West Cumberland Hospital
Encyclopedia
West Cumberland Hospital is a hospital in Hensingham
Hensingham
Hensingham is a suburb of the Cumbrian town of Whitehaven.The village is located to the south-east of Whitehaven on the A595 road, close to the Mirehouse housing estate and Moresby Parks. It has a Spar convenience store and several pubs – including The Distressed Sailors, The Lowther Arms,...

, a suburb of Whitehaven
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, England, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line and the A595 road...

 in Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

.

Under the management of the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, together with the Cumberland Infirmary
Cumberland Infirmary
Cumberland Infirmary is a hospital in Carlisle, Cumbria England.Under the management of the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, together with the West Cumberland Hospital in Hensingham, Whitehaven, they serve 34,000 residents in north Cumbria....

 in Carlisle, they serve 34,000 residents in north Cumbria.

History

In 1924, the Earl of Lonsdale
Earl of Lonsdale
Earl of Lonsdale is a title that has been created twice in British history, firstly in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1784 , and then in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1807, both times for members of the Lowther family....

 sold Whitehaven Castle to Mr H. Walker, who then donated the building to the people of Cumbria, along with monies to convert it into a hospital to replace the Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

 Whitehaven Hospital.

By 1951, the hospital needed replacing, and representation were made to the UK Government. In 1957, approval was given to break ground on a new hospital, the first built in England following the creation of the National Health Service
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...

. It was officially opened on October 21, 1964 by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Whitehaven Castle became a geriatric unit until 1986, when due to fire regulations, it had to close. It has now been converted to housing.

Incidents

On 2 June 2010, a major incident was delared at the hospital in the aftermath of the 2010 Cumbria shootings.
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