St. Brigid's Hospital (Irish: Ospidéal Naomh Bríd) was a psychiatric hospital in Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland.
| St. Brigid's Hospital | |
|---|---|
| Health Service Executive | |
_(geograph_4620810).jpg) St. Brigid's Hospital | |
  Shown in Ireland | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland |
| Coordinates | 53°19′45″N 8°12′31″W / 53.3293°N 8.2085°W |
| Organisation | |
| Care system | HSE |
| Type | Specialist |
| Services | |
| Emergency department | No |
| Speciality | Psychiatric Hospital |
| History | |
| Opened | 1833 |
| Closed | 2013 |
History edit
The hospital, which was designed by William Murray, opened as the Connacht Asylum in 1833.[1] After a redrawing of the asylum district boundaries in 1850, it was renamed the Ballinasloe District Asylum.[2] New wings were completed in 1871 and 1882.[2] As it expanded conditions became very overcrowded with nearly 1,200 patients by the early 1900s[1] and, having been renamed Ballinasloe Mental Hospital in the late 1920s, it accommodated some 2,000 patients by the 1950s.[3]
The facility became St. Brigid's Hospital in the 1950s. After the introduction of deinstitutionalisation in the late 1980s[4][5] the hospital went into a period of decline and closed in 2013.[6]
References edit
- ^ a b "'Tales from the big House', the Connacht District Lunatic Asylum in the late nineteenth century". History Ireland. 1 November 2005. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
- ^ a b Rogers, Tom; Fibiger, Linda; Lynch, L. G.; Moore, Declan (2006). "Two Glimpses of Nineteenth-Century Institutional Burial Practice in Ireland: A Report on the Excavation of Burials from Manorhamilton Workhouse, Co. Leitrim, and St. Brigid's Hospital, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway". The Journal of Irish Archaeology. 15: 93–104. JSTOR 20650852.
- ^ "Ireland's mental hospitals: the last gap in our history of 'coercive confinement'?". Irish Times. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
- ^ "After the Asylum". Irish Times. 13 July 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
- ^ Cotter, Noelle (2009). "Transfer of Care? A Critical Analysis of Post-Release Psychiatric Care for Prisoners in the Cork Region" (PDF). University College Cork. p. 5. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
- ^ "St. Brigid's Hospital, Ballinasloe". National Trust for Ireland. Retrieved 29 May 2019.