View of turret on clock tower from roof

Description View of turret on clock tower from roof

Date 17/11/1993

Catalogue Number SC 776418

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 17852

Scope and Content Turret on East Tower, Hartwood Hospital, Shotts, North Lanarkshire (now closed and mainly demolished) This crenellated angle stair-turret on the south-east corner of the east tower, provided access to the tower's flat roof. The east tower, also known as the 'clock' tower, was one of the hospital's landmark twin water towers, and has a large clock face, 3m in diameter, on each of its four elevations. During World War II the flat roof of the east tower served the local community as an observation platform. After their evening tour of duty on the hospital wards, male nurses would take it in turns to watch from the roof for low-flying aircraft, parachutists or any other unusual or suspicious night-time activity on the part of the enemy. 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.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/776418

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap