The County Lunatic Asylum: a fate worse than the workhouse

In the 19th century anyone in Nottinghamshire considered to require psychiatric treatment, and without the means to pay, was sent to the County Lunatic Asylum in Carlton Road, Sneinton. This institution, which would have been known and feared by all in Hucknall, was opened in 1812 and closed in 1902 when services were moved to Radcliffe-on-Trent. It stood on the site of what is today King Edward Park.

The original hospital could accommodate about 80 patients and was extended in subsequent years, but by 1853 this number had risen to 250 and conditions were cramped. The increase was not caused by any sudden rise in mental illness, but resulted from an act of Parliament passed 1845, which required all individuals deemed to be insane to be sent to an asylum rather than being cared for in workhouses or their own homes.

The treatment received in the asylum was considered humane and enlightened for the times and the recovery rate quite good. Outside there were gardens and recreation grounds, but inside the shackling and chaining of patients in cells with shuttered windows and stone beds was still part of the regime.

The most effective part of the system was its adminstration. Overseers of the poor were required to inform a Justice of the Peace of all 'lunatics' and 'idiots' within their parish on request, and provide a medical certificate stating whether or not they required admission. Once inside meticulous records were required by law of all treatments, restraints used and acts of violence.