About the County Asylums?

What are the County and Borough Asylums?

From 1811 until 1948 the Counties of England , Wales and Scotland provided their own system of custody and care and treatment for the Mentally Ill People. These Asylums often took the form of large structures - ranging in capacity from 40 to 3,500 inmates.

By their nature, the County Asylums were placed throughout the Country, usually (but not always) within the County they served. Locally they provided a sustainable source of employment for generations and developed their own communities to serve them. Farther afield they were often view with suspicion or fear - a distant place where disturbed local people or relatives would be 'removed' to, and often surrounded with much folklore.

Additionally, sites deemed suitable for would usually be large isolated tracts of land, often served by minor roads and branch railways - the qualities of such sites provide the ideal curative sources for good light, fresh clean air and a handsome outlook across farmland and woodland.

Why County Asylums?

In the past, the former County and Borough Asylums have been largely overlooked, partly due to fear and misunderstanding of their patients and also from their origins as publicly owned - unlike such the (usually older) Private, Charitable and Subscription Asylums such as Bethlem, Montrose, and Royal Holloway Sanatorium.