St. Davnet's Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Naomh Damhnait) is a

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), barony. The population of the town as of the 2016 census was 7 ...

County Monaghan County Monaghan ( ; ga, Contae Mhuineacháin) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Ulster and is part of Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Cou ...

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

History

The hospital, which was designed by John McCurdy, was opened as the Cavan and Monaghan District Lunatic Asylum in 1869. Two chapels were built, one for

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

patients and the other for

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

patients, and these were renovated by

William Alphonsus Scott William Alphonsus Scott (1871–1921) was an Irish Roman Catholic ecclesiastical architectural historian, academic, and architect active throughout late—nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Ireland. His offices were first located in Dr ...

in 1910. The

Irish republican Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...

Peadar O'Donnell Peadar O'Donnell ( ga, Peadar Ó Domhnaill; 22 February 1893 – 13 May 1986) was one of the foremost radicals of 20th-century Ireland. O'Donnell became prominent as an Irish republican, socialist activist, politician and writer. Early life Pe ...

, was regarded as the first Irish person to use the term "occupation" in relation to the occupation of a workplace, when he and the staff of the hospital occupied the site in 1919. "The occupation was, in fact, the first action in Ireland to describe itself as a

soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, and the Red Flag was raised above the hospital." It became Monaghan Mental Hospital in the late 1920s and St. Davnet's Hospital in the 1950s. After the introduction of

deinstitutionalisation Deinstitutionalisation (or deinstitutionalization) is the process of replacing long-stay psychiatric hospitals with less isolated community mental health services for those diagnosed with a mental disorder or developmental disability. In the late ...

in the late 1980s the hospital went into a period of decline and activities became focused on Blackwater House.

References

{{Authority control Hospitals in County Monaghan Davnets Hospital buildings completed in 1869 1869 establishments in Ireland Hospitals established in 1869 Health Service Executive hospitals