Don’t Go into the Woods Alone!
So, with it being such a lovely day(!) and the shouty daughter otherwise engaged at mother and baby club, I decided to go for a stroll around the new estate by us. I took my camera, as I had a plan.
The estate is built on the grounds of the old St. Margaret’s mental hospital in Great Barr – or the “Great Barr Idiot Colony” as it was originally called in the less enlightened early 1900s. The buildings that made up the hospital stood alongside Great Barr Hall, a Gothic mansion that has stood in some form or other since the late 1700s. The Hall was used as part of the hospital between 1918 and 1978.
The main buildings of St. Maggies, as we’ve always known it, are completely gone, but as far as I’m aware Great Barr Hall still stands, albeit in a state of disrepair, having been partially burnt to the ground just prior to the new houses being built. Here’s an aerial map of the old hospital grounds.
My aforementioned plan was to get some snaps of the Hall.
The estate sits on a substantially sized lake, part of Great Barr park, which the Hall used to overlook. The lake is completely fenced off, stopping the residents or anybody else from enjoying its beauty. Surrounding the lake, and indeed the estate, is the woods.
Into the woods I ventured, in search of the elusive Great Barr Hall. It was a search that would prove futile. Aside from access to the Hall also being fenced off – not such a bad thing, as it’s been the constant target of vandals – my approach came from the wrong side, giving me next to no view at all. However, I did manage to snap what’s left of what I think is one of the Hall’s wings, only from a distance. The jungle that flourishes around it made further progress impossible. I should perhaps return with a machete and native guide.
I managed to get down as close as possible to the lake without breaching a fence and risking imprisonment and it’s really quite a sight. And, indeed, a size. A glittering expanse of crystalline jewels, hidden by the surrounding urban sprawl. I know for a fact that many of the residents of Great Barr aren’t even aware of its existence. I’ve lived here all my life and only found out that the lake was there a few years ago.
Elsewhere in the surrounding woods I came across what must be the only surviving bit of the old asylum. I presume it was part of the hospital, anyway. Two sets of buildings across from each other, one that resembles a school, whilst the other appears to have been residential blocks. They lie in ruins, persecuted by partial demolition, wanton abuse and arson. The tall chimneys that still stand get the mind thinking as to what they were burning here.
It was here that these woods seemed at their most eerie. Almost perfect silence, despite the close proximity to the nearby main road, occasionally broken by the clang of a wind-disturbed metal hoarding, peeled away from its frame by those desperate for something to smash up.
So I didn’t get the pics I’d gone for, but I saw a load of stuff that in my 34 years in Great Barr I’d not seen before.
Update: Turns out that the building resembling a school was, in fact, Queslett School. A community special school for children with learning difficulties that closed in 1988.
See also: Don’t Go into the Woods Alone… Again
local, photographs, writing | Jeffman | 
November 3, 2009 7:15 pm
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Nick James is a freelance copywriter and blogger, providing web and print-based copywriting services to businesses across all industries. He also writes 
By PSGifford, June 15, 2010 @ 12:37 am
I have many a happy- and the occasional spooky- memory of the place…
By beckie, June 23, 2010 @ 10:52 pm
hi,we also stumbled upon the lakes,so beautiful,do you know what happened to them?are they still there?
By Katy, July 4, 2010 @ 5:10 pm
Hello Beckie
The Lakes are still there! Me and my mom went down to the estate today as i had always wondered what the estate used to be – then my mom told me about st maggies, so i researched last night. We popped in today, to discover the HUGE housing estate by Bovis. The lake is beautiful and my mom who lived in Great Barr as a young girl didnt even know about the lake herself! However this isnt suprising as nobody went into the woods because of the St Maggies scary story’s!
If you know anything about the remains keep me posted!
By KEVIN SHARMAN, July 10, 2010 @ 11:03 pm
Hi
just a comment about the tall chimneys.
If my memory serves me right they were part of the boiler house (if those are the ones you saw)
as the main kitchen used steam heated couldrons to cook the vegatables and were about eight feet across and were stirred with paddles the size of cricket bats.
yours KS
PS sorry forgot to say yes I worked there in the sevsnties
By L, October 17, 2010 @ 10:46 pm
I have worked with people who once lived there, you hear awful things and I often wonder what really did go on there.
By chris, November 8, 2010 @ 2:37 pm
Hi i’ve also supported special people that lived at st margarets! Theyre all still scared of that place! Which in a bizarre way gives me an interest and wish to find out as much as possible about all aspects of ‘st margarets lunatic asylum’
By JF, January 6, 2011 @ 1:26 pm
hey all, i used to go saint maggies quite often, my mate lives just infront of it and we entered through a broken gate… we loved going down like during twighltight timme, its an awesome place, plus saw and heard some really spooky things. we might just go down there again for good old sake
honestly, the place is diffrent at night …
By Paul, February 4, 2011 @ 2:57 am
St Margarets Hospital was a child of its time and rightly or wrongly housed hundreds of people who otherwise were not wanted by their local communities. I worked there during the mid 70′s to early 80′s and the hospital provided some very good things and were not all bad as often they are portrayed as doing
By sarah, March 22, 2011 @ 8:00 am
can anyone tell me if it is worth fishing on the lake and if you are allowed to fish it who organises or owns pool
By jenni, June 9, 2011 @ 10:58 pm
hi .. i am a tipper driver that visited the site today and i was curious as to what it used to be so i just had to look it up .. i was shocked to find out that it was an hospital for the mentally insane, i found the site quite eerie myself but i would love to know more about it .. so if anyone has any further information please get in touch !!
By Joanne Roberts, June 25, 2011 @ 7:53 pm
My Grandad worked there as a Charge nurse – he died when I was 9 – so I didn,t ever talk to him about it. I am now a nurse myself. He lived in a hospital house in The Crescent in Great Barr. His name was Harry Roberts- anyone remember him?
By James, February 3, 2012 @ 7:19 pm
I have recently been thinking about the ‘maggies’ as we used to call it. A few of my friends and I used to bunk off school and head to the maggies for adventure,mystery and fun and games(regardless of any thought to health and safety).
so many fond memories but also some disturbing ones also. one day we found what can only be assumed as an accident book in which was written some rather horrendous accounts of self harm-especially for 13/14 year olds to be reading- these were just floating around in one of the buildings.
By Tony Conolly, May 10, 2012 @ 1:08 pm
Hallo Joanne Roberts. I knew your grandfather, Harry, when I was a student nurse there in 1951 – 52. Harry was a charge nurse. Stern but very kind and understanding. He was captain of the hospital cricket team in which I also played. He once told me off during a game for not being more aggressive at the crease. In reply I raised my bat to suggest perhaps he could do better! The opposing team laughed, I was out next ball!
I assisted the Home Office pathologist when a post-mortem was deemed necessary, the room was in what had previously been the coach house in the stable yard, a very spooky place at night when the branches of nearby trees scrathed across the windows! If you want more comments about Harry I will be pleased to help.