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Hill End Hospital, Hill End, St Albans, was founded in 1899 as the Hertfordshire County Mental Hospital and was finally closed in 1997. Extensive records are held at HALS, including earlier documents relating to the estate going back to 1738. It is of particular interest to me because my great grandfather, Jacob Reynolds, was a County Council Alderman on the management committee. This was probably because initially the hospital had its own farm. It also has sadder memories, as my daughter Lucy was a patient there in 1985, and died while on home leave. The 1912 Kelly's Directory records:
The Herts County Asylum at Hill End, St Peter's Rural parish, was erected by the County Council for patients belonging to unions in the county of Herts, and was opened 7 April 1899; two new wings were added in 1908, and the asylum now provides for 830 patients. The estate comprises about 225 acres, and adjoins the Hill End station of the Great Northern railway.
The 1949 Kelly's Directory of St Albans records:
Hill End Hospital was erected by the Hertfordshire County Council; the estate comprises about 580 acres, and the Hill End railway station, Eastern Region, adjoins it; the hospital was opened in 1899; two blocks were opened in 1909 and another in 1917; further additions were made 1934 and 1939, making the total capacity of the hospital 1,232 patients.
For information on what has happened to the site see the Highfield Park Trust web site. [Note the name which arises because "politically correct" zealots believed that the name "Hill End" should be buried in history in the same way that earlier generations hid their mentally ill in the original asylum.]
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See The Cemetery, Hill End Hospital, St Albans, 20th Century The hospital was built using bricks made on the site by See also |
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