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All the United Kingdom England Whittingham Whittingham Hospital
Whittingham Hospital is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

Whittingham Hospital

This hospital once pioneered the use of electroencephalograms, but fell into maltreatment, abuse, and eventual abandonment.

Whittingham, England

Added By
Cynthia Pelayo
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Whittingham Hospital   worldabandoned.com
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About

Opened in 1873, this mental hospital was known for pioneering the use of electroencephalograms, or EEGs, a diagnostic device that measures electrical impulses along the scalp. The hospital treated soldiers injured during World War I and II.

Yet the hospital's infamy comes from its history of patient abuses, which included patients being left unattended for long periods of time, being fed scraps, and being strangled to the point of unconsciousness. In July 1967, student nurses working at the hospital submitted a number of complaints reporting cruelty, poor treatment, and fraud in the hospital. Though they were threatened with charges of libel and slander for their reports, hospital management eventually opened an inquiry into the poor patient conditions.

In the following decades, new drugs and therapies emerged to better treat mental illnesses. Patients at Whittingham were returned to their communities or moved to new treatment facilities, and the hospital shut down in 1995.

The site continues to host a medium secure psychiatric unit but most of the original buildings have now been demolished to make way for a housing development. The listed St Johns church and its graveyard remain, the headstones one of the few reminders of the history of the surrounding land. 

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Abandoned Insane Asylums Abandoned Insane Asylums Ruins

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Added By

cinapelayo

Edited By

robjparker, Molly McBride Jacobson, chowker, Meg

  • robjparker
  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • chowker
  • Meg

Published

May 23, 2013

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Whittingham Hospital
Whittingham, England, PR3 2JE
United Kingdom
53.819915, -2.666385

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