Brockhall Village

Brockhall Village is a gated community in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England and home to the training facilities for Blackburn Rovers F.C. The village is in the civil parish of Billington and Langho and is 7 miles (11 km) north of Blackburn. It is built on the site of a former hospital.

This article is about the village in Lancashire. For the village in Northamptonshire, see Brockhall, Northamptonshire.

Brockhall Village

The Drive, Brockhall Village
Brockhall Village
Shown within Ribble Valley
Brockhall Village
Location within Lancashire
OS grid referenceSD701364
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBLACKBURN
Postcode districtBB6
Dialling code01254
PoliceLancashire
FireLancashire
AmbulanceNorth West
UK Parliament

Brockhall Hospital

Brockhall Hospital was claimed to be one of Europe's largest mental institutions.[1] It was built in 1904 as an Inebriate Women's Reformatory, later becoming a hospital for people with learning disabilities.

The hospital was closed by the NHS in 1992 as part of the government's Care in the Community policy.

Brockhall Village

Property tycoon Gerald Hitman (who died on 4 June 2009) was the man behind the Brockhall Village development.

Originally from London, the successful businessman made his fortune in the North East, buying and selling property leases and freeholds. In 1982 he bought a package of deeds to properties in Lancashire, among them a 999-year lease for Brockhall Hospital, at Old Langho. A decade later when the hospital closed he was able to develop the land to form the multimillion-pound Brockhall village, a gated community, which now contains more than 400 homes, as well as the Blackburn Rovers' training ground and a hotel, restaurant, and a few other local businesses including a gym, hairdressers, coffee shop, and more.[1]

Hitman also built his unique home in the village, The Old Zoo, which he had recently sold. It had been on the market for £2million. The property was described by one expert as the "best contemporary house built in Britain since the 1930s" and featured 17 acres (69,000 m2) of grounds including more than 100 sculptures. It also included a hot tub, swimming pool, a large pond, an outdoor "chapel", a tennis court; a beech maze and a croquet lawn. In 2004 he opened the gates to his gardens for tours, priced at £5.

References
  1. Wilkinson, Paul (25 April 2007). "A crazy design but it works". telegraph.co.uk. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 9 June 2008.
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