‘Out brothers and in sisters’: 600 years of Eastbridge Hospital
Some hospitals survived for hundreds of years, providing sanctuary – and gathering idiosyncratic rules and one or two myths.
Tender of their persons, and zealous of their rights: William Somner, a Canterbury hero
At a time of huge national upheaval during and after the Civil War, was there anyone around who still cared about England’s almshouses? Yes.
Liberation architecture: Maggie Davis and the birth of independent living
Maggie and Ken Davis were told it was impossible for them to live anywhere except in an institution. But 40 years ago today, they moved into the home they designed themselves. It marked the beginning of the Independent Living Movement.
Who was Miss Violet Eleanor Mills?
Nina explores a young woman admitted to an asylum with insomnia and visions with religious overtones. She asks how we should interpret the diagnoses of other periods.
A ‘falconer with leprosy’: some residents at medieval hospitals
Religious houses offered sanctuary to disabled people and those with illnesses. Ann Newman puts some names and occupations to those who stayed there.
Going to hospital, medieval style
Centuries before the NHS, monasteries were a refuge for the sick. Ann Newman is researching the records of one such place, St John’s Canterbury.
The medieval equivalent of Boots?
In which Ben McLoughlin finds the good bits in the ‘spectacularly dry’ Chronicles of the Maison Dieu, so you don’t have to…
Unravelling the life of Francis Peter Gervais
A Northern Irish landowner, preoccupied with refuting those who denied Shakespeare’s authorship, emerges from Aliide Naylor’s research into Chiswick House Asylum.
To the Langdon Down Centre theatre and museum
Volunteer Ruby visits Langdon Down and gives an introduction to the site, its theatre and museum.
Ghosts, duels and gunfights: at the Royal School for the Blind
To the Royal School for the Blind, where headteacher Paul shared some wonderful stories about the school, such as the tale of the duel where the Chair of the charity and the Head Teacher had a gun fight!