Glenside Hospital Museum houses collections relating to the history of mental health care, set within the grounds of the building which opened in 1861 as the Bristol Lunatic Asylum.
The exhibits are housed in the hospital chapel, a Grade II listed building built in 1881 for the patients. Bristol Lunatic Asylum underwent several names changes including Beaufort War Hospital, Bristol Mental Hospital and Glenside Hospital which closed in 1994, and now the building is occupied by the University of the West of England Faculty of Health and Social Care. Since the 1880’s Nurse Training has been delivered on this site.
Throughout its history the building has gone through many changes, but looking at the warm grey pennant stone you can easily imagine the lives of the many people who have lived and worked here.
The Museum also houses the stories from the Stoke Park Colony of Hospitals for people with Learning Disabilities1909 – 2000.
The large collection of artefacts, photographs and information provide a picture of life and work in the former hospitals, including the three years (1915-1919) when the asylum became a First World War hospital.
Glenside Hospital Museum is located within the grounds of the old psychiatric hospital, now used by the University of West of England as their Health and Social Care Campus.