Pen-y-Fal Hospital ( cy, Ysbyty Pen-y-Fal) was 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 ...

Abergavenny Abergavenny (; cy, Y Fenni , archaically ''Abergafenni'' meaning "mouth of the River Gavenny") is a market town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a ''Gateway to Wales''; it is approximately from the border wi ...

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

. The main building is Grade II listed.

History

The Joint Counties' Lunatic Asylum, Erected at Abergavenny

The hospital was designed by

Thomas Fulljames Thomas Fulljames FRIBA (4 March 1808 – 24 April 1874) was an architect active in Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the ...

using a corridor plan layout. It was built in the

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

using local old red sandstone with

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of ...

dressings and opened as the Joint Counties' Lunatic Asylum in December 1851. It initially had 210 inmates in 12 wards and was set in grounds of 75 acres of landscaping. A new infirmary wing was completed in 1861 and a laundry block was added in 1875. The central administration block and the epileptic block were completed in 1883 and the working men's dormitory was opened in 1891. At its peak at the end of the century it had 1,170 patients. It became the Monmouthshire Asylum in 1897 and was renamed the Monmouth Mental Hospital in 1930 before joining the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

as Pen-y-Val Hospital in 1948. After the introduction of

Care in the Community Care in the Community (also called "Community Care" or "Domiciliary Care") is a British policy of deinstitutionalisation, treating and caring for physically and mentally disabled people in their homes rather than in an institution. Institutional ca ...

in the early 1980s the hospital went into a period of decline and it finally closed in 1997. Between 1851 and 1950, over 3,000 patients died at the hospital. A memorial plaque for the deceased has now been placed at the site. The main hospital building was converted into luxury accommodation by Redrow plc under the name "Sarno Square" in 2001.

References

{{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1851 Former psychiatric hospitals in Wales 1851 establishments in Wales 1997 disestablishments in Wales Abergavenny History of Monmouthshire Hospitals in Monmouthshire Grade II listed buildings in Monmouthshire

History

See also

References