History of st matthews hospital burntwood

History of st matthews hospital burntwood: Burntwood Asylum opened on the 20th

Women would work in the laundry, kitchen or needlework and ward cleaners. Those inmates who were violent or may harm themselves were locked up in padded cells. The cemetery was laid out in between Coulter Lane and St. Later that same year, the cemetery was consecrated. It was extended inand was still in use up until the 's. No more stones were made for patients after this date, so the stones photographed below must predate this.

A total of 3, bodies were buried in the cemetery, 1, men and 1, women. The unused graveyard still exists but only a few scattered headstones survive. The few scattered headstones do not give a true picture to the number of graves in the cemetery. Scattered Headstones in the Old Cemetery. Within the confines of the cemetery, there are also 9 war graves and headstones of local servicemen who fought and lost their lives in the First World War.

These graves are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Burntwood Family History Group has photographed and transcribed the war graves and headstones. In the East Wing, which contained the female wards and another 30 beds was added to the complex. This brought the total accommodation to beds. Inthe total amount of inmates had risen to There was a staff of 4 officers, 41 attendants and nurses, and 5 artisans.

He was aged 31 and married.

History of st matthews hospital burntwood: A County Lunatic Asylum: The

Over the years, the asylum had many extensions added to it. Three more female wards were erected infollowed by two male wards in This was in addition to large bays being added to the existing wards. The original chapel held its last service on the 14th August The construction of a new detached chapel in the grounds had already started, and it opened on Sunday the 7th January There was also a small chapel in the cemetery which was demolished in the 's.

Inmates were transferred from these asylums to Burntwood. It was a square block at the top with a clock face on each side. The asylum was gradually becoming a Hospital. New Laboratories were built where doctors could conduct research into the causes and cure of lunacy. In an operating table was purchased. At this time the county council were further developing their asylum accommodation with a third institution at Cheddleton being built.

This enabled the council to further divide the county for pauper lunatics, those from the northern areas around the Potteries, Leek, Newcastle under Lyme going to Cheddleton, the central belt of the county including Stafford, Stone and neighbouring towns utilising the original Stafford Asylum and the towns of the south such as Cannock, Brownhills, Lichfield, Tamworth, Smethwick and Rugeley served by Burntwoood.

Initially these included only the industrialised towns of Wolverhampton, Walsall and West Bromwich, close to Birmingham. None of the county boroughs in Staffordshire developed their own institutions for pauper lunatics, and although the council held no responsibility for the care of inmates of these areas, most were retained in the Staffordshire Asylums, others being boarded out further afield.

Eventually in the interest of all parties, the Staffordshire Asylums Act of which received Royal Assent in August of the same year, and this formed a Mental Hospitals Board managing the three institutions as part of a joint concern of all authorities involved. The board operated in a similar manner to those already in place at Lancashire and West Riding providing a coordinated approach to managing and developing the hospitals they covered.

By the start of World War I, Burntwood had largely completed the construction of a new home for female nurses to the east of the female wing. Inmates were then received from the Birmingham City Asylums at Rubery and Hollymoor, which became military hospitals for war casualties. The inmates from these institutions were spread across a number of neighbouring asylums in what was designated as Group 4, which included the asylums of Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire, Birmingham, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire.

Despite the release of the two Birmingham asylums fromfurther demands were placed upon the group for space, and the Berrywood Asylum, Northants and Littlemore Asylum, Oxon, were also relinquished to the war authorities in and resulting in gross overcrowding at the remaining civilian establishments. After the Great War ended the occupied asylums were returned to their respective authorities and those displaced were gradually repatriated.

A dramatic and memorable event occurred in when the main water tank housed in the water tower above the central service buildings ruptured and burst, emptying its vast contents into the surrounding area. After the damage was made good, the narrow, round-headed windows in the tower, through which some of the volume of water had escaped, were permanently bricked up.

The neighbouring short tower on the administration block was fitted with clock faces from and together with the modifications to the water tower these were to be the only major alterations to occur on the official, north frontage of the asylum up to closure. The inter-war period brought about a period of new hope in terms of research and treatment of the mentally ill and in common with the majority of asylums in the country, the name was changed to Burntwood Mental Hospital.

This building was formed of a pair of ward wings with a central treatment section and spread over a sprawling one and two-storey plan. A pair of two storey convalescent villas were also developed to allow treated patients a place to recover prior to discharge. A lych gate was added to the hospitals burial ground in The combined development was opened ceremoniously on 17 th December Around the same time the development of mains facilities meant the demise of the hospitals sewage treatment facilities, the same fate was to meet the hospital gas works in Matthews Hospital — I have been bowled over by the response of readers to what I thought might be a taboo subject.

From reader responses — including some excellent work by Paul Fordof Walsall Local History Centre — it seems I have much reading to do and there is more information on the subject the now long-gone facility about than I thought. The book is history of st matthews hospital burntwood widely available from outlets in Lichfield at the very reasonable price of around seven quid — I bought mine from the St.

Still available from stores - but apparently sold out on Amazon. Get one while you can. I mentioned in my original post that there were often postcards of asylums - and so there is one of St, Matthews, Burntwood. Sent by and anonymous reader, whom I thank. The buildings look quite dark and large, but generally they were quite light, airy places, as the Victorians believed with some basis in reality that fresh air and sunlight were crucial to mental healing.

Sadly, no date for this image is given, anybody able to speculate based on the crisp uniforms? Even in the late Victorian era, St. Matthews thad a rich social life. I wonder how common it was for people in those days to have a photo of themselves to hand? The clock tower on the Administration Building was a common feature of many a Victorian Asylum, as was a water tower.

They were mostly built on hills to maximise the exposure to fresh air, so needed substantial water infrastructure. Not sure if Burntwood had one. This is a wonderful curio. Wonder what happened to the lamp? Another interesting image, again, sadly undated. Such hospitals were surrounded by well-tended grounds and patients were encouraged to take the air and engage in such activity where possible.

My maternal grandmother Alice Hughes was a patient at Burntwood Asylum from to She was only 34 when she died. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history.

History of st matthews hospital burntwood: St Matthew's Hospital, formerly

Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikidata item. Lunatic asylum built in in Burntwood, Staffordshire. Hospital in Burntwood, England. History [ edit ]. Early history [ edit ]. Closure and redevelopment [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. References [ edit ].