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Tealeaf · 01-03-2010, 19:58

Remember that up until 1974, Lancashire (administrative) County encompassed an awful lot of what is now Greater Manchester, Merseyside and the Southern Lakes; remember also there was no NHS at the time these facilities were established. Health management relied upon local hospital boards across the region which nevertheless followed national guidelines on the treatment of 'mental defectives'. the policy was to place these unfortunate individuals in what was then regarded as state of the art facilities in semi-rural environments outside the muck and grime of the major urban conurbations.

Having said that, I worked in Calderstones back in the summer of '78; It was just after the place hit headline news because some of it's female residents had been put on the pill, whether they liked it or not. I do recall that there were a number of older female residents - well into their 70's & '80's - who were only there because in the 1920's they had dared to have a child outside of wedlock. After all those years, they had become so institutionalised; it would have become a crime to let them out into the wider community.

01-03-2010, 19:58	#10
Tealeaf God Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Paradise Lost Posts: 7,220 Liked: 11 times Rep Power: 4266	re: Calderstones, Brockhall , Langho Colony Remember that up until 1974, Lancashire (administrative) County encompassed an awful lot of what is now Greater Manchester, Merseyside and the Southern Lakes; remember also there was no NHS at the time these facilities were established. Health management relied upon local hospital boards across the region which nevertheless followed national guidelines on the treatment of 'mental defectives'. the policy was to place these unfortunate individuals in what was then regarded as state of the art facilities in semi-rural environments outside the muck and grime of the major urban conurbations. Having said that, I worked in Calderstones back in the summer of '78; It was just after the place hit headline news because some of it's female residents had been put on the pill, whether they liked it or not. I do recall that there were a number of older female residents - well into their 70's & '80's - who were only there because in the 1920's they had dared to have a child outside of wedlock. After all those years, they had become so institutionalised; it would have become a crime to let them out into the wider community.