Royal Albert Asylum for the education and training of idiots and imbeciles belonging to Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Westmorland, Cumberland, Durham and Northumberland : nineteenth annual report.

  • Royal Albert Asylum (Lancaster, England)
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Royal Albert Asylum for the education and training of idiots and imbeciles belonging to Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Westmorland, Cumberland, Durham and Northumberland : nineteenth annual report. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    58/72 page 56
    EXTRACTS FROM AN ARTICLE, ENTITLED “THE ROYAL ALBERT ASYLUM.” [Bradford Observer, May 31 st, 1883.] What are the nature and scope of the operations of the Asylum can only be adequately understood from a careful and minute inspection of the place under the guidance of those who are chiefly responsible for its direction. Even then the inquiring visitor turns away conscious that here is an entirely new world, capable of almost endless exploration. For here, besides all the multifarious and complex parts of the machine itself—and so far as the same are concerned the institution goes like clockwork—there are hundreds of minds, each with its distinct individuality, and yet each sadly and curiously distorted and deficient, and all laid open for inspection and research as the minds of the sound and healthy never are. By the kindness of the secretary of the Asylum, Mr. Diggens, we last week had the privilege of a very thorough inspection, and accompanied by himself and Dr. Shuttleworth, the able medical superintendent, we saw everything there is to see in this truly wonderful place. The main building is a noble pile of stone, Gothic in character, but with more of freedom and breadth about it than belong to the canons of the Gothic school, standing on a slight eminence overlooking a wide sweep of the Fylde country, with the high fells above the forest of Bolland to the east, and Fleetwood, Morecambe Bay, and the Coniston and Langdale Ranges in the west, while northward the view is bounded by “ Gaunt’s embattled pile,” and the more prosaic mill chimneys of Lancaster’s reviving industries. A hundred yards away in front lies the high road from Lancaster to the Fylde country, across which are the well-tilled fields and neat farm buildings and cottages of the Institution, while the grounds in the immediate vicinity are beautifully laid out and planted with shrubs and trees, which flourish in a manner proclaiming the equable and temperate nature of the climate. Internally one cannot help being struck by the fine proportions of the entrance-hall and principal staircase, by the loftiness and airiness of the rooms, by the breadth and lightness of the corridors, and the substantial nature of all the fittings. Everything is bright, cheery, and spacious, and moreover as clean and tidy as the home of a bride should be. In plan the Asylum somewhat resembles the fifth letter in the alphabet placed thus, LlI, the long side, corresponding to the front of the building, facing south. The east wing is taken up by the boys, the west wing by the girls, while in the centre and in-the rear are located the administrative departments, the dining-hall, kitchens
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