Powick Hospital

Powick Hospital was a psychiatric facility located on 552 acres (2.23 km2) outside the village of Powick, Worcestershire. Founded in 1847 as the Worcester County Pauper and Lunatic Asylum, it was designed by architects John R. Hamilton & James Medland of Gloucester and opened in August 1852. Situated between Worcester and Malvern on former farmland known as White Chimneys, the asylum was originally erected for the accommodation of 200 inmates but was later extended and by 1858 had 365 patients. By the 1950s it had around 1,000 patients and major research and experimentation in the treatment of chronic depression and schizophrenia was being carried out. The asylum closed in 1989 leaving Barnsley Hall Hospital in Bromsgrove as the remaining psychiatric hospital in the county. Most of the complex has been demolished to make way for a housing estate. The main building, however, was converted into flats and the Superintendent's Residence was converted to company offices.

Overseeing management of the asylum was carried out by a committee of visitors, while treatment of patients was the responsibility of a resident physician and qualified assistants. Patients were employed to carry out much of the everyday work and maintenance in a variety of workshops for various trades, a gas works, a farm, brewhouse, bakehouse and a chapel.