Here is link to this hospital where there is a picture. Think may be same hospital you're looking for.

Angela

http://www.countyasylums.com/mentalasylums/shropshire.htm 

Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Counties Asylum

Shelton Hospital

Date founded: 1843

Date opened: March 1845

Date closed: Currently in use

Location: Welshpool Road, Bicton Heath, nr. Shrewsbury, Shropshire

Architect(s): George Gilbert Scott & William Bonython Moffat

Edward Haycock  

Oh thank you.

When I searched I could only find NHS stuff.

Somewhat sad as that is where my grandfather died..

My Grandad also died in a mental hospital in Shresbury, I'll have to find out which one, I think maybe it was actually Senile Demetia and in those days everyone said they'd gone "mental" !!

There are a number of records that you may be able to consult to add a dash of colour to your ancestors who were sent to the hatch:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/details.asp?id=2742&h...

Many thanks David for that info. One of these days I'll research that.

Thanks David. I do know from experience that there are some things one can't see till 100 years from the death and as my grandfather died the year I was born I don't expect I ever will see it.

I suspect dementia brought on by a head injury at work.

Hello Naybr

There will have been massive coverage in the Shropshire Star (an evening paper Mon-Sat) and also the Shrewsbury Chronicle (weekly paper published Thurs or Fri). The coverage will have gone on for several days initially and then the full details of the Inquest will have been published. I think there was probably one Inquest for all those who died (20-30 I think) and this will have taken place a few weeks later.

Because it was such a devastating event it will also have been covered in all the National daily and Sunday papers. If you have access to The T i m e s Online either at home or through your local library (your local library may give you access at home through their account) then you could use the search facility there.

I presume the fire was first noticed in the late evening but I didn't become aware of it until about 12.30am and it was shortly after 1am when I reached the hospital by which time the fire had been extinguished and all the bodies had been removed to a temporary mortuary.

If it is any consolation to you the consensus of opinion at the time was that none of the patients would have suffered. For a start they would all have been asleep and even if they weren't they would have become unconscious with just a few breaths of the smoke.

Mike

Hi Chris

Have you tried writing to the Health Authority for permission to look at the records as a friend of mine did this for ther grandmother (another authority though). 

Shelton Hospital is indeed the hospital which used to the Mental Asylum.  It is located to the west of Shrewsbury.   It is just closing this year in September 2012 as a new Centre is being constructed in the grounds of the hospital.   So there has been a lot of publicity surrounding the past times of the hospital this summer.   

Hope this helps

My father worked at Shelton Hospital in the 1950's. He did his psychiatric nurse training there from 1951 to 1954 and returned (after National Service) as a staff nurse from 1956 -59. He talked so much about his time there and the stories he told were so vivid that we persuaded him to write a book about his experiences. The result was 'The Waiting Room to Hell' by J. Keith Cubbin.

If anybody wants a detailed account of what it was like for patients and staff during those times (padded cells and all) then one could do far worse than try and get a copy of this book.

Unfortunately it is out of print now but I believe it can still be purchased online. Regrettably, the editing is poor and it is littered with many grammatical errors but none of that takes away from the power of the account.

Sadly, my father passed away this year but we were able to scatter his ashes on the old cricket ground attached to the hospital where he spent many a happy Saturday playing for a pretty formidible staff cricket team.