History In Your Hands

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One by one these vast structures, still cloaked in mystery, are disappearing. In the case of many Victorian asylums, we were too late to record their passing and opportunity has certainly been missed. Time passes, memories fade, related paraphernalia is discarded and experiences become the stuff of folklore. This grand old building is still standing, and in watching over her last days as she watched over those of countless others, the connection is kept alive and history has the chance to be written by the very people who lived it.

Time to dispel the myths……. or elevate them to fact.

Please email any information or pictures you would like to share with us, to:-

mark.mdavis@gmail.com

The Stephen Beaumont Museum of Mental Health was previously accommodated in the Stanley Royd Hospital at Aberford Rd (formerly the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum built in1818).

When the hospital closed in 1995, the museum was moved to Fieldhead Hospital in Ouchthorpe Lane. The museum depicts the story of the Asylum and contains restraining equipment, a padded cell, and medical and surgical equipment documents. (The treatment record books are in the County Record Office.) There is also a scale model of the original 1818 building and photographs dating from 1862.

The museum is open each Wednesday, from 10am to 4.30pm. Entrance is free. There are adequate wheel chair facilities and adjacent free parking.

Intending visitors should contact the curator by telephoning 01924 328654. Groups are welcome and talks can be arranged

Museum email: Michael.McCarthy@swyt.nhs.uk