Volunteers are uncovering the lives of former patients of the Somerset and Bath Pauper Lunatic Asylum.
Selina Baiss, from Shepton Mallet, was said to be "demented, incoherent and noisy" and had been an asylum patient for 38 years"They were called lunatics and imbeciles, idiots. The terms dementia or schizophrenia weren't known. Psychiatry was an infant science"
"He would feed the patients up, they would learn occupations, have music therapy, entertainment. He said if you could improve the physical, the mental condition would improve too," she added.Land close to the asylum was set aside for the burial of patients and a chapel was created on the site.Image source,Gertrude James from Leigh on Mendip was admitted for "idiocy". It was said she could not articulate and ground her teeth constantly.
Many of the original markers have been uprooted and now lie in clusters around the cemetery but the volunteers are planning to identify where each patient is buried and install a plaque to remember them individually.Patients could not afford headstones so iron markers were placed where they were buriedEach grave was given an iron marker with a number to identify the person buried in the plot
"We're compiling a database and people can come and find their relatives or read about the working classes of the 19th Century. "I've been particularly affected by a little boy called Joseph Tye who went in when he was ten and ended up dying in there," she said.Casey Reddin said she often feels emotional when finding out more about those buried on the site
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