EPW001280 ENGLAND (1920). The asylum and workhouse, Fishponds, 1920. This image has been produced from a copy-negative.

The Bristol Lunatic Asylum was opened in 1861 in buildings by Henry Crisp.



Originally designed for 250 in-patients, in 1900 (following several extensions by both Crisp and George Oatley) it housed 951 long-term patients (419 male, 532 female).



In 1914, the hospital was requisitioned by the War Office to become the Beaufort War Hospital treating wounded soldiers. Apart from 45 patients who were retained to work on the estate, existing mental patients were evacuated to other asylums in the south-west, some as far afield as Cornwall and Dorset. Most of the permanent staff were retained, and were joined by 25 physicians and surgeons and a large intake of nurses. The hospital was returned to civilian use in 1919.



In 1948, the hospital joined the NHS and was renamed Glenside Hospital. From January 1993, the co-located Manor Park and Glenside hospitals merged to become Blackberry Hill Hospital. A programme of phased partial closure saw most patients assessed for capability, with many placed within the Care in the Community programme, and others moved into new buildings constructed on the former Manor Park site for long-term care.



The former Glenside Hospital campus was bought in 1996 to become the main campus of the University of the West of England's Faculty of Health and Community Studies.



See: http://www.glensidemuseum.org.uk/ww1-hospital/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenside,_Bristol