Blackberry Hill Hospital
| Blackberry Hill Hospital | |
|---|---|
 Location within Bristol
|
|
| General information | |
| Town or city | Bristol |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 51°29′05″N 2°32′27″W / 51.484853°N 2.540725°W |
| Construction started | 1779 |
Blackberry Hill Hospital is an NHS psychiatric hospital in Fishponds, Bristol, England, specialising in forensic mental health services, operated by the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. The hospital also offers Drug and Alcohol Rehab inpatient services, and is the base for a number of Community Mental Health teams.
Opened as a prison in 1779, many of its buildings and the co-located Glenside campus of the University of the West of England (UWE) are Grade II listed. From 1948 until 2005 the site was also a geriatric hospital, for many of those years being the major geriatric hospital in South West England. In 2009, 21 acres (8.5 ha) of the site, incorporating the oldest buildings, was sold to the UK Government's Homes and Communities Agency, and is proposed to be redeveloped as part of a wider regeneration project.
The site first came into use as a prison in 1779, during the American Revolutionary War, when it was developed to house Dutch and Spanish prisoners of war who had been landed at Bristol Docks. After George III recognised the 13 United States of America as free and independent in 1783, the prisoners were sent home.
The site formally adopted the title 'Stapleton Prison', but was under utilised in civilian use, and was again expanded from 1793 after the commencement of the Napoleonic Wars. A third prison building was completed in 1804, used most recently as nurses' accommodation. After the Treaty of Paris of 1814, the prisoners were again repatriated.
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