Oblique aerial view from S.

Description Oblique aerial view from S.

Date 20/2/1996

Collection RCAHMS Aerial Photography

Catalogue Number SC 1687691

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 55926 CN

Scope and Content Aerial View of Hartwood Hospital, Shotts, North Lanarkshire (now closed and mainly demolished) This hospital complex, built in cream-coloured sandstone, sits on rising ground with extensive views over the surrounding countryside. It was constructed on a symmetrical plan, and consisted of a number of distinct blocks. The large, two-storeyed advanced central block has canted windows, and twin towers with crenellated parapets and angle stair-turrets which rise from the rear to the east and west. Three-storeyed wings, set back on each side, provided separate sections for male and female patients, and low two- and single-storeyed blocks extend further east and west to provide dormitory accommodation. Low service buildings, built in a similar style to the main building, form a network to the rear. The large bowling green (right), seen here covered in snow, was laid out for patients' use in 1897, and the large oval area once occupied by the hospital's main reservoir (left) can be clearly seen within the fields to the north (rear) of the building. This reservoir continued to supply the hospital with water until 1938. The land for the hospital site was purchased from Lord Deas, and totalled almost 602 acres. Over subsequent years this increased to about 2,000 acres to include a home farm, the Hartwoodhill site, and most of the surrounding woods, moors and arable land. The high ground on which the hospital was built was thought to be a particularly suitable location for an asylum. Two reservoirs were constructed in the grounds to supply the hospital with water for drinking and sanitation, and a private branch railway, which ran from the Caledonian Railway Company's main line from Glasgow to Edinburgh, was built to bring in all the building materials required for the construction of the hospital. After the hospital was completed, the line remained in service with its own small 'Pug' steam engine which hauled wagons containing supplies of coal and goods directly to the back door of the asylum. On completion, the hospital buildings occupied over 10 acres of the site, and included, as well as the main hospital building, a house for the medical superintendent, 27 cottages for staff, and a farm steading. The total cost, which included the installation of electric lighting powered by the hospital's own generating plant, was £152,430. Hartwood Hospital, a large Baronial-style building with imposing twin towers, was designed by the architect, John L Murray of Biggar (d.1909), and occupied one of the largest hospital sites in Scotland. It was built as the District Asylum for Lanark and opened in 1895 with accommodation for 500 lunatic patients. Between 1898 and 1916 additions included two large ward blocks, each linked to the rear of the main building by a covered corridor, a sanatorium for the isolation of patients suffering from tuberculosis, and a new admission hospital. In 1931 a new nurses' home, designed by the architect, James Lochhead (1870-1942), opened to the south of the complex, and in c.1935, a new site was developed at nearby Hartwood Hill in response to the growing need for accommodation for mentally handicapped adults. The hospital is now closed and mainly demolished. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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