Description:Glenthorne was a purpose-built residential treatment centre for young people which opened in 1978. It could accommodate, at the time of its opening, 62 children aged between 12 and 19. The children coming into Glenthorne had each been sent there from the courts.
Glenthorne was one of only two such units in the country and, as such, children were sent to it from all over country. The other unit was the St Charles Centre in Brentwood, Essex.
The Centre was not run by Birmingham City Council but by the Department of Health as a national resource. The first director of Glenthorne was James Wilkie.
Glenthorne was a high security unit where all that the children needed in practical terms, including a swimming pool, was within the 18 feet high perimeter fence.
Glenthorne, however, was blighted by incidents and bad press. In 1981, for example a 16 year old convicted murderer escaped from Glenthorne. In 1990, a local woman was stabbed by a young person on day-release from the centre. In 1994, the centre had a poor Social Services Inspectorate report.
By 1998, the number of beds in the centre had been reduced to 30.
Glenthorne closed in July 2002.
On the site of Glenthorne (and utilising some of the original buildings) the Ardenleigh Centre opened in 2003 as one of three Adolescent Forensic Units in Britain.
----------
Image: A newspaper article about the opening of Glenthorne, Birmingham Evening Mail 14th January 1978.
----------
Source: This history was compiled by the Birmingham Children's Homes Project, an initiative to explore Birmingham City Council-run children’s homes between 1949 and 1990.