My visit last year to Hartwood Hospital, used in "The Batman" film, as Gotham's Children's Orphanage.
Join me on a journey to the heart of Scotland, where a grand architectural marvel with a rich history awaits. Nestled in the picturesque village of Hartwood, near the town of Shotts, stands the renowned Hartwood Hospital. With its distinctive Scottish Baronial design, marked by striking clock towers gracing its North-Western corners, this hospital has a story to tell that is as intriguing as it is haunting.
Opened in 1895 and operational for a century before its eventual closure in 1998, Hartwood Hospital was the brainchild of the self-taught architect and mechanical engineer, John Lamb Murray. Murray's vision was grand, as he designed the hospital to be self-sufficient, with its own farms, gardens, and even a railway line. Dr. Campbell Clark, the hospital's first superintendent, left an indelible mark on the field of medicine by implementing pioneering training schemes for the medical personnel, ensuring the best possible care for the patients. Back then, the hospital was known as Lanark District Asylum, and Dr. Campbell's innovative practices gained widespread support from the Medico-Psychological Society, which issued certificates to those who successfully completed his training.
In 1901, Dr. Campbell passed away and was laid to rest in the cemetery at Hartwood. The same year saw the hospital's first extension, including the addition of a washhouse and a laundry, followed by the construction of new cottages, a caretaker's house, and a nurses' home three years later. However, amidst its growth and progress, Hartwood Hospital also had a darker side. It gained infamy as the first place in Scotland to perform lobotomies, a notorious procedure that often left patients as mere shells of their former selves. Electroshock therapy was also frequently employed, reflective of the primitive scientific understanding of the human brain during that era.
Despite these grim practices, Hartwood Hospital continued to flourish, becoming one of the largest medical institutions in the European Union by 1950, with a patient population reaching as high as 2,500. The hospital expanded so much that it earned the moniker "hospital-village," complete with its own dancehall and bowling green, a testament to its prominence and influence in the region. However, in 1990, the advent of the Community Care Act shifted the focus from institutional care to community-based care, resulting in the closure of many asylums across the country, including Hartwood Hospital, which closed its doors in 1995. Today, only the abandoned administrative buildings stand as a poignant reminder of its storied past, echoing with the untold stories of its patients, staff, and the changing landscape of mental health care.
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