Hartwood

Hartwood is a village in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The village is situated two miles to the west of Shotts, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The area is rural, with fewer than 50 houses.

The remains of Hartwood Hospital, an 19th century psychiatric hospital with imposing twin clock towers, are the main feature of the village, even after its closure under the direction of the Lanarkshire Health Board in 1998. Like many other Victorian institutions in the area such as Gartloch Hospital, Stonyetts, Lennox Castle and Kirklands, the inception of the "Community Care Act" (1990) gave rise to a more community-based focus for long-term mental health care, and the consequent closure of long-term psychiatric hospitals.An annex of the main hospital, Hartwoodhill Hospital, still exists one mile to the north east of the village, along the unclassified road which forms the main throughfare.

The original hospital was overseen by Dr Archibald Campbell Clark, the medical superintendent, and was involved with the inception of modern psychiatric therapies such as occupational therapy, ECT and industrial involvement. In the hospital style of the time, Hartwood was entirely self-sustaining, with its own farm, gardens, reservoir, graveyard, staff houses, etc.

Hartwood also contributed to the growth of nurse education, and had its own College of Nursing, which was annexed to Bell College (which is attached to the University of Strathclyde). It was the last part of the original Hartwood site to close in 2000 when educational services were transferred to Bell College's purpose-built facility (the Caird Building) on its Hamilton site.

Transport is provided at Hartwood railway station, operated by Network Rail, with an hourly service Monday - Saturday every hour between Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley on the Shotts Line.

Nearby Villages/Towns

*Shotts
*Allanton
*Bonkle

External links

A full history of Hartwood Hospital can be found at these websites:
* http://web.ukonline.co.uk/scotlandgenealogy/hartwood_hospital_was_in_its_hey.htm
* http://www.shottshistorygroup.co.uk/founding_of_hartwood_hospital.htm
* http://www.bobbysimpson.org.uk/HARTWOOD_HOSPITAL_PICTURES.htm

And some photographs taken after the hospital's closure can be found here:
* http://www.turbozutek.f2s.com/index.php?cat=9
* http://www.bobbysimpson.org.uk/HARTWOOD_HOSPITAL_PICTURES.htm