Stanley Royd, Former Pauper Lunatic Asylum Wakefield

An incredible chance to see a working former lunatic asylum in the 1960's. This is previously unseen footage having been stored for decades on 16mm film reel.

www.highroydshospital.co.uk

STANLEY ROYD

The building was necessary to care for the treatment and care of the insane poor, and work began on it in 1816. The main builders were John Robson, John Billinton and William Pockrin - all from Wakefield. Work was completed and the hospital occupied by the 23rd of November 1818. The eventual cost of the building work was £23,000 being £7,000 more than the contracted price. The total cost was shown in the records as £36,448. 4s. 9¼d.

The building stood in an area of 25 acres. For privacy the grounds were surrounded by plantation in either Wakefield or Stanley to be quiet, peaceful and secluded. It was a much needed hospital for in the early part of the 19th century very little was available by way of treatment for mental illness.

Before the opening of this asylum, sufferers were incarcerated in prisons, workhouses or in their own homes at none of which treatment was available except for purging, bleeding or mechanical restraint. Some of records of mechanical restraint make horrific reading. There was a case of a James Norris who, at Bethlem Hospital, London, was chained for several years to a vertical bar fixed to a wall, able only to slide in his chains from a sitting to a standing position. Records tell at Wakefield of a woman patient admitted from Barnsley Workhouse where she had been chained in a cell for no less than 36 years.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• wakefield
• asylum
• stanley
• royd
• hospital
• pauper
• lunatic
• psychiatric
• mental

[idiannapod]

My heart breaks for these people. This is a wonderful video for anyone that questions the need for proper care for the mentally unrested. Thx @stealthpicasso! PLEASE if anyone figures out what this song is, tell us! (How can we see the selection of music YouTube provides?)

[jon3m2007]

@Serielle - I wouldnt be to sure - Advances are made 4 sure - but to who's benefit - Stanley Royd existed as a means of social control (by and large) - I worked there in the 80's when a lot of the patients had been institutionalised for so long they wouldnt have been able to cope without that "social structure" - it was their life all they knew and we did the best for them we could - When change comes to long term institutionalised people it sadly may come 4 the wrong reasons - Money usually!!

[grettagrids]

@DeeDee1957 a hanful of asylums( now called state hospitals) are still in operation... such as the one in chattahoochee FL. but they treat residents better now then they used to. I fear ending up in chattahoochee just becuz I am near crippled with Lupus and can no longer care for myself( I live with my mother who cares for me)

[DeeDee1957]

Also since the 1960's if not earlier these were called hospitals. So if you think you are liberal posting this and think these hospitals archiac. What is with your use of the word asylum? Hmmm it has not been used for decaded by the mental health system. Just drama is'nt it. You did not live or work in these institutions you now bugger all about the residents or us the staff.

[DeeDee1957]

I worked in the old institutions in the 1970's and 1980's. For some, community care means being abused by nasty feral so called neighbours in the community. You were at least safe from that in the institutions of old.

[mashamorgan]

Care in the community certainly hasnt been the answer to these poor peoples problems and in a lot of cases they seem to be worse off, ridiculed, lonely and lacking in the most basic care. Thatcher didnt close the asylums for the benefit of the patient's thats for sure !

[BudgieFace1]

I used to hear what went on in those places,and I would also hear the word "institute" alot,as a result it fills me with dread!I heard alot of "nasty stuff"horrible things,like lobotomies,happening-I'm all too glad that I wasn't committed to one those places,whew!

[spiderpunk100]

@jon3m2007 my mum worked here in the 80's aswell, when i was young

[vTempaaah]

@anewunderstanding Mr. Meeble - Forget This Ever Happened

[goremi123]

:'(

I hope they're ok...and yes I'm aware that all of these people are dead.

[eohinyorks]

How spotlessly clean everything is.

[MUJAHIDEEN7860]

may god have mercy on their souls