Maindiff Court Hospital

Maindiff Court Hospital is a Community Hospital near Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, operated by the Aneurin Bevan Local Health Board. Its most noted patient was Rudolf Hess, deputy to Adolf Hitler.HistoryThe hospital is built on the site of Maindiff Court, a mansion house built by Crawshay Bailey Jnr in 1875. After Bailey's death the estate was sold and in 1924 the estate was presented to Monmouthshire Asylum Committee becoming Maindiff Court Hospital.Maindiff Court was demolished and the neo-Georgian style brick hospital buildings were constructed in its place in the 1930s.During World War IIIn World War II, the facility was known as Maindiff Court Military Hospital and POW Reception Centre. Half of the site was used for recuperating wounded soldiers.Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy, was held at Maindiff Court from 26 June 1942. Hess had his own room but he was guarded at all times. He was allowed a fair degree of freedom, often being driven about the local countryside, such as the local landmark, the Skirrid mountain. The British government never tried to hide the fact that Hess was being detained in Abergavenny. Indeed, when he first arrived, the staff of the hospital lined up in a formal reception to meet him. The news featured in many of the national papers of the time. According to the Daily Mirror at the time, Hess was known locally as the "Kaiser of Abergavenny".