The Crichton

Last updated

Crichton Royal Hospital
NHS Dumfries and Galloway
Crichton Church.jpg
Crichton Memorial Church
Dumfries and Galloway UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Shown in Dumfries and Galloway
Geography
Location Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, United Kingdom
Coordinates 55°03′01″N3°35′34″W / 55.0504°N 3.5927°W / 55.0504; -3.5927
Organisation
Care system Public NHS
Type Specialist
Services
SpecialityPsychiatric hospital
History
Opened1838
Closed2013
Links
Website www.crichton.co.uk
Lists Hospitals in Scotland

The Crichton is an institutional campus in Dumfries in southwest Scotland. It serves as a remote campus for the University of Glasgow, the University of the West of Scotland, Dumfries and Galloway College, and the Open University. The site also includes a hotel and conference centre, and Crichton Memorial Church, set in a 100-acre (40-hectare) park. The campus was established in the 19th century as the Crichton Royal Hospital, a psychiatric hospital.

Contents

History

Crichton Royal Institution for Lunatics at Dumfries Act 1840
Act of Parliament
Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (variant 1, 1952-2022).svg
Long title An Act to incorporate the Trustees and others, Directors of the Crichton Royal Institution for Lunatics at Dumfries, and for the better enabling them to carry on their Charitable Designs.
Citation 3 & 4 Vict. c. xcix
Dates
Royal assent 3 July 1840
Text of statute as originally enacted

The last, and grandest, of Scotland's royal asylums was founded in Dumfries in 1838 by Elizabeth Crichton of Friars Carse (1779–1862), a wealthy local widow. Elizabeth Crichton's initial intention had been to found a university in Dumfries but she was blocked from doing so by the existing Scottish universities. [1] The original hospital building, now Crichton Hall, was designed by William Burn and opened as the Crichton Institution for Lunatics in 1839. [2] It became the Crichton Royal Institution in 1840. [3] The Southern Counties Asylum, which was intended to provide facilities for paupers, was erected on the site in 1849 and subsequently amalgamated with the main facility. [4]

Elizabeth Crichton persuaded the phrenologist William A. F. Browne (18051885) to become medical superintendent and to implement his innovative ideas of occupational therapy and art therapy. Browne remained at the Crichton for almost twenty years (1838-1857) and made a decisive contribution to asylum psychiatry, setting benchmark standards in therapeutic administration. He also hoarded a vast collection of patient art. The Crichton became widely known in the twentieth century for psychiatric research under the leadership of German Jewish émigrés, including Dr Willi Mayer-Gross. [5] [6]

Psychotherapist Ursula Fleming was educated at the hospital and Kate Fraser an early Scottish woman psychiatrist was a junior resident at the hospital. [7] Among the people to have been treated there are artist Charles Altamont Doyle (father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), William James Blacklock, Lydia Miller (widow of Hugh Miller), and feminist writer Dora Marsden. An unidentified female patient of Dr James Gilchrist featured as an illustration (Figure 19) in Charles Darwin's The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872). [8]

The hospital was expanded in the late 19th century, when Sydney Mitchell & Wilson added various buildings including the Crichton Memorial Church which is a category A listed building. [9] Further villas were constructed between 1910 and 1914 by Mitchell's assistant Ernest Auldo Jamieson, [10] and yet further between 1923 and 1936. The hospital became the Crichton Royal Hospital in 1945 and it joined the National Health Service in 1948. [3]

In 1995 the Crichton Development Company was established to regenerate the redundant hospital buildings. The redevelopment saw several of the hospital buildings converted for business park use, while the central area was maintained as a public park. A golf course was developed to the west of the site, and a hotel and conference centre were opened. Prince Charles visited the site and unveiled a statue of Elizabeth Crichton in May 2000. [11]

The Crichton Development Company acquired a 125-year lease on the site in 2004 [12] and Dumfries and Galloway College moved to a brand new purpose-built £40 million building within the grounds in 2008. [13]

The last of the mental health wards finally closed, concluding the site's use as a hospital, in 2013. [14]

Courses

The courses on offer at the Crichton University Campus include business, computing, teacher training and nursing courses. The Crichton Carbon Centre, housed in the Rutherford/McCowan building, is one of only two places where the Carbon Management postgraduate degree is available in Scotland. The University of Glasgow offers an MA in Health and Social Policy, an MA Primary Education Programme with Teaching Qualification and a BSc in Environmental Science and Sustainability on the campus. [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dumfries</span> Town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, 25 miles (40 km) from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the historic county of Dumfriesshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of the West of Scotland</span> Public research university in south-western Scotland

The University of the West of Scotland, formerly the University of Paisley, is a public university with four campuses in south-western Scotland, in the towns of Paisley, Blantyre, Dumfries and Ayr, as well as a campus in London, England.

Moral treatment was an approach to mental disorder based on humane psychosocial care or moral discipline that emerged in the 18th century and came to the fore for much of the 19th century, deriving partly from psychiatry or psychology and partly from religious or moral concerns. The movement is particularly associated with reform and development of the asylum system in Western Europe at that time. It fell into decline as a distinct method by the 20th century, however, due to overcrowding and misuse of asylums and the predominance of biomedical methods. The movement is widely seen as influencing certain areas of psychiatric practice up to the present day. The approach has been praised for freeing sufferers from shackles and barbaric physical treatments, instead considering such things as emotions and social interactions, but has also been criticised for blaming or oppressing individuals according to the standards of a particular social class or religion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Glasgow Ambulatory Care Hospital</span> Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland

The West Glasgow Ambulatory Care Hospital is a healthcare facility in Yorkhill, Glasgow. The new ambulatory care facility was created in December 2015 to house the remaining outpatient services and the minor injury unit previously housed at the Western Infirmary. It is managed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gartnavel Royal Hospital</span> Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland

Gartnavel Royal Hospital is a mental health facility based in the west end of Glasgow, Scotland. It provides inpatient psychiatric care for the population of the West of the City. It used to house the regional adolescent psychiatric unit but this has recently moved to a new psychiatric unit at Stobhill Hospital. The Hospital is a venue used by the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland. Some parts of the hospital are classified as a category A building and are also deemed at risk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Crichton-Browne</span> British psychiatrist, neurologist, and eugenicist (1840–1938)

Sir James Crichton-Browne MD FRS FRSE was a leading Scottish psychiatrist, neurologist and eugenicist. He is known for studies on the relationship of mental illness to brain injury and for the development of public health policies in relation to mental health. Crichton-Browne's father was the asylum reformer Dr William A.F. Browne, a prominent member of the Edinburgh Phrenological Society and, from 1838 until 1857, the superintendent of the Crichton Royal at Dumfries where Crichton-Browne spent much of his childhood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunnyside Royal Hospital</span> Hospital in Angus, Scotland

Sunnyside Royal Hospital was a psychiatric hospital located in Hillside, north of Montrose, Scotland. It closed in 2011 and is now used for housing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dumfries and Galloway College</span>

Dumfries and Galloway College is a further education college in Dumfries and Galloway, with campuses in Dumfries and Stranraer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William A. F. Browne</span>

Dr William Alexander Francis Browne (1805–1885) was one of the most significant British asylum doctors of the nineteenth century. At Montrose Asylum (1834–1838) in Angus and at the Crichton Royal in Dumfries (1838–1857), Browne introduced activities for patients including writing, group activity and drama, pioneered early forms of occupational therapy and art therapy, and initiated one of the earliest collections of artistic work by patients in a psychiatric hospital. In an age which rewarded self-control, Browne encouraged self-expression and may therefore be counted alongside William Tuke, Vincenzo Chiarugi and John Conolly as one of the pioneers of the moral treatment of mental illness. Sociologist Andrew Scull has identified Browne's career with the institutional climax of nineteenth century psychiatry.

"Browne was one of the reformers of the asylum care of the insane whose improvements and innovations were chronicled in his annual reports from The Crichton Royal Institution, but who in addition published almost on the threshold of his career a sort of manifesto of what he wished to see accomplished...." Richard Hunter and Ida Macalpine (1963) Three Hundred Years of Psychiatry 1535–1860, page 865.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney Mitchell</span> Scottish architect (1856–1930)

Arthur George Sydney Mitchell was a Scottish architect. He designed a large number of bank branches, country houses, churches, and church halls. His most significant commissions include the housing developments at Well Court and Ramsay Garden, both in Edinburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig House, Edinburgh</span> Historic site in Craighouse Road, Edinburgh

Craig House is a historic house and estate located on Easter Craiglockhart Hill, between the Craiglockhart and Morningside areas of Edinburgh, Scotland. Old Craig House dates from the 16th century, and succeeded an earlier building. In the late 19th century it was purchased by the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, and the site was developed as Craig House Hospital, a psychiatric hospital, including substantial new buildings. Following refurbishment, the site was opened in 1996 as the Craighouse Campus of Edinburgh Napier University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Brendan's Hospital, Dublin</span> Hospital in North Dublin, Ireland

St. Brendan's Hospital was a psychiatric facility located in the north Dublin suburb of Grangegorman. It formed part of the mental health services of Dublin North East with its catchment area being North West Dublin. It is now the site of a modern mental health facility known as the "Phoenix Care Centre". Since the official opening of the Richmond Lunatic Asylum in 1815 the Grangegorman site has continuously provided institutional facilities for the reception of the mentally ill until the present day. As such the Phoenix Care Centre represents the continuation of the oldest public psychiatric facility in Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dundee Royal Infirmary</span> Hospital in Scotland

Dundee Royal Infirmary, often shortened to DRI, was a major teaching hospital in Dundee, Scotland. Until the opening of Ninewells Hospital in 1974, Dundee Royal Infirmary was Dundee's main hospital. It was closed in 1998, after 200 years of operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midpark Hospital</span> Hospital in Scotland

Midpark Hospital is a modern acute mental health unit located in Dumfries. The hospital is managed by NHS Dumfries and Galloway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Fraser (physician)</span> Scottish psychiatrist

Kate Fraser CBE was a pioneering Scottish psychiatrist who sought to improve the well being and treatment of mentally ill patients. She was the first female Deputy Commissioner for the General Board of Control for Scotland in 1914 and Commissioner in 1935.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow</span> Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland

The Royal Hospital for Children is a 256-bed hospital specialising in paediatric healthcare for children and young people up to the age of 16. The hospital is part of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and is built on the site of the former Southern General Hospital, in Govan and opened in June 2015. The hospital replaced the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Yorkhill. It is managed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1857</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1857 formed mental health law in Scotland from 1857 until 1913.

The Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland or Lunacy Commission for Scotland were a public body established by the Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1857 to oversee asylums and the welfare of mentally ill people in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Crichton</span>

Elizabeth Crichton was a British philanthropist who founded the Crichton Royal Hospital in Dumfries. She had wanted to create a university but it was opened instead as the Crichton Institution for Lunatics in 1839. It now holds part of several universities and in her memory: a cathedral like church and her statue.

References

  1. Jones, H. Longueville (1838). "University of Dumfries". Journal of the Statistical Society of London. 1 (7). Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: 392. JSTOR   2337769.
  2. Historic Environment Scotland. "Crichton Royal Hospital Crichton Hall (Category A Listed Building) (LB3839)" . Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  3. 1 2 "Crichton Royal Hospital, Dumfries". National Archives. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  4. "The Crichton". Historic Hospitals. 31 May 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  5. Park, Maureen (2010) Art in Madness: Dr W.A.F. Browne's Collection of Patient Art at Crichton Royal Institution, Dumfries Dumfries: Dumfries and Galloway Health Board
  6. Dr Allan Beveridge, ed. (2005). "Psychiatry in pictures -- 186 (1): 1-a1 -- The British Journal of Psychiatry" . Retrieved 9 February 2009.
  7. Lower, Sian (Summer 2011). "A Scottish Pioneer". The Point: An Alternative Voice on Mental Health Issues (36): 26.
  8. Darwin, Charles (1872). The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. John Murray.
  9. Historic Environment Scotland. "The Crichton, Crichton Memorial Church (Category A Listed Building) (LB6695)" . Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  10. "Ernest Arthur Oliphant Auldjo Jamieson". Scottish Architects. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  11. "Crichton Regeneration Project". Scottish Government. 15 February 2001. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  12. "Crichton Development Co". Crichton Development Company. Archived from the original on 3 December 2008. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  13. "Official opening of new campus at Dumfries & Galloway College | Glasgow and West | STV News". News.stv.tv. 12 February 2009. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  14. "End of era in sight at Crichton". Daily Record. 26 July 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  15. "University of Glasgow". University of Glasgow. Retrieved 11 October 2015.

Further reading