An Eye-Opening Visit To The Bethlem Museum Of The Mind

Few hospitals have left a mark on London and the country’s history quite like Bethlem Royal Hospital. Established in the thirteenth century, it is Britain’s oldest psychiatric institution and likely the oldest in the world. It is also not just a hospital, it became a symbol of mental healthcare, was a famous London landmark and gave rise to the use of the word ‘bedlam’.

I recently took a train from Waterloo out to Eden Park in Bromley to visit the Bethlem Museum of the Mind and Gallery. 

The hospital and museum can be found here:

Origins

Before we look at the museum, I will cover the history of the hospital itself. In 1247, Simon Fitzmary, a City Alderman, who had taken part in the Crusades, established a priory near Bishopsgate, by giving land to the Church of St Mary at Bethlehem. There is a blue plaque on Liverpool Street, just around the corner from the station today. Bethlehem corrupted over the years to ‘Bethlem’.

In the 14th century the priory started to become more of a hospital and, by 1403, housed six ‘insane’ patients. From that point onwards it has continually cared for the mentally disordered. In 1547, during the reign of King Henry VIII and after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, control of Bethlem passed to the City of London, and it became a specialist hospital for the mentally ill. 

A New ‘Palace’

In 1676 the hospital expanded into a new building, designed by Robert Hooke, in Moorfields, to the South of what is now Finsbury Circus. It was inspired by Louis XIV’s Tuileries Palace and described, by some, as a ‘Palace for lunatics’. The grandeur was designed to project London’s post-Great Fire civic pride and status.

Over the years ‘Bethlem’ corrupted to ‘Bedlam’ and became embedded in the English language from the 1700s onwards to describe a scene of uproar, confusion, or madness. 

This is one of the scenes from William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress inside Bethlem Hospital. 

At the entrance to the building were two sculptures by Caius Cibber that became known as ‘Raving and Melancholy Madness’. These reflect the two main categories by which mental disorder was understood at the time: mania and melancholy.

Mania And Melancholy

The sculptures can be seen as you walk into the museum today. 

They were mounted on the gateposts from 1676-1815. 

Heading up the stairs in the museum you then see an old public donation box. At this time, Bethlem was seen by some almost as a tourist attraction, up there with Westminster Abbey and the Tower. Unrestricted public viewing thankfully came to an end in 1770 by order of the hospital’s Governors. Part of the reason though to allow in visitors initially was to receive donations and garner sympathy from the public.

Moving South

Having been constructed on marshy ground, the Moorfields building gradually fell in disrepair. In 1815 the hospital moved again to St George’s Fields in Southwark. 

Conditions were not great by modern standards to begin with here either, but after an amendment to the Lunacy Act in 1845, the hospital became part of a national scheme of inspection and regulation. Greater emphasis was gradually put on care and recovery. 

The final move took place in 1930, when the hospital moved to an estate in Beckenham. The old building in Southwark today is the Imperial War Museum, minus the two huge wings that were demolished.

The new Beckenham hospital was the first to be constructed with a ‘villa system’, with each ward having its own building, with its own facilities. Today the various buildings are set in lovely, peaceful grounds. Bethlem joined the NHS in 1948 and has continued to evolve as a modern psychiatric hospital. Today it forms part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. 

The Boardroom

The Bethlem Museum of the Mind was established in 1970. In 1997 the Gallery was set up to showcase artists who are current or former patients.

After seeing the sculptures of Raving and Melancholy Madness and a timeline of key dates, you enter the board room. 

A portrait of Henry VIII looks over the room. His name also adorns the front of the Imperial War Museum, due to his refounding of the hospital after the Reformation and giving it its ‘Royal’ name. 

The walls display 98 plaques and coats of arms manufactured in the 19th century, featuring the Presidents and Treasurers of the Hospital from 1557 to 1948.

There is also a painting of Queen Mary, wife of George V, who was President of the hospital when it moved to Beckenham. 

In here, as well, is a cabinet with the names of the physicians and surgeons of the hospital.

It also though has a hidden compartment around the back with the names of the patients. Occasionally the records give extra details on them, including why they were admitted to the hospital. 

The Museum

The museum consists of various historical artefacts, medical instruments and everyday items used by patients. It gives you a good sense of how treatment of patients has developed over the centuries. I have picked out just a few below.

This is an inscribed stone from the 16th century, which would have once been displayed in the entrance hall. It is a quotation from Psalm 127. 

This is a key for the gates of the hospital in the 18th century. 

Below are various constraints and shackles.  

Restraints like chains and shackles were sometimes used, with a focus often more on control than what we could consider treatment or care today.

These are walls from a padded cell from St Bernard’s Hospital in Ealing. 

Later Treatments And Diagnoses

There are some photograph portraits of Bethlem patients from 1857-1859. Some of these later featured in articles that talked about how someone’s physiognomy (their facial expressions, physical appearance) could give clues as to their mental state. 

You can see items related to ECT (Electro-convulsive therapy), that delivered a series of small electric shocks to the brain. This was developed in the 1930s and became a widespread practice. 

This is the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, produced in 1949 with picture cards and cardboard cutouts. 

These nativity figures are actually from another psychiatric hospital called Warlingham Park, which shut in 1999. They were made by a patient called Gordon Cook in 1994 and used every Christmas until the hospital closed. 

Artworks By Patients

The artefacts were fascinating, but what I found particularly striking was the inclusion of artwork by current and former patients of this or other psychiatric hospitals, alongside the historical objects. There is also an adjacent dedicated gallery of patient artwork. 

The artworks remind us and give an insight into, I think, the real people behind the institution’s history. It also emphasises that this is not just a museum, but a hospital that continues to operate today, carrying forward a long and complex legacy.

Below is one of the ‘Kaleidoscope Cats’ by Louis Wain.

Louis Wain was a patient at the hospital in the 1920s. The series of cats is often thought to represent the decline in his mental health although there is no evidence of this. 

The pots and vases below are by Bibi Herrera who came to the UK in 1977 after years of mental and physical torture under General Pinochet’s regime in Chile. She only had the use of one hand and started to work with clay at Bethlem in occupational therapy. 

On New Year’s Day 1992 Ben Silcock climbed into the lion enclosure at London Zoo whilst in the throes of a psychotic episode. He was mauled but escaped with his life and was admitted to Bethlem. He created a series of totem poles, this one communicating his deep craving for harmony between man and animals, in the traditions of Native Americans and Inuits. 

Visiting

Hopefully the above has persuaded you to add this unique museum to your to-see list. The museum and gallery are open 9.30am-5pm Wednesday-Saturday every week. The museum is free to visit, however donations are always welcome.

I hopped on the train at Waterloo East to Eden Park and walked 15 minutes or so from there. Alternatively, you can go to East Croydon from London Victoria or London Bridge, followed by SL5 bus towards Bromley – Bethlem Royal Hospital stop.

Find out more on their website here.

Thank you for reading, more remarkable historical spots in London below.