Mendip Hospital Cemetery

Speaker: Clare Blackmore and Hilary Waters

Date: 7 February 2026

The Mendip Hospital Cemetery is the last resting place of nearly 3,000 patients from the Somerset and Bath County Pauper Lunatic Asylum/Wells Mental Hospital and latterly the Mendip Hospital. They lived hard lives, many ending up in the Workhouse before admission to the Asylum. The Asylum was a beacon in the learning about and treatment of mental health. It operated on the principle of the "Moral Treatment of the Insane" after centuries of ill use and ignorance. Clare Blackmore and Hilary Waters will talk about the ethos and care of the Victorian and Edwardian Asylum and tell stories of the patients and staff.

Venue: Wells Museum