Isolation ward on the grounds of Great Barr Idiot Colony , Great Barr , May 2011

Derelict Places

Help Support Derelict Places:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Great place. I've never before come across the expression idiot colony before - was that its official name?

But isn't it extraordinary that the knuckle-draggers from the shallow end of the gene pool always seem to find and damage these places before those who won't damage it do.
 
Great place. I've never before come across the expression idiot colony before - was that its official name?

‘Idiot’ and ‘imbecile’ were legal designations of patients under the 1886 Idiots Act and the Mental Deficiency Act 1913. Medical use of terms such as ‘idiot’, ‘imbecile’, ‘feeble minded’ and ‘cretin’ continued until at least the 1920s.

Great Barr Colony (later St Margaret's Hospital) opened in 1918-21 as a colony for 'mental defectives, imbeciles and epileptics.' I can't find any evidence that it was ever officially called an 'Idiot Colony' although this name seems to have been used informally by locals so the title of this thread isn't a complete misnomer.

Good find by the way Abandoned Angel, I was told it had all been flattened.
 
‘Idiot’ and ‘imbecile’ were legal designations of patients under the 1886 Idiots Act and the Mental Deficiency Act 1913. Medical use of terms such as ‘idiot’, ‘imbecile’, ‘feeble minded’ and ‘cretin’ continued until at least the 1920s.

Great Barr Colony (later St Margaret's Hospital) opened in 1918-21 as a colony for 'mental defectives, imbeciles and epileptics.' I can't find any evidence that it was ever officially called an 'Idiot Colony' although this name seems to have been used informally by locals so the title of this thread isn't a complete misnomer.

Good find by the way Abandoned Angel, I was told it had all been flattened.


No not at all , the ward and asylum are stil standing aswell as other bits of buildings and a derelict farm near by in great barr park and thanks :mrgreen:
 
Brickwork looks like it is 20th century and the place looks like it was burned down. Place is well overgrown. I've never heard of Idot colony before, Lunitic Asylum yes. Might be some kind if Local name though I know people who worked at Fairmile used to get upset if you called the place a nut house. :)
 
I'm not sure I know of any 'idiot colonies' off hand either. However, the Royal Earlswood Hospital near Redhill in Surrey (est. 1848) once gloried in the now unthinkable name of 'the Royal Earlswood Asylum for Idiots and Imbeciles' so official use of the term was not unheard of.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top