Winterton Asylum/Sedgefiild Hospital

[kaytriley]

HI Everyone

I have a little mystery that I hope you can help me solve!  My great uncle Thomas McIntyre (1901) was involve in a motorbike accident in his teens/early twenties.  Family folklore suggests that he was in an asylum in Sedgefield.  Would it be winterton and if so how would I be able to access records to find out?  Family members seem to believe that Hardwick Hall was once the asylum/ hospital and that he might have been there.  His neice remembers visiting and had to go down a 'long windy road' to get there.  Any ideas would be welcome!   

[kaytriley]

HI everyone

I have a mystery id really like your help in solving.  My great uncle Thomas McIntyre (1902) was apparently in an horrific motorbike accident in his teens/early twenties and was placed in 'an asylum in Sedgefield'.  could this be Winterton?  if it is, how do I find out?  struggling to find a death record for him as although there is one in 1959 that would fit, there was also another Thomas Matthew McIntyre born in 1902 in the area and so this might be him rather than my g.uncle.  Any help would be much appreciated
Kate 

Topic from "How to use Rootschat" now merged

[JenB]

There is an extensive thread about Winterton here http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=33768.msg131176#msg131176
Records are held by Durham Record Office, but it appears that you would have to prove a close relationship to the person concerned in order to gain access.

[angelfish58]

  Family members seem to believe that Hardwick Hall was once the asylum/ hospital and that he might have been there. 

According to the Hardwick Hall hotel website it used to be a maternity hospital, so that's probably where that came from. When I applied to Durham Record Office for the case papers for one of my husbands ancestors I had to send a copy of the death certificate, I'm pretty sure that when I rang them to make enquiries that they checked an index while I was on the phone so that they could confirm the person I was interested in was a patient at Winterton.

[Jolly Roger]

All the Durham Records Office will tell you if he was a resident there, as they observe the 100 year rule if you want any other confirmation for what he was in for.