleasure of patients and staff" (as reported in the Annual Report of the Hospital Committee). By 1956 there were 1,257 patients and overcrowding was a major problem.

The number of patients dropped to about 600 by 1985. Today there are just 204 places, located within the new St George’s Park building, and there are no patients at all in the main building. Most facilities which remain are located in the northern part of the site. Much of the original St George’s Hospital site has now been sold to English Partnerships for future housing and business developments. The new purpose-built St George’s Park, located within the grounds of the old St George’s Hospital, has now replaced the existing sprawling, part Victorian built institution.