Our Lady's Hospital, Cork

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Our Lady's Hospital
Disused Hospital, Cork City - geograph.org.uk - 755136.jpg
Our Lady's Hospital
Our Lady's Hospital, Cork is located in Ireland
Our Lady's Hospital, Cork
Shown in Ireland
Geography
LocationCork, County Cork, Ireland
Coordinates51°53′48″N 8°30′49″W / 51.89656°N 8.51371°W / 51.89656; -8.51371Coordinates: 51°53′48″N 8°30′49″W / 51.89656°N 8.51371°W / 51.89656; -8.51371
Organisation
Care systemHSE
TypeSpecialist
Services
SpecialityPsychiatric Hospital
History
Opened1852
Closed1992

Our Lady's Hospital (Irish: Ospidéal Mhuire) was a psychiatric hospital in Cork, County Cork, Ireland.

History[]

Eglinton Lunatic Asylum shortly after it opened

The hospital has its origins in a facility built in Old Blackrock Road close to present site of the South Infirmary in 1791.[1] The facility joined the state system as a "district asylum", as defined in the Lunacy (Ireland) Act 1821, in 1845.[1][2]

In the late 1840s, a site in Shanakiel was identified for the construction of new hospital of sufficient size to meet the increasing requirements of the City.[2] The new hospital, which was designed by William Atkins in the Gothic revival style and built by Alex Dean, was named after the Earl of Eglington, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.[3] It accordingly opened as the Eglinton Lunatic Asylum in 1852.[3] A chapel was added in November 1885, to the designs of William Henry Hill.[2] An annex, which subsequently became known as St. Kevin's Hospital, was built to the east of the main structure in the late 1890s.[4]

The main facility became the Cork District Mental Hospital in 1926 and Our Lady's Psychiatric Hospital in 1952.[2] After the introduction of deinstitutionalisation in the late 1980s the hospital went into a period of decline.[5][6] It closed in 1992 and was subsequently converted for residential use as Atkins Hall.[2]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Kindred Lines: Lunatic asylum records". History Ireland. 1 January 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Walking tour of Our Lady's Hospital complex". Cork Independent. 11 October 2017. Archived from the original on 31 October 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Atkin's Hall, Lee Road, Cork, Cork City". National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  4. ^ "History of St Kevin's: A mental health institution that incarcerated innocent people in filthy conditions". Journal.ie. 8 July 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  5. ^ "After the Asylum". Irish Times. 13 July 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  6. ^ Cotter, Noelle (2009). "Transfer of Care? A Critical Analysis of Post-Release Psychiatric Care for Prisoners in the Cork Region" (PDF). University College Cork. p. 5. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
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