Hereford County and City Asylum

(Historic Environment Record reference number 26318)

The new establishment in Burghill, which replaced the original Asylum in Hereford, covered 10 acres and cost £87,873.00 to build. It was completed in 1872. There were a further 100 acres of gardens, a farm and several cottages. The main asylum was divided into a block for men and one for women, each wing constructed to house 200 patients. The male block contained a workshop and brewhouse, the female block a laundry. In addition to a dining and recreation hall, there was a chapel. A gasworks in the grounds supplied the gas for lighting the building.

The hospital staff included both male and female attendants, a housekeeper, cook, laundress, housemaid, kitchen maid, porter, baker, engineer and stoker. A bailiff managed the house and grounds: there was also a gardener, cowman, wagoner and some farm workers. In 1872 the rector of Credenhill was chaplain. Part of his remit was to organise entertainment for the patients, including dances, walks, and concerts (Charles Renton, The Story of Herefordshire's Hospitals, Logaston Press, 1999, pp. 187-189). It is interesting to note that the male attendants were paid more than double the salary of the female attendants!

The asylum appears to have been a well-run establishment and seems to have met with the approval of the Committee of Visitors in the years leading up to 1889.

"Before their term of office expires, the Committee desire to record their entire satisfaction with the general management of the Asylum, under the able supervision of Dr. Chapman. Not only have the Patients been treated with kindness and efficiency, but the general and economic control of the Asylum has been well cared for... "

The chairman, B.L.S. Stanhope, expresses his satisfaction that "since the Asylum was opened, there is no record of any death of a homicidal or suicidal character; a fact testifying to the careful supervision exercised over the patients." (Final report of the Committee of Visitors presented to the Quarter Sessions, March 1889, Hereford Library 362.2)

It seems that the care of mentally-ill patients had come a long way since the early days at Bedlam.

The 1881 Census

(1881 British Census and National Index, Family History Resource File, CD-Rom Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)

Census records are extremely useful to the historian studying the 19th century. With regard to the asylum at Burghill, for example, the census sheds light on several interesting features by providing information on the patients' names, occupations and ages at time of the census. A note was also included if the patient was blind, deaf, deaf and dumb or, as was the case for one unfortunate patient, all three. In the absence of special schools and support in the community for the disabled, it seems that people who were blind or deaf and dumb were sent to an asylum.

Another interesting way to utilise census data is to study the occupation of patients. If women were not employed, the occupation of the husband or father was listed. For example, one private patient was listed as a builder's daughter, another as a farmer's daughter. Patients came from all walks of life and all categories of occupation. Few were under 20 years of age and again few were over 70. Ironically, the head attendant (male, 61) had become a private patient himself.

Selection of occupations given in census

The later days of the hospital

At the beginning of the 20th century, the asylum was enlarged due to overcrowding and verandahs were added for patients with tuberculosis. The name was changed to St.Mary's Hospital. A small isolation hospital was built in the grounds in 1911. In 1994 the hospital was closed. When most of the mental hospital was demolished to make way for a housing estate, it was first thought that the charming Italianate chapel towers might be saved. However, it soon became apparent that the towers were unsafe and had to be demolished along with rest of the building.

[Original author: Toria Forsyth-Moser, 2004]