0:00 The fire at Colney Hatch
0:59 Before the county asylums
3:57 Building a vast asylum
9:19 Overcrowding and institutional failure
19:08 Aaron Kosminski and the Whitechapel murders
22:07 The warning before the annex fire
40:50 The geriatric care scandal
57:05 Closure, redevelopment, and a lasting name

A fire destroyed Colney Hatch’s temporary annex before dawn, killing 51 or 52 women depending on the record. I trace the warning signs behind the disaster and the institution that became a byword for madness.

I follow Colney Hatch from its founding as Europe’s largest asylum, through overcrowding, mechanical restraint, medical experiments, the Aaron Kosminski controversy, and the later scandal over geriatric care.

I also examine the hospital’s closure, its transformation into Princess Park Manor, and the way the name Colney Hatch survived in literature, film, and the English language.