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Middlewood Hospital


Sheffield History

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Hey all just a short note to ask some information on Middlewood Hospital if its possible...I run a ghosthunting team called UKGhosttours and we would love to have a look at the old "Asylum" I wondered if anyone knew if there is any of it left for us to investigate at all....and if there is does anyone know who now owns the building???? This is so that we can gain access and or permission to run a full overnight investigation along the lines of Most Haunted --- Minus the theatricals and screams....

If anyone is interested in what we do we have a fabulous website for you to look at...I'm not sure if I am allowed to post it here I will do but obviously if there is any problems with this I'm sure the admin will remove it. If there is a problem I sincerely apologise...

The site is www.ukghosttours.com

and we have a really fab venue coming up shortly...Danby Castle which is close to Whitby...so if you are interested please go to the site and take a look...

Thanks folks...Sam.. lollol

If i remember rightly the asylum has now been turned into apartments/flats, keeping the original structure as it was a listed building.

I only live 5 minutes down the road so should know this really :P

it was quite a weird building after it was unused for a while, minus the footage used for the big train programme, the bottom floor entrance was fairly pitch black up on entering due to all the windows being boarded up.

I think there still maybe the church and the clock tower that still stand in their orignal form if that is of any help.

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Guest bblightnin

I live in a new house on the site on Queenswood Close. I have a friend who was a male nurse at the hospital who tells me that our house is built on the site of the Queenswood building. We have a piece of the concrete floor in our rockery, with slate inserts. I would be very interested to hear about the history of Queenswood, especially the treatments that were carried out there. Concerning the subjects of ghosts, my son (in his 20s) has on more that one occasion experienced a sensation of being unable to move in his bed. His friend also experienced this when he stayed in the room and now refuses to stay with us! I know this is not due to the amount of beer they consumed... :blink:

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;-) Hi am new to this so not sure what I am doing, I have been looking through family tree as everyone is these days and believe I had a great aunt that worked at Middlewood Hosp somtime after 1891 but before 1935 I am not sure wether she was a nurse or any other member of staff her name was Elizabeth Clark/e it is spelt sometimes without the e although it should have one Does anyone know of her or a staff list covering that period of time.

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I recently bought an old glass bottle with south yorkshire asylum wadsley embossed on the front . does anyone have any information / pics on where the asylum was and what went on there ? a picture of the bottle is on the gallery. thanks . kev

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Guest Nimrod

i recently bought an old glass bottle with south yorkshire asylum wadsley embossed on the front . does anyone have any information / pics on where the asylum was and what went on there ? a picture of the bottle is on the gallery. thanks . kev

The South Yorkshire Assylum Wadsley was the old Middlewood Hospital in Sheffield 6. It has now been developed for housing. Google it, there's a lot of info on the net.

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I recently bought an old glass bottle with south yorkshire asylum wadsley embossed on the front . does anyone have any information / pics on where the asylum was and what went on there ? a picture of the bottle is on the gallery. thanks . kev

Hi and welcome ex cavator,

the bottle is obviously a pharmaceutical bottle, (your photo added)

It's unusual that the Hospitals name is embossed onto it.

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Guest wadsleyowl

This is sooo interesting. I also live on Wadsley PArk Village and remember thinking when they were building - who'd want to live there? but now I do and really love it. Its a lovely peaceful place and am really fascinated by its history. My Great Aunt was a matron at middlewood after the war till the 70's, her name was Alice Piggott (nee Pope). Don't really know much mroe but if anyone had any history to fill in would be great to hear. Stangley my grandma also worked as a housekeeper for a short time and my mother in law worked in the hairdressers, need to work up the courage to question them both more. When I do will add some more comments.

Great thread hope more people comment soon.

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Images of Middlewood Hospital Wanted

An on-line project depicting this Victorian Asylum right up to its end.

Did you work or visited this former hospital?

A photographic appeal to all those who may have pictures showing this historic 19th century Asylum. Visual material showing work life, may be your retiring celebration or a special occasion that took place within the grounds of the hospital. Did you trained here? Even family photos taken on the wards etc. Images showing the last few years of this hospital when derelict. The interior of the Church too. Do you have an old copy of the ’Contact’ Middlewood magazine?

The hospital was also used during the first and second world war for the wounded soldiers. Many photos were taken during this time. Do you have such images?

Anything that can help the Middlewood hospital project would be very much appreciated.

My contact details are Luis Arroyo 01709 559764 or e-mail: luis@rotherham-images.co.uk

See the progress of this project by visiting  http://www.rotherham-images.co.uk/

and click on the 'Middlewood hospital' link.

Full contact details also on the hospital project.

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Guest craigo

I used to work at Middlewood, I started in 1991 when lots of the hospital had already been closed down but it was still a huge place. In fact, the parts that were still in operation were significantly larger in size than current mental health units around Sheffield (I suppose that cos lots of em have been segregated).

I worked on several wards which were mainly Older Adult dementia/rehab wards, 14, 15, 16 and 17 although also spent some time on Woodside unit 35, 36 37 etc and the prefab type wards near the lodge - wards 41 etc.

I remember that the barbers used to be just on the right more or less opposite the reception in the main admin block (clock tower block) and I think the 50pence shaped building that somebody refers to is the 'friendship club' which was situated just below Eastgate ward.

Middlewood was a fascinating place to work with clients and staff sharing stories which provoked laughter, sadness and in some cases really made you think, things as mentioned such as childbirth outside of marriage, or even people suffering from epilepsy admitted to the asylum - most of the stories were based around long term patients although I think there must have been lots of case of rehab and remember several elderly patients being discharged from ward 17 after seeing their health improve dramatically which was really great.

Middlewood had an atmosphere all of it's own where staff and clients seemed to have a bond and understanding that I have never experienced since and I still work in mental health services today (20yrs later). There was lots of sadness amongst staff and clients alike that Middlewood was closing, and I remember wishing that I had been around to experience the hospital in its heyday when it was in full operation with farm, social clubs, entertainment halls etc - some of the stories of how much fun Middlewood had once been somewhat overshadowing the reality and sadness of how some people had become institutionalised for no tangible reason.

For some of the client's, Middlewood was a home and a way of life that they found difficult to let go of and move on from - lots of patients would return to the Middlewood site and roam its grounds several years after being moved on to other locations/units around the city (before redevelopment began). We often had a sense that communitising patient care was perhaps not the right way to go and I still feel that investment of millions of pounds into the Middlewood site would have been more beneficial than spreading mental health services across the city but that's only my personal view.

I was recently looking at property in the area and although I can appreciate the development has been done well, living in Kingswood or a road called Eastgate would just seem so weird for me.

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Guest smudge118

I remember visiting the hospital when I was around 5 or 6 years old as my grandma was addmitted after being prescribed some medication that we found out latershe was allergic to. It wasn't a very nice place to vist for a youngster and I remember being scared of some of the other patients. Having said that she did make a really good friend while there who still lives in our local area. Your pictures are great and bring back memories. although it wasn't the best place on earth for anyone to be sent to I do feel that it was a shame it was let go to a state of disrepare after closing. The building itself should have been looked after. I really am interested in old buildings like the old hospital, shame it couldn't have been kept as a reminder of how people were treated in the past.

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Guest smudge118

I was just wondering if anyone has come accross any pictures of the interior of the hospital?

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On 07/04/2010 at 13:48, smudge118 said:

I was just wondering if anyone has come accross any pictures of the interior of the hospital?

Hello and welcome smudge118,

have taken a look through the A-Z of photos on Luis's web site here ... http://www.rotherham-images.co.uk/

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Guest smudge118

Hi again,

After spending some time trawling through page after page of information I have found a few interesting videos of the hospital.

http://www.rotherham-images.co.uk/Standard%20Skin/Middlewood%20film.1991.htm (the hospital in 1991)

This is the most recent video and shows a lot of the interior in a bad way, it is quite creepy when you see the doors and the shutters on the windows.

This is a great web page for info and older pictures.

.

If anyone has any good interior pictures or know of any good sites that contain pictures of the interior let me know.

I found an interesting picture on the site of the ocupational therapy room where patients where weaving baskets, this brought back memories as when my grandma returned home after her stay in the hospital she came home with a number of fruit bowls and baskets that she had made. Does anyone else have any memories of these activities that patients undertook

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Guest lindylou

That's just incredible isn't it !

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

Almost impossible to believe..

My late father inlaws mother also had a sister who was put away in an assylum for having a child out of wedlock. She was there all her life and the famly would visit her, it was said she was put there for her own protection because she was flighty !!!!

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I started having a look around this thread after seeing the programme about the history of mental health on BBC Four last night (17/05/10). This looked at High Royds in north Leeds, but its building is very much of the same design and is also currently undergoing renovation as flats and a new housing estate.

However, my Uncle Wilf was resident at Middlewood from (I think) abut 1953 until the hospital closed and then in sheltered accommodation until his death last year. I've mentioned the circumstances before, in the Parkwood Springs thread: he went to the police to tell them that he had killed his mother and sisters, but when the police went around to their house, they were all alive and well.

I only really met him a couple of times, most recently at my Grandma's funeral in 1981 and can remember that he looked very much like his mother and was very well spoken, like his brothers, including my father.

After reading this thread, I'm starting to wonder if he wasn't Walter - my aunt visited him occasionally and I think I remember her telling me that he was calling himself that several years ago. Are there any pictures of Walter anywhere to confirm or deny this? He would have been about 80 when he died, having spent two thirds of his life in Middlewood.

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A friend of mine works in mental health care,and is currently at an older peoples care home .She has started putting up pictures of older sheffield to stimulate conversation between her patients and staff and is getting a lot of positive response from the people in her care.Some of the people in her care are ex patients of Middlewood and she desparately needs pictures to use as a "gateway " to stimulate them into conversation.

Even though the initiative has been well received , she is still having to fund the project herself.She is looking for pictures related to middlewood that people own or have the copyright to,that she can have printed.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, for a very worthwhile project.

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Received this by email

Hello,

I am doing some research and trying to trace the background to Wharncliffe War Hospital during the Second World War.

My father-in-law who was injured on the second day of the D-Day landings eventually ended up in Wharncliffe, having lost a leg. He was subsequently nursed back to health and lead a happy healthy family life.

I'm sorry, I don't know too much about the hospital or the area but from what I've read so far Wharncliffe seems to be associated with Wadsley and/or Middlewood. My area of interest is June 1944 onwards.

If you have any information or contacts it would be greatly appreciated.

Regards Stuart Roberts.

I think I am correct in thinking that Middlewood Hospital was known as Wharncliffe Hospital during both World Wars.

Does anybody know any information about the WW2 period.

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