Opened:
1940
Closed:
1947
Rauceby Hospital had been a lunatic asylum since 1902. As the scale of
the wartime RAF in Lincolnshire became evident, the RAF Hospital Nocton
Hall which had been built to accompany the RAF Hospital at Cranwell
was not deemed to be large enough for the task, and Rauceby Hospital was
acquired, opening in 1940. The exsting inmates were dispersed.
Known formally as
No 4 RAF Hospital Rauceby, the hospital acted in many ways as a satellite
to the Cranwell unit,with 1000 beds, focussing through its Crash and Burns
unit on supporting aircrew injured on operations. Most famously the pioneering
plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe was part of this team, many of his early
patients forming a drinking club known as the 'Guinea Pig Club'.
After the war, Rauceby
Asylum was handed back to the newly formed National Health Service in
1947.
The hospital site is now known as Greylees and has been developed for
housing. |