Saxondale Hospital

Nurses at Saxondale Hospital

The hospital was commissioned to replace the Sneinton Asylum in Nottingham. The foundation stone was laid by Lady Belper, the wife of the chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council, on 25 July 1899.[1] The new building – designed by architect Edgar Purnell Hooley, better known as the inventor of Tarmac – was two stories high, cost £147,000 and had accommodation for 452 patients (226 of each sex). The 130 acres (0.53 km²) surrounding the hospital cost £6,800. It was officially opened as the Radcliffe Asylum by Lady Elinor Denison on 24 July 1902.[2] In 1913 extensions were made for 148 patients, which cost £29,833. It was used as a military hospital in the later stages of the First World War from August 1918 to October 1919, to care for shell shocked soldiers.[3] Charlie Chaplin was briefly admitted to the hospital suffering from depression in 1920.[4]

It was the site of a strike and occupation in April 1922 when the staff, members of the National Asylum Workers' Union, went on strike in an attempt to resist a reduction in wages.[5][6] In 1932, two further blocks were erected, each to accommodate 50 female patients. It became known as Saxondale Hospital in 1947 and joined the National Health Service in 1948.[1]

In 1955, two further villas were built, one to accommodate 36 females and the other 36 males. A woman alleged that Jimmy Savile lifted her skirt when she was at a disco at the hospital and then aged 14. She was a local resident rather than a patient. Savile had a fundraising association with Saxondale Hospital from 1972 to the early 1980s.[7] The official report on the incident stated, "There was no reason to doubt that she gave an honest and truthful account of the incident as she recalled it."[8]

The hospital closed in 1987 and was partly demolished prior to redevelopment of the site which is now a settlement known as Upper Saxondale.[9][10]