Digby Hospital

Digby Hospital was a mental health facility in Digby, Devon, England.

Digby Hospital
Digby Hospital
Shown in Devon
Geography
Location	Digby, Devon, England
Coordinates	50.7111°N 3.4794°W / 50.7111; -3.4794
Organisation
Care system	NHS
Type	Specialist
Services
Emergency department	N/A
Speciality	Psychiatric Hospital
History
Opened	1886
Closed	1986
Links
Lists	Hospitals in England

History

The site was previously occupied by Digby Farm.[1] The hospital, which was designed by Robert Stark Wilkinson using a Linear Corridor Plan layout, opened as City of Exeter Lunatic Asylum in September 1886.[2] Digby and Sowton railway station, a station on the Avocet Line, was opened to service the hospital in 1908.[3]

The asylum became Exeter City Mental Hospital in the 1920s and joined the National Health Service as Digby Hospital in 1948 before becoming known as Exe Vale Hospital (Digby Branch) in the 1970s.[4] After the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s, the hospital went into a period of decline and closed in 1986.[2] The main building was subsequently converted into apartments and is now known as Digby Park.[2]

See also

• Exminster Hospital (a separate branch of Exe Vale Hospital)

References

1. "Digby Asylum". Exeter Memories. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
2. "Digby Hospital". County Asylums. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
3. Oakley, Mike (2007). Devon Railway Stations. Wimbourne: The Dovecote Press. ISBN 978-1-904349-55-6.
4. "Digby Hospital, Exeter". National Archives. Retrieved 12 April 2019.