| Exminster Hospital | |
| Location: | Exminster |
| Region: | Devon |
| Country: | England |
| Coordinates: | 50.6826°N -3.5035°W |
| Healthcare: | NHS |
| Type: | Specialist |
| Speciality: | Psychiatric Hospital |
| Emergency: | N/A |
| Founded: | 1845 |
| Closed: | 1985 |
| Pushpin Map: | Devon |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Shown in Devon |
Exminster Hospital is a former mental health facility at Exminster, Devon, England. It is a Grade II* listed building.
The hospital, which was designed by Charles Fowler using a radial plan of the panopticon type, opened as the Devon County Lunatic Asylum in July 1845.[1] [2] Ceramic picture tiles were used to decorate the hospital; they depicted medieval musicians and one was a commemorative tile for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee dated 1887.[3] It was used as military hospital during the First World War and then became known as Devon Mental Hospital in the 1920s.[4]
It was badly bombed during the Second World War[1] and joined the National Health Service as Exminster Hospital in 1948 before becoming known as Exe Vale Hospital (Exminster 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 July 1985.[1] The main building was converted into apartments between 2001 and 2008 and is now known as Devington Park.[1]
