[jossman]

ADMIN, on Feb 15 2007, 07:57 PM, said:

STAFF
staff.jpg
A cleaner there was called Kitty Turner
Joseph Robinson - http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlere...i?artid=1121568
Bob Swann
Julie Trigg (Bob Swann's) first wife
Anne Swann was nurse escort
Jack Sherrat
Ian franklin
Lynne Staniforth (now in Australia)
The daughter of Ron Staniforth the Sheffield Wednesday player
Bob Chiglow
Ron French - Administrator
Sir Arthur Jenkins
Horace Buttons
John Wilkin (office in clock tower building)

KNOWN PATIENTS
Clement Douglas Hobbs - http://www.chrishobbs.com/cdh.htm
Machel Serenna - http://www.aldous.ne...omas_aldous.htm

My name is Peter Swann and of the people mentioned above :-

Anne Swann Nurse Escort, is my mother now 88 years old.
Bob Swann is my brother, retired and living in Spain. He divorced Julie Trigg some years ago.
Lynne Staniforth now lives in Australia.
Ron French was a personal friend of my family and his parents lived next door to us on Shenstone Rd, Hillsborough.

Hope this helps.

[ADMIN]

Hi Peter and welcome to the site !

Thanks for posting and helping us with the information

We would love to hear of your memories both on this subject and anything else on the site you can contribute to !

[tsavo]

Corrections to the Middlewood Staff list. Sir Authur Jenkins & Horrace Buttons were patients, not staff. Sir Authur patrolled the drive when I was young.

[jossman]

ADMIN, on Mar 18 2007, 07:25 PM, said:

Hi Peter and welcome to the site !

Thanks for posting and helping us with the information

We would love to hear of your memories both on this subject and anything else on the site you can contribute to !

I was serving in the Royal Navy during my families work time in the early '70s at Middlewood and my 1st wife, another Julie Swann worked as an occy therapist in the small stone cottage down near the petrol station just up from the bottom gate. I have had many good nights up the club in the company of Jack Sherrat (who married Christine) Ian Franklyn of the Cheadles Fracks fame and Big Bob Chidlow. Jack and I played guitar and sang. Sir Arthur Jenkins who had tertiary syphillis was an ex Sgt. Major during the war and often wrote me letters to my ship asking for a delivery of fags and signing VC. OBE. Knight of the Garter. Horace Button was always fiddling with his nether regions and screaming "Don't Hit Me". As if anybody would. I once went onto the locked ward to see Jack S. and was confronted by Ada Marie, stark naked and informing everybody that she had a belly full of cobras and was going to kill me.
The first person of my family to work at Middlewood was my Grandfather Mr. Robert Hibbert who was i/c of stores from before the war up until Mr. Wilson took over. Many happy memories of the place. My brother Bob became Director of Clinical Services at Preston Health Services and retired to the Mar Menor, Spain in spring of 2005. Julie Trigg is still in Community Psychiatric Care Services in the Barnsley region.
Thanks for bringing the memories back.

[ADMIN]

Having a belly full of cobras must have been a distressing prospect for Ada Marie.

I sometimes wonder what makes a person have such a specific ailment - and how it comes to be that they settle on something like that to worry about..

The hospital and grounds must have been absolutely massive that's for sure

[darra]

ADMIN, on Feb 15 2007, 06:26 PM, said:

NOTES
Orignally Middlewood hospital was known as South Yorkshire Asylum (1872-1890) It then became West Riding Asylum, Wadsley (1890-1930) apart from a couple of years from 1915 onwards when the hospital was evacuated by the military to be used as Wharncliffe War Hospital.From 1930 the hospital became Wadsley Mental hospital and remained so until 1939 when 2,200 patients were evacuated so that the hospital could once again be used as a war hospital.

After the military had finished with it, the hospital again became Wadsley mental hospital until 1948 when it became Middlewood hospital.

Not all the original inmates of the hospital were lunatics, some were paupers from the workhouses who were no longer able to work, some were women suffering from post-natal depression and some were suffering from things like epilepsy.

Insulin shock treatment was introduced into the hospital in 1935 for the treatment of schizophrenia. The hospital also had a mortuary and post mortem room.

the hospital had a working farm (pigs/dairy)

Some were also there because they had been born there.Also some of the women were there because they had children out of wedlock

[ADMIN]

That's just incredible isn't it !

Have a baby out of wedlock and off you go to Middlewood Hospital

Almost impossible to believe..

[darra]

ADMIN, on Mar 20 2007, 06:33 PM, said:

That's just incredible isn't it !

Have a baby out of wedlock and off you go to Middlewood Hospital

Almost impossible to believe..

Pretty sure it was a result of the Mental Deficiencies Act which was only repealed somewhere around 1953.

[student nurse]

In 1962, the new villa block (wards 32 & 33) was officially opened by the lord mayor of Sheffield Alderman P.C.J.T Kirkman, J.P. on September 19th. The villa cost £63,000 and with accomodation for 60 patients in 2 wards it was initially used to empty adjacent wards for modernisation and upgrading.
In 1965, a car washing unit was established in the old farm premises manned by male patients who provided an excellant service cleaning and polishing cars belonging to hospital staff and visitors in return for a moderate fee.
In 1966 a domestic training unit for rehabilitation in house keeping was set up in the vacent lodge on Middlewood Rd. The female patients were able to practise and relearn their traditional role in family life prior to discharge.
In 1967 the new Nurse Training unit was completed at the cost of £37,000 and provided Middlewood with an education centre worthy of its importance and size. In the same year, a new block for resident nurses was built in the site adjacent to the staff sports ground. Plans were also in progress for the building of a new staff sports and social centre which opened in 1969.
(The Middlewood Hospital Sheffield. One Hundred Years - 1872 - 1972)

[Biscuit Head]

codeyes, on Feb 16 2007, 02:48 PM, said:

That was very interesting......................an old mate of mine used to be a porter there in the late 60's and 70's..........he told me, at the time

There were a lot of "in character" patients there at the time. These ranged from patients who thought that they were and dressed as, among others, Florence Nightingale and Napoleon

Imposters!

I'M Florence Nightingale!

[louise2395]

Finally managed to get hold of some more information recently on the remaining Admin block (currently being renovated into apartments) and Kingswood (already renovated and inhabited for 2+ years).

The admin block was the first building to be built on the land purchased for the asylum and contained a male and female ward on either side of the "admin" section. Kingswood was built 2 years later and served as the male detached block- the ground floor for sick and infirm patients, middle floor as day rooms and top floor for dormitories. At the same time Queenswood block was built as a female detached block. The red bricks for Kingswood were made by the patients themselves.

Over the history of the hospital the Kingswood block played different roles. During the first world war the whole hospital became a war hospital and soldiers with psychological problems were housed there. The hospital was converted back to an asylum/mental hospital between the first world war and second world war but during the second world war part of the hospital became an emergency hospital. This continued for several years after the end of the war and when the block was handed back to the asylum/mental hospital it became a geriatric psychiatric ward.

A few other interesting points:
The hospital had it's own brewery and initially the patients were allowed half a pint a day (a full pint if labouring)
The hospital had it's own operating theatre, situated behind the Kingswood block
There was also a car washing facility that members of the public could use for a small fee
Nurses at the hospital when it first opened worked from 6am to 8pm every day, until 10pm one night a week - a total of an 89 hour working week! For this they were initially paid £15 a year

Ref: The Middlewood Hospital Sheffied, One Hundred Years 1872 - 1972 by F.T. Thorpe, available at Sheffield Libraries

[huthwaite]

ADMIN, on Feb 15 2007, 08:50 PM, said:

There was a movie filmed in the grounds of Middlewood Hospital called 'The Last Train'

A group of train passengers, including a policeman (Ian Hart) a wanted criminal (Mick Sizer) and an M.O.D. scientist (Harriet Ambrose) are travelling to Sheffield when their train crashes inside a tunnel and a strange gas envelopes them.

When they awake, they find that Harriet froze them all so they could survive the giant meteor impact that destroyed the rest of the world. Now, they seem to be the only survivors of the human race in a world overrun with tropical plants and patrolled by packs of man-eating dogs.
The Last Train IMDB Entry - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195471/

TV.com's page on the movie - http://www.tv.com/th...00/summary.html

Wikipedia Info on the film - http://en.wikipedia..../The_Last_Train

Fansite - http://www.freewebs....rain1999itv.htm

Sci-Fi Uk Page - http://www.scifiuk.com/lasttrain/

The scenes where the train is inside the tunnel were filmed at Thurgoland tunnel now part of the Transpennine trail

[ginney]

Hello,

I am new to this site which I am finding very helpful & interesting. I am tracing my family history and have found out that one of my great grandma's spent some time in Middlewood Hospital during the early part of 1900. She suffered with depression but it was listed as mania in those days. Some of you have mentioned a book about Middlewood Hospital. Would you be able to tell me where this can be purchased from please. I have been checking some sites but they don't appear to have it.

Ginney

[tsavo]

Try here:
The Middlewood Hospital Sheffied, One Hundred Years 1872 - 1972 by F.T. Thorpe, available at Sheffield Libraries

[student nurse]

hi ginney welcome to the site. there is a book available called 'Middlewood Hospital Sheffield 100 years 1872 - 1972 by F. T. Thorpe apparently. I did have a copy as i worked at middlewood years ago but lent it out.

[ginney]

Hello again,
Thank you for your replies. I will try the Sheffield Library.

Ginney

[jossman]

Anybody remember playing in Beeley Woods and hearing the siren going for an escaped patient? This would be early 50's. I have often legged it like hell, frightened to death to get home safe.

[Tiger]

Whilst doing my family history I have found no less than 5 members of my family ending up dying in Middlewood, all bar one having what we would called today depression or a nervous breakdown. It's a scary fact that if I'd lived a few generations previously I would have probably ended up in there myself for depression. Now I can see with modern hindsight that genetics has alot to do with it and I'm lucky such symptoms can be controlled by medication. If people were put away for such things these days along with having children out of wedlock then half the population of Sheffield would be in there

[huthwaite]

Is the church still there?

[coffee cup]

huthwaite, on Sep 2 2007, 08:15 PM, said:

Is the church still there?

Yes I think so

[huthwaite]

coffee cup, on Sep 2 2007, 08:44 PM, said:

Yes I think so

I would love to have a look around it, most asylum churches had two entrances, one for men and another for the women.

[jiginc]

A few other interesting points:
The hospital had it's own brewery and initially the patients were allowed half a pint a day (a full pint if labouring)
The hospital had it's own operating theatre, situated behind the Kingswood block
There was also a car washing facility that members of the public could use for a small fee
Nurses at the hospital when it first opened worked from 6am to 8pm every day, until 10pm one night a week - a total of an 89 hour working week! For this they were initially paid £15 a year

Ref: The Middlewood Hospital Sheffied, One Hundred Years 1872 - 1972 by F.T. Thorpe, available at Sheffield Libraries
[/quote]


It also had its own X-Ray Department, Theatre and Cinema.

[tsavo]

And its own barber. Walter Turner cut the patients hair and was also Bandmaster of the Sheffield Sea Cadets in the 1950s.

This post has been edited by RichardB: 05 September 2007 - 03:59 PM
Reason for edit: Assume this was 1950s not 1050's

[RichardB]

1893 Asylum staff from Directories :

Thomas Stewart ADAIR Assistant Medical Officer, The South Yorkshire Lunatic Asylum Wadsley Kelly's 1893
Charles ADDIS Attendant at the Asylum 6 Milner Road, Hillsborough Kelly's 1893
John BAILEY Farm bailiff to South Yorkshire Lunatic Asylum Wadsley Kelly's 1893
James Robert BARTON Assistant Medical Officer, The South Yorkshire Lunatic Asylum Wadsley Kelly's 1893
William Crochley Sampson CLAPHAM Private asylum Grange Hall, Kimberworth Kelly's 1893
Joe William COTTERILL Superintendent of works at the Asylum 69 Kendal Road, Hillsborough Kelly's 1893
J W COTTERILL Clerk of Works, The South Yorkshire Lunatic Asylum Wadsley Kelly's 1893
William FISHER Storekeeper to The South Yorkshire Lunatic Asylum Woodside Cottage, Wadsley Kelly's 1893
Rev. Harry Arthur GOODWIN Chaplain, The South Yorkshire Lunatic Asylum Wadsley Kelly's 1893
Thomas George HARRISON Asylum attendant 16 Ball Road, Hillsborough Kelly's 1893
W Smith KAY Medical Superintendent, The South Yorkshire Lunatic Asylum Wadsley Kelly's 1893
William Campbell MACPHERSON Assistant Medical Officer, The South Yorkshire Lunatic Asylum Wadsley Kelly's 1893
Thomas PEACH Attendant at the Asylum 4 Milner Road, Hillsborough Kelly's 1893
Henry PEARCE Attendant at the Asylum 67 Leader Road, Hillsborough Kelly's 1893
Edmund PIGOTT Clerk & steward, The South Yorkshire Lunatic Asylum Wadsley Kelly's 1893
Oliver PREWETT Storekeeper at the Asylum 69 Hawthorn Road, Hillsborough Kelly's 1893
John RILEY Attendant at the Asylum 22 Kendal Road, Hillsborough Kelly's 1893
William ROBERTS Foreman at the Asylum 85 Dykes Hall Road, Hillsborough Kelly's 1893
William Ledingham RUXTON Assistant Medical Officer, The South Yorkshire Lunatic Asylum Wadsley Kelly's 1893
John SKELLETT Attendant at the Asylum 16 Milner Road, Hillsborough Kelly's 1893
Stephen WILLEY Storekeeper at the Asylum 121 Dykes Hall Road, Hillsborough Kelly's 1893

Almost all Hillsborough/Wadsley

[RichardB]

1911 Asylum staff from Directories :
Roger ANDREWS asylum attendant 107 Overton Road, Wadsley White's 1911
William Henry ARMSTRONG asylum attendant 32 Withens Avenue, Wadsley White's 1911
Orlando BARRON Asylum Attendant 9 Haden Street Hillsborough White's 1911
Edward BELL Asylum Attendant 2 Kendal Place, Hillsborough White's 1911
Charles BISBY Asylum Attendant 63 Wood Road, Hillsborough White's 1911
Irvine BLANARES Asylum attendant 29 Crookes Place, Hillsborough White's 1911
George CARDWELL asylum attendant 121 Overton Road, Wadsley White's 1911
Ernest CHARLESWORTH asylum attendant 12 Harris Road White's 1911
Herbert CLAYTON asylum attendant 58 Langsett Avenue, Wadsley White's 1911
Very Rev John C.M. CONRAN chaplain south yorkshire lunatic asylum; (R.C.) h, St. Vincent's Presbytery, Solly Street White's 1911
Shaw John DAVIES Asylum Attendant 455 Middlewood Road, Wadsley White's 1911
John GARRISON Asylum attendant 65 Wheldrake Road White's 1911
Oliver GLOSSOP Asylum attendant 30 Harris Road White's 1911
Sam GREENWOOD Asylum attendant 931 Penistone Road, Owlerton White's 1911
John Ernest HALL Asylum Attendant 22 Darwin Road Wadsley White's 1911
Addison HAMER Asylum Attendant 23 Crofton Avenue Wadsley White's 1911
Tom HARSLEY Asylum Attendant 25 Shepperson Road, Hillsborough White's 1911
Osman HENMAN Asylum Attendant 15 Harris Road White's 1911
Rev Crispin G HOLT Chaplain (Nonconformist) South Yorkshire Lunatic Asylum h, 397 City Road White's 1911
Frederick William HORNBY Dispenser at Asylum h, 51 Carlton Road, Hillsborough White's 1911
Frederick HUDSON Asylum Attendant 74 Dykes Hall Road, Hillsborough White's 1911
George Walter KING Asylum attendant 24 Portsea Road, Hillsborough White's 1911
Joseph LING Asylum attendant 70 Minto Road, Hillsborough White's 1911
Joseph LONSDALE Asylum attendant 57 Darwin Road, Wadsley White's 1911
James Alfred MARSDEN Asylum attendant 223 Marlcliffe Road, Wadsley White's 1911
Charles MARSHALL Asylum attendant 467 Middlewood Road, Wadsley White's 1911
Daniel MINOGUE Asylum attendant 99 Middlewood Road, Hillsborough White's 1911
Jn. MOORE Asylum attendant 36 Vainor Road, Wadsley White's 1911
William MOORHOUSE Asylum attendant 5 Findon Street, Hillsborough White's 1911
Geo. Golding NORTON asylum attendant 49 Rockley Road White's 1911
Thomas O'DOWD asylum attendant 113 Middlewood Road, Hillborough White's 1911
Henry PICKERING Asylum Attendant 43 Wheldrake Road White's 1911
James SIMONS Asylum attendant 65 Carlton Road, Hillsborough White's 1911
John SKELLETT Asylum attendant 16 Minto Road, Hillsborough White's 1911
Walter STANLEY Asylum attendant 4 Harris Road White's 1911
Arthur Charles STEGGLES Asylum attendant 5 Marion Road, Wadsley White's 1911
Harry SUNLEY Asylum attendant 148 Oakland Road, Hillsborough White's 1911
John Thomas TACEY asylum attendant 32 Harris Road, Wadsley White's 1911
Rev James TURKINGTON Chaplain (South Yorkshire Lunatic Asylum, Wadsley) 89 Ranby Road White's 1911


Almost all Hillsborough/Wadsley

[RichardB]

1919 Asylum staff from Directories :

Roger ANDREWS Asylum attendant 107 Overton Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
William Henry ARMSTRONG Asylum attendant 32 Withens Avenue, Hillsborough White's 1919
Charles ASHLEY Asylum attendant 32 Darwin Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
Orlando BARRON Asylum attendant 105 Middlewood Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
Albert BELL Asylum attendant 95 Wynyard Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
Edward BELL Asylum attendant 2 Kendal Place, Hillsborough White's 1919
Charles BISBY Asylum attendant 63 Wood Lane, Hillsborough White's 1919
Lawrence BISBY Asylum attendant 46 Broughton Road, Owlerton White's 1919
William BRUMBY Asylum attendant 6 Harris Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
Joseph CAWKWELL Asylum attendant 214 Bell House Road, Shire Green White's 1919
Herbert CLAYTON Asylum attendant 50 Langsett Avenue, Hillsborough White's 1919
Harry COOPLAND Asylum attendant 77 Carlton Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
Sidney Augustus CULVERWELL Asylum attendant 51 Findon Street, Hillsborough White's 1919
Arthur DRURY Asylum attendent 59 Darwin Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
James Ferguson FROGGATT Asylum attendant 5 Park View Road, Owlerton White's 1919
Oliver GLOSSOP Asylum attendant 28 Harris Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
John Ernest HALL Asylum attendant 22 Darwin Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
Tom HARSLEY Asylum attendant 25 Shepperson Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
William HELLIWELL Asylum attendant 115 Overton Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
Wilkinson INMAN Asylum attendant 129 Overton Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
George Walter KING Asylum attendant 24 Portsea Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
Harry LANE Asylum attendant 37 Catch Bar Lane, Hillsborough White's 1919
Joseph LING Asylum attendant 70 Minto Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
James Alfred MARSDEN Asylum attendant 223 Marlcliffe Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
Charles MARSHALL Asylum attendant 527 Middlewood Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
William MOORHOUSE Asylum attendant 5 Findon Street, Hillsborough White's 1919
Charles SANDERSON Asylum attendant 128 Findon Street, Hillsborough White's 1919
James SIMMONS Asylum attendant 19 Avondale Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
Arthur Charles STEGGLES Asylum attendant 5 Marion Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
Harry SUNLEY Asylum attendant 148 Oakland Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
John Thomas TACEY Asylum attendant 32 Harris Road, Hillsborough White's 1919
Harold TAYLOR Asylum attendant 60 Minto Road, Hillsborough White's 1919


Almost all Hillsborough/Wadsley

[RichardB]

1925 Asylum staff from Directories :

Joseph CAWKWELL asylum attendant 214 Bell House Road, Shire Green Kelly's 1925
James EGAN Asylum Attendant 509 Barnsley Road Kelly's 1925
John Ernest HALL asylum attendant 22 Darwin Road, Hillsborough Kelly's 1925
Arthur Charles STEGGLES Asylum attendant 5 Marion Road, Hillsborough Kelly's 1925

Almost all Hillsborough/Wadsley

Not bad at all

[Gilderoy]

ADMIN, on Feb 15 2007, 06:29 PM, said:

Work on the Hospital site began in 1869, and was built by Bernard Hartley (Architect). S Mitchell M.D was the first Superintendent of the hospital, coming from the West Riding Aslyum, in Wakefield.

When opened it was known as the South Yorkshire Asylum (also known as Wadsley Asylum) and it became West Yorkshire Asylum, Wadsley, in 1890. In 1930 it changed again and became Wadsley Mental Hospital. In 1948 it was renamed Middlewood Hospital. The site served as, both, a Asylum and a Hospital.

The medical hospitals were accessed from Worral road and was kinown as Wharncliffe Hospital. The entire Hospital site closed in 1998, having been known as Middlewood Hospital for fifty years. Between the years of 1915 and 1930, and between 1939 and 1945, it was also the Wharncliffe war Hospital, and played a major part in housing shellshocked troops from all sides.

So the hospital was more than just a Mental institution although for all people in Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley Middlewood was synonymous with Mental Illness and the hosptial, itself, was tied in with many other sites, that have since closed, in the area, such as Grenoside, St. Josephs, Hollow Meadows, and Thundercliffe Grange. As well as it's part in the war the Hospital served to help people with learning difficulties, as well as dealing with long term mental illness.

The main admin block of the hospital is now the impressive Kingswood Hall (see above), which comprises of 30 luxury apartments(passed for bulding in June 2005). This is seen as the real centre of the old hospital and, now, the new village.

The remainder of the site is large residential development, made up by various developers and operated in the main part by Bloor Homes who have been responsible for the re-development of the above block, as well as the, currently, derelict clock tower. Planning officers made the Middlewood Hospital area a conservation area in September 2001, to give the buildings more protection from demolition.

Kingswood Hall constituted 25% of the buildings from the old site and despite some discussion over demolition of the site it was decided that it should be listed, retained and restored, as it now has been.Other buildings, from the 1930s through to the newest were taken down after closure. As well as Kingswood Hall ,the clock tower and the church have remained. Both the clock tower building and the church are in a bad state oF repair, although the clock tower will be repaired in the new future.

The size of the hospital was phenomonal and you can see from the size of the village just how big a area it covered. In 1975 there were 1,189 staffed beds within the grounds.

Due to changes in policy in the eighties the famous care in the community came about (Mental Health Act, 1984). It was the Mental Act, 1959, that began the reforms in earnest and did away with alot of the abuse and problems found across the various hospitals.

There are many stories of problems around the hospital, the likes of which are not uncommon for any large institutions in the UK, and there are plenty of ghost stories. In a study published in Psychiatric Bulletin, 1991, research was carried out on 438 impatients from the rehabilitation and long-stay service at Middlewood Hospital. It began in 1982 and the researchers looked at what happened to people as they were released from the hospital.

None were homeless, 23% were still in non-hospital settings, 35% had died (most were old residents) but 42% had remained within the service, other wards or hospitals. Most of the people that left Middlewood ended up in other institutions or within controlled areas of the community. Non of them were homeless, or left wandering the streets.

The most famous ghost story, and there are many about the old hospital, is of the 'Old Lady' who is known to have wandered around the old ward eight, where she would disappear through walls. There are also numerous accounts of disembodied footsteps on stairways.

There are many, many other stories such as general hauntings on Ward 12, Ward 8 sightings of a old woman in a night cap and no face, and the Hillside ward suffering from knockings at night time. Prior to the renovation of the wards they were said to be excorcised and various students through the years have reported the hospital being excorcised by the onsite priest. There has, though, been very few reports of hauntings within the village.

Some of the most interesting stories about the old hospital from its days as a war hospital during both World Wars. During the Second World War both German and British Soldiers remained on the site and to distingiush between the two they would put red blankets on the German troops so there was no issues over whom was who.

[Gilderoy]

Has anyone living in the new house's experienced any spooky happenings?

[Glenn]

When I was a young apprentice I worked on Middle Wood hospital Regularlarly, the last job being the fifty pence piece shaped building halfway up the driveway. I saw some terrible sights whilst working there, some I will take to my grave. But some of the biggest nutters were from the estate opposite ( Winn Gardens)and they were allowed to roam free! Sorry if anyone reading lives there now, but that is the truth.

[ADMIN]

I think Middlewood is one of those places that affected so many different people in so many different ways

I imagine that as a young apprentice it would have shocked you at such a young age to visit

[belfrybum]

student nurse, on Jul 1 2007, 01:06 PM, said:

hi ginney welcome to the site. there is a book available called 'Middlewood Hospital Sheffield 100 years 1872 - 1972 by F. T. Thorpe apparently. I did have a copy as i worked at middlewood years ago but lent it out.

hi,i am asking whether anybody knows of where to get any information about possible inmates names and dates of deaths to particular relatives?
I suspect anybody will not want to release this information,but i would be really interested if i could trace my family background.

[beakx]

Fascinating history to the place. I remember walking through the grounds as a shortcut to my aunties on stockharth lane. Very spooky at night, seem to remember a bowling green??

My great granddad spent several months there during WW2 after being badly injured in a motorcycle crash. My g-grandmother was told he’d been admitted and thought he’d gone insane, not realizing it was now a military hospital.

I remember Walter handing out conkers at marlcliffe and wisewood. My mom worked as a cleaner at Middlewood in the early 70’s and remembers Walter back then, the guy must be well over 80 by now. I wonder if being “Institutionalised” is classed as a psychiatric problem?

[Glenn]

ADMIN, on Dec 25 2007, 07:41 AM, said:

I think Middlewood is one of those places that affected so many different people in so many different ways

I imagine that as a young apprentice it would have shocked you at such a young age to visit

I went on to work at quite a few mental institutions around the country, Lightwood house being one and Rampton being another to name but a couple. Some terrible sights were seen. I have got to admit though I have seen equally as terrible sights in ordinary places in the community. When I was an apprentice I also worked on Hyde Park flats. We were putting new front doors on all the flats and new security locks, some of the sights on there far eclipsed anything that I saw in any of the mental institutions. I was working on the flats when a little girl was hit by a TV thrown off the balcony, and when a girl got inpatient waiting for a lift and stuck her head through a broken window to see where the lift was and the lift came down and decapitated her. Yuk!

[Maddie]

I lived across from the hospital on Worrall rd from approx 75 to 82 and having grown up living so close the patients didn't bother me .........sometimes if our door was open they would walk in and sit down in our room.

I remember Walter and Ernest, Ernest I remember as been very tall and slim.

[cargen]

Thank you for retaining the images so close to my heart. As a student nurse and later staff nurse at the hospital, I spent many years working there with some of the most wonderful patients and staff of my professional career. It was in many ways a shame that the Victorian buildings had to be demolished, but their legacy of limited treatment and side effects of instituionalisation of the residents, had to come to an end sooner or later. My memories of those days will live in my heart and mind until I die.
Things are not the same now, nursing the mentally ill has changes beyond all recognition.
It was nice hear from Dorothy Rowe, the Australian psychologist with whom I had contact in my working years, and for whom I had the greatest respect.
I knew the staff listed earlier on the site, many of whom are still around.
Best wishes to them.

[Trefcon]

hi all,
wondering if anyone knows the whereabouts of the 20'x 6' WW1 roll of honour that use to hang in there?
Thanks.

[dorset]

darra, on Mar 20 2007, 06:18 PM, said:

Some were also there because they had been born there.Also some of the women were there because they had children out of wedlock

I have just found this sight and am researching my late Grandmother any information on the hospital I would be gratefull for many thanks

[Trefcon]

deansgirl, on Jan 4 2008, 12:54 PM, said:

hi all,
wondering if anyone knows the whereabouts of the 20'x 6' WW1 roll of honour that use to hang in there?
Thanks.

i think i have tracked the memorial down, i have been told its in the care of sheffield galleries.
which gallerie though?
more searching to be done!
Dean.

[dex]

Essix Blue, on Feb 25 2007, 02:30 PM, said:

saw him in Hillsborough on Friday - hasn't changed

I used to work with Walter in the bakehouse during my apprenticeship (if this is the same Walter). He used to walk down to the bookies at Leppings Lane just about every day for a bet. he was a really likeable fellow. I was based at Middlewood but also worked at the Infirmary (before it was knocked down), Northern General, Lodge Moor and a short spell at Thundercliffe Grange learning my trade. I was taught Butchery at Middlewood with a great bloke called Harold Ford. All the staff were great whilst I was there especially Minnie Guest and Ken Ward who both took me under their wings whilst I was doing my training.