Heritage and Wellbeing

Our Place

The Crichton is a project of national importance as a model for both the re-purposing of a significant historic site and for the delivery of education, training, enterprise and knowledge exchange.

Over its long lifespan as a mental health institution, the Estate was at the forefront of innovation. Its approaches to patient care were particularly around the visual arts and music, drama, literature, creativity alongside time spent outdoors in the gardens and therapeutic work. The Crichton carries the legacy of two hundred operational years as a pioneering asylum, based on compassionate models of care.

Crichton heritage is, too, eloquently expressed through its greenspaces, which were designed, and continue, to promote wellbeing. 

At the heart of its heritage are the collective and individual memories, staff and patients alike.  For people who were treated, worked, or grew up on The Crichton Estate within staff families, this is a place full of memories; some difficult, some positive memories of sanctuary at a difficult time in life. The Trust seeks to share these memories, through projects which allow us to reflect on the nature of the space here, and the acts of compassion, and confinement, that took place on this historic site. 

In its early days, as now, The Crichton Estate sits at the heart of a network of connections; geographical, human and experiential. Staff and patients came to this site from across the world; as far afield as Canada, New Zealand, Africa and mainland Europe. Together, they created a place where people were supported through times of suffering; for some, a place of pain, for others of compassion and recovery. For all of these people, we hope to dispel the stigma they once suffered, and to honour their heritage with respect, dignity and understanding.