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==History==
 
==History==
From 1809 Bristol Corporation had a duty to look after pauper lunatics. In 1845 the Lunatics Act made it mandatory. The Corporation were told they had to build a purpose built asylum. They were using St Peters Hospital in the center of town but it was not fit for purpose and very overcrowded. Bristol’s Lunatic Asylum opened in 1861. A great stone building with a large central house containing the administration, extending from which were many long, well-lit and airy wards. There was accommodation for staff, out buildings and all the land needed for a self-sufficient community. A farm with pigs, chickens and fields for vegetables. An orchard, large green houses and a team of gardeners. Apart the medical superintendant, nurses or male attendants, there were staff running the kitchen, laundry, and sewing room. There were butchers, bakers, painters and decorators, engineers, carpenters, and stonemasons. Like many large Victorian houses, it was brimming with activity.
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From 1809 Bristol Corporation had a duty to look after pauper lunatics. In 1845 the Lunatics Act made it mandatory. The Corporation were told they had to build a purpose built asylum. They were using St Peters Hospital in the centre of town but it was not fit for purpose and very overcrowded. Bristol’s Lunatic Asylum opened in 1861. A great stone building with a large central house containing the administration, extending from which were many long, well-lit and airy wards. There was accommodation for staff, out buildings and all the land needed for a self-sufficient community. A farm with pigs, chickens and fields for vegetables. An orchard, large green houses and a team of gardeners. Apart the medical superintendant, nurses or male attendants, there were staff running the kitchen, laundry, and sewing room. There were butchers, bakers, painters and decorators, engineers, carpenters, and stonemasons. Like many large Victorian houses, it was brimming with activity.
  
 
From 1915- 1918 the hospital became Beaufort War Hospital, one of many hospitals receiving wounded soldiers from the front.  It was here the artist Stanley Spencer was a medical orderly. Many of his paintings at Sandham Memorial Chapel at Burghclere, near Newbury, are based on his memories of life at Beaufort War Hospital.
 
From 1915- 1918 the hospital became Beaufort War Hospital, one of many hospitals receiving wounded soldiers from the front.  It was here the artist Stanley Spencer was a medical orderly. Many of his paintings at Sandham Memorial Chapel at Burghclere, near Newbury, are based on his memories of life at Beaufort War Hospital.

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