Whitecroft Hospital | |
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Whitecroft Hospital | |
Geography | |
Location | Gatcombe, Isle of Wight, England |
Coordinates | 50°40′20″N 1°18′08″W / 50.6723°N 1.3023°W |
Organisation | |
Care system | National Health Service |
Type | Psychiatric |
History | |
Opened | 3 July 1896 |
Closed | 1992 |
Whitecroft Hospital was a mental health facility near to Gatcombe on the Isle of Wight, England. The clock tower is a Grade II listed building. [1]
The hospital, which was designed by Benjamin Jacobs using a compact arrow layout, opened as the Isle of Wight County Asylum in July 1896. [2] It became the Isle of Wight Mental Hospital in the 1920s and joined the National Health Service as Whitecroft Hospital in 1948. [3] After the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s, the hospital went into a period of decline and closed in 1992. [2] The site was subsequently redeveloped for residential use as "Gatcombe Manor". [4] [5]
Whitecroft Hospital, like many other locations on the Isle of Wight, [6] is said to be haunted by a number ghosts. This includes former doctors and nurses who are said to wander around the property as if the hospital is still open for business. [7] The former hospital is considered one of the most haunted hospitals in the country. [8]