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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sarah Leonard

Harrowing legacy of abandoned mental health hospital housed in chilling Scottish castle

An abandoned mental health hospital in Scotland has a chilling legacy.

Malnourished and dangerously underweight, patients were beaten and tortured under the supposed care of Lennox Castle hospital.

The facility branded itself as a home for 'mentally deficient' people, and whilst care support for learning difficulties has come along over the past few years, the same can't be said for what was once Scotland's largest mental health institution.

Once considered as being ahead of its time (that is, back when it opened in 1936), the facility is now a prime example of how not to treat people in need of care.

It could also be plucked straight out of a horror movie in its overrun, abandoned state.

The hospital's medical director, Alasdair Sim, said in 1986 he had "never worked in a worse pit".

Lennox Castle was Scotland's largest institution for people with learning disabilities (c-change.org.uk / YouTube)

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The site housed about 1,200 people in total, and had 20 separate blocks for both men and women.

The castle, first built in the 1830s, was converted into a nurses' home.

In a chilling video interview, former patient Hughie McIntyre recounted how he "lost the will to survive" after spending 16 years inside without knowing why he was put there.

Hughie McIntyre spent 16 years in Lennox Castle and he never knew why (c-change.org.uk / YouTube)

He said: "I remembered my life in there. I was tortured: beaten, kicked, heavily punched and I had severe injuries. I get nightmares thinking about it.

"They let you out, but you had to be back in the ward for eight o'clock at night.

"Then you've got to remain in your bed until the staff come on duty. And the staff don't tap you to wake you up, they grab the bottom of the bed and start bouncing the bed up and down to get you up.

"When you're up, you stand at the bottom edge of the bed until you get a headcount. And if you're not in the ward, they'll go out looking for you."

The castle, now abandoned, used to house nurses who worked for the facility (mediadrumimages/GrantVincent)

Hughie said he was caught and dragged back to the ward after he made a failed attempt at escaping.

He added: "They kept hitting me and hitting me. I couldn't bear it."

Finally, in the late 90s, Hughie had his chance at leaving.

The hospital was in the process of bring de-commissioned as the care it provided was "outdated and did not support a good quality of life", according to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Hughie revisited the castle for the first time in 25 years (c-change.org.uk / YouTube)

Dr Smith, who was involved in helping residents transition from being an inpatient to members of society, says we "need to do better" after the lessons learned at Lennox Castle about supporting people with learning difficulties.

She said: "All the potential lessons that could have been learned from the process of decommissioning the institutions haven't really been taken on board as well as they could.

"We could do so much better than we are."

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