05/06/2026
Hartwood Hospital, located in Shotts, North Lanarkshire, is famed for its iconic twin Scottish Baronial-style clock towers. Often referred to as "belfries" or clock towers, these imposing turrets featured large 3-meter clocks and were once used as wartime observation platforms. Today, the derelict site is officially closed and fenced off due to severe fire damage and safety. Designed by architect John L. Murray and opened in 1895 as the Lanark District Asylum, the hospital featured two prominent, cathedral-like towers. During World War II, the flat roof of the east clock tower was utilized by local male nurses as an observation platform to watch for enemy aircraft and parachutists. The massive psychiatric facility closed in 1998. The site briefly served as a film studio and community TV station, but was devastated by major fires in 2004 and 2016, leaving the towers and main buildings in ruins.
Bell in East Tower, Hartwood Hospital, Shotts, North Lanarkshire (now closed and mainly demolished) This great bell, weighing almost one ton, hung in the belfry in the east tower. The action of its heavy hammer was controlled by a section of the clock mechanism on the floor above, allowing the bell to strike each hour. One of the bell's main functions was to summon patients to the dining hall at meal times. The dining hall was run on very civilised lines, with male and female patients placed together at 'family tables', often presided over by an elderly female patient who acted as 'mother'. Each table was set for four, and had white, starched table linen and fashionable china. Much attention was paid to detail, and much effort made to ensure each patient perfected his or her table manners. Hartwood Hospital, a large Baronial-style building with imposing twin towers, was designed by the architect, John L Murray of Biggar (d.1909), and occupied one of the largest hospital sites in Scotland. It was built as the District Asylum for Lanark and opened in 1895 with accommodation for 500 lunatic patients. Between 1898 and 1916 additions included two large ward blocks, each linked to the rear of the main building by a covered corridor, a sanatorium for the isolation of patients suffering from tuberculosis, and a new admission hospital. In 1931 a new nurses' home, designed by the architect, James Lochhead (1870-1942), opened to the south of the complex, and in c.1935, a new site was developed at nearby Hartwood Hill in response to the growing need for accommodation for mentally handicapped adults. The hospital is now closed and mainly demolished.
We are rather excited to have found a piece of the old Bell - Well, what is left of it anyway. I cannot find any further information on what happened to it nor did we find anymore pieces of it either. Does anyone else know what happened to the old asylum bell?
