Hartwood
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Hartwood is a village in North Lanarkshire, Scotland.
The village is situated two miles to the west of Shotts, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The area is rural with less than 50 houses. The remains of Hartwood hospital, an 19th century psychiatric hospital with its imposing twin clock towers, is the main feature of the village; even after its closure under Lanarkshire Health Board in 1995. Not unlike many other Victorian institutions in the area such as Gartloch Hospital, Stonyetts, Lennox Castle and Kirklands; the inception of the Community Care Act (1990) gave rise to a more community focus for long term mental health care, and a consequent demise of long term psychiatric hospitals.
An annex of the main hospital, Hartwoodhill Hospital, still exists one mile to the north east of the village, along the unclassified road which forms the main throughfare.
The original hospital, although cutting edge in its time, was overseen by Dr Archibald Campbell Clark, the medical superintendent; and is broadly accredited with the inception of modern psychiatric therapies such as occupational therapy, ECT and industrial involvement. In the hospital style of the time, Hartwood was entirely self sustaining, with its own farm, gardens, reservoir and graveyard, staff houses etc.
Transport is provided at Hartwood railway station, operated by Network Rail with an hourly service Monday - Saturday every hour between Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley on the Shotts Line.
Hartwood also gave a great contribution to the growth of nurse education, and had its own College of Nursing, which laterally was annexed to Bell College; which is attached to the University of Strathclyde. It was the last part of the original Hartwood site to close in 2000; where educational services were transferred to Bell College's purpose built facility (The Caird Building) on its Hamilton site.
[edit] External links
A full history of the Hospital can be found at these websites
- http://web.ukonline.co.uk/scotlandgenealogy/hartwood_hospital_was_in_its_hey.htm
- http://www.shottshistorygroup.co.uk/founding_of_hartwood_hospital.htm
- http://www.bobbysimpson.org.uk/HARTWOOD_HOSPITAL_PICTURES.htm
And some pictures after closure here
- http://www.turbozutek.f2s.com/index.php?cat=9
- http://www.bobbysimpson.org.uk/HARTWOOD_HOSPITAL_PICTURES.htm
