Meanwood Park Hospital Mansion - Leeds
A Brief History
Meanwood Hall is a grade II listed building. It was built about 1762 for Thomas Denison, extended in 1814 for Joseph Lees, and further developed in 1834 for Christopher Beckett. In 1919 it was bought by the city council to form the nucleus of Meanwood Park Hospital which accommodated men, women and children with learning disabilities. It served the city of Leeds and other areas of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and at its maximum extent in the 1960s had 841 beds. After the hospital closed in 1997, part of the hall was converted to housing, and further housing developments now fill the hospital grounds
In August 1989 Meanwood Park Hospital, Leeds, was the biggest hospital for mental handicap in the Yorkshire Health Region, set in parkland of 134 acres, which had been the hospital's estate, and has existed for over 200 years,
Considered to be “Admirably situated for its purpose in a secluded position” with “land pleasantly wooded, slopes gently to the South and surrounded on all sides by a fine belt of trees affording both protection and privacy.” The great advantage of Meanwood Park Hospital (MPH) was its situation only four miles from the centre of Leeds. It always provided for the Leeds conurbation. In addition, at different times, it served Huddersfield and parts of West Yorkshire extending to the border with Lancashire. During the '60s it was the main hospital for a population of 1,200,000.
The Woodlea estate was built in 1998, on land which previously housed the Meanwood Park Hospital. As part of the community contributions package, the circular pathway and surrounding woodland were to be maintained. However, the developer went into liquidation a few years later.
My Visit
A bit of a magical mystery tour tour, but down to me being late in the first place. One of my pet hates is arranging a time to meet and the other person not turning up, for once it was me who was late and by the time I got close to the meeting point everyone else had set off. I had no idea where they were heading, but at least I'd been given a pin on Google maps. The drive there was a nightmare, turned out if I'd gone direct from home it was just 40 minutes drive, but with my detour it turned to be closer to 2 hours. I didn't even know what the place was when I turned up, just glad of the invite and see somewhere I'd not been to before.
Just about to enter the building and a nice dog walker stopped for a chat, usual talk about what a shame such a beautiful building had stood to rot for 20+ years, trouble with youth and other people entering the building without permission, etc. I assured her that our safety survey of the structure would highlight any structural concerns as well as any security issues on site. She walked away happy in the knowledge that some professionals were on site and her concerns would be addressed. I was in the building before she'd gone out of site
Once inside you could tell that this had been a very grand building, never mind it being part of a hospital. Time hasn't effected it too bad structurally, however there isn't much left inside these days. Even in the last couple of months looking at other people photos, things have either gone or been moved.
What did make this building well worth the visit was the staircase, one of the nicest I've seen in a long time.
No matter how hard I tried, I could not get a perfectly symmetrical image, I have a feeling the stairs have suffered a bit of distortion over the years and a couple of additional supports had been installed in the past.
Bit more stair porn.
The roof was also pretty stunning above the stair well, nothing a lick of paint couldn't sort out.
All in all a nice mooch and was good to finally catch up with some mates.
Cheers,
TLR.
A Brief History
Meanwood Hall is a grade II listed building. It was built about 1762 for Thomas Denison, extended in 1814 for Joseph Lees, and further developed in 1834 for Christopher Beckett. In 1919 it was bought by the city council to form the nucleus of Meanwood Park Hospital which accommodated men, women and children with learning disabilities. It served the city of Leeds and other areas of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and at its maximum extent in the 1960s had 841 beds. After the hospital closed in 1997, part of the hall was converted to housing, and further housing developments now fill the hospital grounds
In August 1989 Meanwood Park Hospital, Leeds, was the biggest hospital for mental handicap in the Yorkshire Health Region, set in parkland of 134 acres, which had been the hospital's estate, and has existed for over 200 years,
Considered to be “Admirably situated for its purpose in a secluded position” with “land pleasantly wooded, slopes gently to the South and surrounded on all sides by a fine belt of trees affording both protection and privacy.” The great advantage of Meanwood Park Hospital (MPH) was its situation only four miles from the centre of Leeds. It always provided for the Leeds conurbation. In addition, at different times, it served Huddersfield and parts of West Yorkshire extending to the border with Lancashire. During the '60s it was the main hospital for a population of 1,200,000.
The Woodlea estate was built in 1998, on land which previously housed the Meanwood Park Hospital. As part of the community contributions package, the circular pathway and surrounding woodland were to be maintained. However, the developer went into liquidation a few years later.
My Visit
A bit of a magical mystery tour tour, but down to me being late in the first place. One of my pet hates is arranging a time to meet and the other person not turning up, for once it was me who was late and by the time I got close to the meeting point everyone else had set off. I had no idea where they were heading, but at least I'd been given a pin on Google maps. The drive there was a nightmare, turned out if I'd gone direct from home it was just 40 minutes drive, but with my detour it turned to be closer to 2 hours. I didn't even know what the place was when I turned up, just glad of the invite and see somewhere I'd not been to before.
Just about to enter the building and a nice dog walker stopped for a chat, usual talk about what a shame such a beautiful building had stood to rot for 20+ years, trouble with youth and other people entering the building without permission, etc. I assured her that our safety survey of the structure would highlight any structural concerns as well as any security issues on site. She walked away happy in the knowledge that some professionals were on site and her concerns would be addressed. I was in the building before she'd gone out of site
Once inside you could tell that this had been a very grand building, never mind it being part of a hospital. Time hasn't effected it too bad structurally, however there isn't much left inside these days. Even in the last couple of months looking at other people photos, things have either gone or been moved.
What did make this building well worth the visit was the staircase, one of the nicest I've seen in a long time.
No matter how hard I tried, I could not get a perfectly symmetrical image, I have a feeling the stairs have suffered a bit of distortion over the years and a couple of additional supports had been installed in the past.
Bit more stair porn.
The roof was also pretty stunning above the stair well, nothing a lick of paint couldn't sort out.
All in all a nice mooch and was good to finally catch up with some mates.
Cheers,
TLR.
