Old Manor Hospital, Salisbury

The Old Manor Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. It functioned first as a Victorian private licensed house called Fisherton House or Fisherton House Asylum from the early 19th century. It was the largest private madhouse in the United Kingdom. In 1924, following a change of proprietors, it was renamed Old Manor Hospital and in 1955 it was amalgamated into the National Health Service. From 1813 to 1955 it was owned and managed by members of the same family. The Old Manor Hospital closed in 2003 and was replaced by Fountain Way, a smaller, modern, psychiatric hospital on part of the same site. Founding and early historyIn the early 19th century Dr. William Corbin Finch, a London surgeon, bought Fisherton House in the village of Fisherton Anger, a village to the west of Salisbury. At that time it was outside the city but due to urban development the site is now within the city of Salisbury, on the lower part of Wilton Road. It is recorded that patients were received in 1813 and Fisherton House was sold as a "mental institution" to Charles Finch in 1813. According to William Parry-Jones in his book The Trade in Lunacy, A Study of Private Madhouses in 18th and 19th Century Britain, the asylum did not appear on an 1815 list of businesses in Salisbury but was certainly functioning by 1826. At that time William Corbin Finch also owned Laverstock House, in a village east of Salisbury, and Kensington House and The Retreat in The Kings Road in London, all licensed madhouses. Dr Finch also gave evidence to the 1815 Select Committee who were investigating conditions in private madhouses across England. Their report came to nothing due to lack of co-operation from the asylums.

The Old Manor Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. It functioned first as a Victorian private licensed house called Fisherton House or Fisherton House Asylum from the early 19th century. It was the largest private madhouse in the United Kingdom. In 1924, following a change of proprietors, it was renamed Old Manor Hospital and in 1955 it was amalgamated into the National Health Service. From 1813 to 1955 it was owned and managed by members of the same family. The Old Manor Hospital closed in 2003 and was replaced by Fountain Way, a smaller, modern, psychiatric hospital on part of the same site. Founding and early historyIn the early 19th century Dr. William Corbin Finch, a London surgeon, bought Fisherton House in the village of Fisherton Anger, a village to the west of Salisbury. At that time it was outside the city but due to urban development the site is now within the city of Salisbury, on the lower part of Wilton Road. It is recorded that patients were received in 1813 and Fisherton House was sold as a "mental institution" to Charles Finch in 1813. According to William Parry-Jones in his book The Trade in Lunacy, A Study of Private Madhouses in 18th and 19th Century Britain, the asylum did not appear on an 1815 list of businesses in Salisbury but was certainly functioning by 1826. At that time William Corbin Finch also owned Laverstock House, in a village east of Salisbury, and Kensington House and The Retreat in The Kings Road in London, all licensed madhouses. Dr Finch also gave evidence to the 1815 Select Committee who were investigating conditions in private madhouses across England. Their report came to nothing due to lack of co-operation from the asylums.