Interior. View of bell in clock tower.

Description Interior. View of bell in clock tower.

Date 17/11/1993

Catalogue Number C 17851

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 776415

Scope and Content Bell in East Tower, Hartwood Hospital, Shotts, North Lanarkshire (now closed and mainly demolished) This great bell, weighing almost one ton, hung in the belfry in the east tower. The action of its heavy hammer (right) was controlled by a section of the clock mechanism on the floor above, allowing the bell to strike each hour. One of the bell's main functions was to summon patients to the dining hall at meal times. The dining hall was run on very civilised lines, with male and female patients placed together at 'family tables', often presided over by an elderly female patient who acted as 'mother'. Each table was set for four, and had white, starched table linen and fashionable china. Much attention was paid to detail, and much effort made to ensure each patient perfected his or her table manners. 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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