Welcome to this website marking a piece of the history of Winwick Hospital, in its heyday one of the the largest psychiatric institutions in Europe, and a military hospital in both World Wars. This project was prompted by the fact that although there are several mentions of the hospital on the internet, there was no single historical website noting its passing, and reflecting some of the many memories of the thousands of people - patients and staff - whose lives it contained.

I was one of the many nurses at the hospital, trained there, spent a large part of my working life on the wards, and latterly took part in the extension of the work of the hospital into the wider community. Friends who worked at Winwick prompted me to begin this project as a record of the hospital.

The material here is only a fragment of the history of Winwick Hospital, and reflects the latter days when psychiatry was more enlightened than when the hospital began. It is sad to say that reflections on the earlier days of the hospital are largely unrecorded, although anecdotal evidence may serve to bridge a little of that gap.