Thursday 29 November 2012

Merchiston Hospital

Part of a late summer road trip with a JFR420 (Flickr), ended up here very early in the morning in the heavy rain, so no externals, which is probably a good thing, as they are not very pretty!

Merchiston Hospital Administrative/Biographical History

Broadfield Hospital was opened in 1925 and catered for mentally deficient men. Broadstone House was purchased by Paisley Burgh in 1929 to accommodate mentally deficient females and juveniles. Broadfield and Broadstone were administered as a single hospital. In 1946, Broadfield was sold to the Port Glasgow Town Council, who cleared the site. Paisley Burgh bought Merchiston House as a replacement and patients were moved there in 1948. This facility was known as Broadfield Hospital, Merchiston Unit. In 1958 two new wings were added providing an extra 70 beds. In 1979 Merchiston was redeveloped with four 30-bedded units built to a modern bungalow design. The hospital closed in 2007-2008


Site Map, Its a fairly large complex, not all the buildings were accessible, but the generally they were all trashed and raided by the metal thieves.
Merchiston Overview

The first building be entered luckily enough contained the Padded Rooms

Padded Rooms 1
Padded Rooms 2
Padded Rooms 3
Padded Rooms 4

The next stop was the main building complex, it was partially used as a Doctors surgery with many small offices off the long corridors, sadly all trashed and not much worth taking photo of
Reception

The main hall contained a small stage and pool tables, but it was extremely dark in here!
Merchiston 1

Also found the Dentists chair which was a suprise!
Dentists chair 1
Dentists chair 2
Dentists chair 3
Dentists chair 4

Physiotherapy Gym Hall
Gym Hall

The Laundry Deptartment
Driers 2
Driers 1
Ironing 1
Ironing 2

The last stop for us had to be the Chapel and Morgue, sadly not much was left now
Morgue chapel
Morgue 1

Monday 26 November 2012

East Fortune Hospital

After a failure at a couple locations, headed here as a last resort to see what this former hospital near Edinburgh held in store...

East Fortune began life in 1915 as part of a WW1 airbase to defeat incoming German Zepplins.  In 1922 several buildings and an area of land were used to create East Fortune Hospital. This served as a tuberculosis sanatorium for the south east region of Scotland until the onset of World War II. The airfield was then brought back into service as RAF East Fortune, initially a training airfield, and the hospital patients were transferred to Bangour Hospital in West Lothian. The hospital re-opened after the war, but by 1956, as the number of tuberculosis patients began to fall, the hospital changed its function to house the mentally handicapped. In 1997, the hospital closed down, and its patients were transferred to Roodlands Hospital in Haddington.


East Fortune Hospital - The main building complex
EF Exts 1

The Kitchen still has quite a few remaining features too heavy for the pikeys too lift
EF Kitchen 1

The Cookers
EF Cooker 2
EF Cooker 3
EF Cooker 1

No idea what this is!
EF Kitchen 2

Pressure Cooker
EF P Cooker 2

Dietary blackboard
EF Blackboard

Little bit of respect please...
EF Respect

Cool hospital bed, not many of these kicking about derelict sites
EF Bed 3

Massive dishwasher, defo need this for my home!
EF Dish Washer

This room must of had at least a hundred mattresses!
EF Bed Room

The Boiler-house chimney
EF Chimney

The Boiler Room (these pics are courtesy of JFR420 (on Flickr) cause am too much of a bloater to fit through the door!
EF Engine

The Boiler-house valves and pipes
EF Engine 1

The Boilers are massive
EF Engine 2
EF Engine 3

The hospital complex is made up of so many smaller un-linked wards and outbuildings, mostly sealed up though.
EF Ext 3
EF Ext 2
EF Ext 5
EF Ext 6
EF Ext 7
EF Ext 8

The heavens open right after this shot and we took refuge in the old ambulance workshop
EF Ext 9
EF Shed 1

Inside contained the famous wheelchair
EF W.Chair 1
EF W.Chair 2

St Joesphs Chapel


Another location from a recent road trip, this is St. Joesphs Chapel, part of Gartland House.

Known originally as Garpel House then Barr House before becoming Garthland House, the regal residence was acquired by the Macdowall family who came initially from Garthland in Wigtownshire and were descended from the Lords of Galloway. During the mid-1930s, Henry Macdowall sold it to the Mill Hill Foreign Missionary Society that was founded. Garthland House was renamed St Jospeh's College by the Society and, during its heyday, around 30 young men were students there.
A three-storey dormitory block was added in 1936 followed by a beautiful brick-red chapel in 1943. Both the sleeping quarters and the chapel can still be seen today although, like the house, they have fallen into disrepair and are but fragments of their former selves.
Despite its ruinous state, the chapel exudes a powerful aura, which conjures up visions of former days when it was used as a place of prayer and meditation for the trainee priests as well as by the people of Lochwinnoch who worshipped there until the construction of Our Lady of Fatima Church in the village in 1955.
Its most outstanding features were stained-glass windows, pink and black altar pieces, wooden pews and mosaic wall panels, exterior wall of the chapel. Portraying the majestic figure of St Joseph, the serene sculpture confronts visitors when they travel down the tree-lined avenue to the former college from the Largs Road.


Gartland Chapel, in the corner you can see the orphanage, its severely damaged and treacherous inside!

Garthland

The Chapel itself is glorious!
Entrance

There are several mini altars set off from the main chapel itself
Chapel 3
Altar 1
Altar 2
Altar 3
Altar 4
Altar 5

The old organ lays in the middle of the floor.
Organ

The main altar
Chapel 4

Stain-glass window
Stainglass 1

Main chapel cross
Cross

The main altar has small crosses engraved into the marble
Main Altar

Looking back to the entrance
Chapel 2

We waited until darkness came to get some pretty nice shots of the altar
Dark Altar 1
Dark Altar 2

Tweety is a alcoholic!
Tweety