This week, Roy decided it was time to take his friends to a place which has fascinated him since he first visited a few years ago. Roy loves ruins, and particularly those with an interesting story attached, so when he was wandering the grounds of the old Gladesville Hospital a year or two ago, and stumbled over a gothic appearing ruin, he was intrigued. When he discovered the story of this odd ruin, he was even more interested, and decided it was time to share the photos he took with his online friends.
If you would like to visit the ruins at Gladesville Hospital, they are located in Bedlam Bay, just up from the old boathouse. You can enter the grounds of the old hospital from Campbell Drive, and walking along this road you will soon come to the ‘ruins’. Close by there is a large, open oval, perfect for kicking a ball, or flying a kite, and there is plenty of room to enjoy a picnic.
The beautiful ruins which Roy loved are actually a folly, also known as the Bush House. The folly is part of a 19th century garden which was built in the grounds of Gladesville Hospital, which was then a lunatic asylum. The folly itself was enclosed in cyclone fencing when Roy visited, as it is unstable, but nearby there are other ruins to explore, including the remains of a glasshouse and a lavatory block. The folly is a beautiful building, which Roy was surprised to discover in the grounds of a place which, he assumed, would have been miserable – a lunatic asylum. He was curious to find out why the building was there, and whether his assumption about a mental hospital in the 19th century being a horrible place, could be wrong.
When the folly was built, Gladesville Hospital was home to a group of mental health patients, who had been sent to the hospital for treatment. In popular culture a lunatic asylum of that era was a horrible place, but Gladesville Hospital in the 1870s, when the folly was built, was actually a very progressive hospital. Under the leadership of Frederick Norton Manning, the hospital sought to use gardening and nature to treat his patients. Dr Manning believed in humane treatment of his patients, and the folly reflects his desire to create gardens and grounds which could foster better health. Once, the folly was surrounded by terraced rose gardens, full of sweet smelling flowers while other areas of the grounds housed animals and birds to entertain the patients.