Some History
St Crispins was a large psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of Duston village in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England.
It was established in 1876 as the Berrywood Asylum and closed in 1995. Its grounds and the surrounding area include a new psychiatric hospital, residential housing, a large self-contained retirement village, a primary school and a local centre of shops and offices. In 1887 further extensions took place, creating a new block for idiot and imbecile children adjacent to the female wing, blocks for epileptics on either side, a reservoir and fire station, stable yard and an isolation hospital with a distinctive pyramidal roofline. A stone chapel and mortuary were also constructed. Two new villas for female working patients (Grafton and Eden Lodges)were constructed south of the female wing in 1954. The grounds to the south of the hospital farm was developed for mental handicap services during the early 1970s and was to be one of the last major long stay facilities of its kind in England
The hospital finally closed in 1995 and the buildings are currently standing derelict with only one of the wards having been converted. A housing estate has been built on the lands that were cleared around the main building and a new mental health facility, Berrywood Hospital, has also been built on part of the site. Due to the 2008-2010 recession the work was put on hold and started again in 2011. The hospital was used as a filming location in the 1977 series of Doctor Who, in a six-part story called 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang'. The mortuary was used to represent a Victorian operating theatre. The hospital is included in the Talons of Weng Chiang DVD.
The Visit
Just thought I'd take a look at this place as it is only a couple of miles away. Pretty much just an empty shell ready for refurb, no flooring, few doors, just walls of brick and blocked out windows. It was a really clear night and I got there just as the sun was setting so got a couple of lucky shots....but I parked on the cricket grounds car park and my car got locked in...so to get out I had to drive onto the field(I kept to the edge!), all the way round until I was near the opposite side, down a short steep bank and onto a housing estate just fitting through the gap! phew!!
The full size photo stitch is something like 11 thousand pixels https://flic.kr/p/qwquP6
St Crispins was a large psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of Duston village in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England.
It was established in 1876 as the Berrywood Asylum and closed in 1995. Its grounds and the surrounding area include a new psychiatric hospital, residential housing, a large self-contained retirement village, a primary school and a local centre of shops and offices. In 1887 further extensions took place, creating a new block for idiot and imbecile children adjacent to the female wing, blocks for epileptics on either side, a reservoir and fire station, stable yard and an isolation hospital with a distinctive pyramidal roofline. A stone chapel and mortuary were also constructed. Two new villas for female working patients (Grafton and Eden Lodges)were constructed south of the female wing in 1954. The grounds to the south of the hospital farm was developed for mental handicap services during the early 1970s and was to be one of the last major long stay facilities of its kind in England
The hospital finally closed in 1995 and the buildings are currently standing derelict with only one of the wards having been converted. A housing estate has been built on the lands that were cleared around the main building and a new mental health facility, Berrywood Hospital, has also been built on part of the site. Due to the 2008-2010 recession the work was put on hold and started again in 2011. The hospital was used as a filming location in the 1977 series of Doctor Who, in a six-part story called 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang'. The mortuary was used to represent a Victorian operating theatre. The hospital is included in the Talons of Weng Chiang DVD.
The Visit
Just thought I'd take a look at this place as it is only a couple of miles away. Pretty much just an empty shell ready for refurb, no flooring, few doors, just walls of brick and blocked out windows. It was a really clear night and I got there just as the sun was setting so got a couple of lucky shots....but I parked on the cricket grounds car park and my car got locked in...so to get out I had to drive onto the field(I kept to the edge!), all the way round until I was near the opposite side, down a short steep bank and onto a housing estate just fitting through the gap! phew!!
The full size photo stitch is something like 11 thousand pixels https://flic.kr/p/qwquP6
