Report on the Royal Lunatic Asylum, Infirmary and Dispensary, of Montrose. 1862.

  • Royal Lunatic Asylum, Infirmary, and Dispensary of Montrose.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the Royal Lunatic Asylum, Infirmary and Dispensary, of Montrose. 1862. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    A large Airing Court for Female Pauper Patients has been enclosed by sufficient stone walls on the east end of the House, and two Airing Grounds for Male and Female Boarders respectively have been enclosed by wire fencing in the front of the House. A second large steam boiler has been got, and a wringing machine for the washing- house. A Coal-yard has been made out, and an additional Scullery. Painting and papering has been carried on to a farther extent, and great progress has been made, by patients’ labour, in digging and trenching the Asylum grounds, through which the large mounds of earth cast up from the foundations of the House have been nearly absorbed. The chief of the additions mentioned above were originally projected, and all have from time to time been sanctioned by the Board; and, with the exception of the steam boiler and- wringing machine, the whole have been paid for, and charged to the accounts. In planning out and enclosing the Airing Grounds, care has been taken to preserve to all of them the full advantage of the widely extended and beautiful prospect which the site of the Asylum so eminently com¬ mands. The only work now in progress, or at present projected, is the erection of a back enclosure wall to the Male Paupers’ Airing Ground on the west end of the House, with a shoe-house or shed in connection therewith. This Airing Ground is at present enclosed by a wooden paling, and the wall now building is required for shelter. The Committee have with great satisfaction to report the completion of an arrangement with Mr Duncan of Sunnyside, by which, for an annual ground rent of £3 4s per acre, they have obtained from him possession in perpetuity of the Farm of Hillhead, measuring 56 acres. The Committee regard this acquisition as being of great value and importance. By it the Institution is provided with the extent of ground recommended by the Lunacy Board as being necessary for the proper employment of the number of patients the House will contain, while at the same time it provides at a moderate rate for the perfect independence of the Establishment for the future. The Committee consider that the best thanks of the Board are due to Mr Duncan for the liberal way in which he met and entered into its views. Entry to the farm takes place at Martinmas first, by which time the tempo¬ rary employment afforded to the patients in putting in order the present grounds of the Asylum will have nearly ended. The farm lies