Drone footage captured at an abandoned hospital just 10 miles from Glasgow has appeared online, revealing the interior of the derelict building which was once a house of horrors.
In a video uploaded to YouTube, we see Lennoxtown's grand Lennox Castle from the sky - before the drone heads down into the walls of the structure. Filmed by Coconut Island Drones, the footage appeared online just last week.
While this is a rare glimpse into the ruins of the castle, the history of the fortress is equally fascinating - and incredibly disturbing.
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Check out the footage below, before delving into the gloomy past of Lennox Castle.
Built between 1837 and 1841 by David Hamilton for John Lennox Kincaid, on the Lennox of Woodhead Estate, the castle replaced the former Kincaid House which once stood on the same spot. By 1927, both the structure and the land had been purchased by the Glasgow Corporation and converted into a hospital for those with learning disabilities.
It was hailed as the ‘largest and best equipped’ hospital of its kind in Britain, though this praise wouldn’t last long. Within years it was reported that facilities were understaffed, underfunded and overcrowded.
Conditions at the hospital were described as ‘wretched and dehumanising’. While some have claimed staff tried their best with what they were given, others have said unnecessarily cruel punishments were dished out for small offences.
Despite the questions surrounding what was happening in the walls of Lennox Castle, it continued on. A 1989 study by the British Medical Journal found a quarter of the patients housed at the facility were dangerously underweight and malnourished.
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Investigating the history of the facility, the BBC spoke to Hughie McIntyre - a former patient. He told of being dropped at Lennox Castle as a teenager, having no idea what he had done to get there.
Hughie told them: “I didn’t know why I was there, or what I did to deserve this. No one came to see me.
“I was there for 16 years. I was tortured, beaten kitchen, punched and I had severe injuries - I get nightmares thinking about it.”
Reports of patients dying or suffering serious injuries due to lack of care were not uncommon, such as heart attacks brought on by physical restraint or abuse from members of staff. After decades of uncertainty, Lennox Castle Hospital finally closed for good in 2002.
Some patients were integrated back into society, while others were moved on to more suitable, modern psychiatric units. As for the building, it’s lain empty since.
While it’s only been left to the elements for 20 years, you’d be forgiven for thinking Lennox Castle had stood solo for far longer. Despite several submissions of hopeful plans to restore the fortress, the area remains empty.
Knowing the horrors that likely took place in its walls makes the recent upload from Coconut Island Drones even more strange - imagining what it looked like as a functioning hospital, and what the patients housed there had to endure.
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