Plymouth, Moorhaven Hospital, Bittaford (Blackadon Lunatic Asylum) (Plymouth Mental Hospital)

PLYMOUTH
DATA

The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History

MOORHAVEN HOSPITAL, BITTAFORD

Although this hospital was situated in the parish of Ugborough, near the market town of Ivybridge, it was in fact owned and run by Plymouth Corporation.

Mentally ill patients who were not able to be taken in to the Workhouse were sent to institutions as far apart as Salisbury, Exminster or Bodmin. But the Lunacy Act of 1890 forced the Borough to its own premises.

Blackadon Hospital before it became known as Moorhaven

Known at the beginning as Blackadon Asylum, it was opened by the Mayor of Plymouth on October 16th 1891. It was designed by Messrs Hine and Odgers and built by Messrs Pethick Brothers of Plymouth, at a cost of some £40,000. It could accommodate 200 patients in six wards when it was opened.

Staff of the Blackadon Hospital sometime between 1897 and 1906.

Staff of Blackadon Hospital, taken sometime between
1897 and 1906, one of whom is Mr William Fry.
Reproduced courtesy of Mrs S Tucker of Brixton, Plymouth.

Two new wings were added, enabling a further 200 patients to be accommodated. The first was in 1902/03, when Messrs Dart and Pollard, of Paignton, Devon, were given a contract worth £35,966 16s 9d. At the same time, Plymouth Corporation promoted a bill to give them compulsory purchase powers to acquire two fields lying between the Asylum and the main Bittaford to Wrangaton road. The Hospital's reservoir was also reconstructed and enlarged at the same time. But still the number of patients increased, with admissions being turned away in 1924 due to lack of accommodation. Some patients were sent even further away than usual, to a hospital at Basingstoke.

Three of the nurses of the Blackadon Hospital, pictured before 1901.

Three nurses of the Blackadon Hospital,
one of whom is Mrs Sarah Fry, pictured
sometime before 1901.
Reproduced courtesy of Mrs S Tucker,
of Brixton, Plymouth.

During the 1930s, and in keeping with a change of attitudes towards mentally ill people, the name was changed to Plymouth Mental Hospital. A separate unit, named Moorfields Hospital, was opened to the east of the main building, on October 25th 1934. It was not until around 1947 that the name Moorhaven was used, it having been chosen by a poll of the staff.

Other post-war enlargements were the erection of the Gables Hospital at Plympton in 1953 and the Marshall Clinic in 1955.

The closure process started in May 1992, with the last patients being moved out on February 23rd 1993. The 65 acre site has now been redeveloped as Moorhaven Village.