Mental Health Institutions in Scotland
What is included?
Over the past few centuries, many mental health institutions have operated in Scotland. It is relatively easy to find information regarding the large public asylums. Many smaller institutions also existed, some of which had only a few private patients. We aim to include as many of these as possible as we expand these pages. For the moment, the pages contain details of all licensed institutions operating when the 1857 report of the Royal Lunacy Commission was being prepared. The commission visited each licensed institution in Scotland, and the appendices of the report contain accounts of each of their visits, the text of which is to be found in these pages. We have also added pages for some other institutions which operated prior to 1857, and which opened later, but many still need to be added. We hope this serves as a starting point.
The institutions below are arranged by county.
Institutions by County
Dunbartonshire/Dumbartonshire
Inverness-shire
Kincardineshire
Kinross-shire
Lanarkshire
Blackfaulds Asylum, Rutherglen
City Poorhouse Asylum, Glasgow
Lanark District Asylum (Hartwood)
Midlothian
Alexander Chalmers' House, Musselburgh
Campie Lane House, Musselburgh
Dalkeith Combination Poorhouse
Midlothian & Peebles District Asylum (Rosslynlee)
Miss Campbell's House, Musselburgh
Mrs Brownlee's House, Musselburgh
Mrs Monro's House, Musselburgh
Moray
Renfrewshire
Abbey Poorhouse Asylum, Paisley
Govan District Asylum (Hawkhead)
Paisley Burgh Parish Poorhouse