Mendip Hospital Cemetery

Mendip Hospital Cemetery Here nearly 3000 former patients and staff were laid to rest between 1874 and 1963.
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This cemetery was the burial ground for the Somerset and Bath Pauper Lunatic Asylum, later known as the Wells Mental Hospital, and later still, the Mendip Hospital. The cemetery is now both a nature reserve and a living memorial to the poor souls buried here. Most of the ground is now meadow, the grasses being mown just once a year in the autumn, encouraging insects, birds, and wild flowers to thr

ive. The pond is also full of life, from frogs in the spring to dragonflies in the summer, all living around the lily pads and rushes. Most of those buried here were poor and often forgotten by their families, so there are very few stone monuments. The vast majority had just a numbered metal marker on their grave, but these were later removed and stored in heaps around the site. Now, many have been arranged in groups around the pathways, some flanking remarkable wooden sculptures by the talented and sensitive artist, Peter Bolton. Though most of our ‘residents’ lie in unmarked graves, they are not forgotten. In the chapel we have a folder containing an alphabetical database of all those buried here: name, place of origin, and date of death. We have copies of the cemetery’s burial and grave registers which give us the approximate location of each individuals burial, a great help for people tracing their lost ancestors. Also in the chapel you will find original maps and architects plans, as well as an exhibition celebrating the history of the hospital and its cemetery in photographs and documents. We will be open every Sunday and Wednesday 11am - 3.45pm from April 3rd to the end of September, 2024

We are entirely reliant on your donations to maintain this special place. If you would like to help us you can do so via a PayPal link on our website.http://www.mendiphospitalcemetery.org.uk/ Many Thanks.

We are open on Wednesday 10th June 11 am to 3.45 pm. Admission free but we would appreciate a donation to support all th...
08/06/2026

We are open on Wednesday 10th June 11 am to 3.45 pm.
Admission free but we would appreciate a donation to support all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to preserve and protect this unique Grade II listed site. There are donation buckets in the chapel for cash and we have a QR code for card donations.

Section G of our cemetery is behind the chapel and this is where many members of staff are buried after service at the asylum.
The Asylum needed competent staff to look after the patients in their care. Many of the staff would have lived in at the asylum, Looking through the notebooks associated with staff kept by the asylum administration staff makes interesting reading especially for those with an interest in social history.

James Hookway:
Entered service as an Ordinary Attendant August 1885. Wages £25 per annum with lodging, washing and uniform
Dismissed 1894 for being drunk and absenting himself from duty without permission.
William Bate:
Entered service as an Ordinary Attendant June 1890. Wages £25 per annum with lodging, washing and uniform.
Dismissed July 1897 for drunkenness. In 1896 William lost 2 years seniority for drunkenness.
Edward Jones:
Entered service as an Ordinary Attendant July 1892. Wages £25 per annum with board, lodging, washing and uniform.
Received one months written notice to leave situation February 1897 for impertinence to Dr Sproat, Assistant Medical Officer.
Fred Spiller:
Entered the service as an Ordinary Attendant November 1896. Wages £25 per annum board, lodging, washing and uniform.
Received one months’ notice to leave his situation in January 1897 for General Inefficiency and Insolence.
Beatrice Williams:
Entered service as a Charge Attendant July 1888. Wages £16 per annum with board, washing and lodging.
Resigned her situation February 1889 to be married.
Louisa Collard:
Entered service as a Charge Attendant June 1889. Wages £16 per annum with board, washing and uniform.
Received one month’s notice to leave as poor attitude. Left March 1896.
Edith Mary Clarke:
Entered service as an Ordinary Attendant in February 1896. Wages £16 per annum with board, lodging, washing and uniform.
Ordered to be suspended by Medical Superintendent until further notice.
April 1897 reinstated £20 per annum.
May 1898 received one month’s notice June 1898 for not reporting an accident which happened to a to a patient in her care.
Left the Asylum July 1898.
Bessie Francis:
Entered service as an Ordinary Attendant in September 1896. Wages £16 per annum to include board, lodging, washing and uniform.
Received one month’s notice August 1899 for lending a knife to a patient and general incompetency.
Left the Asylum September 1899.

Some staff were better than others!
Hope to welcome you for a visit.
Thank you for your support
Photographs: Asylum female staff and Miss Nichols, Miss Jones
Wells & Mendip Museum

The Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Right Reverend Michael Beasley, and his family came to visit the cemetery today and we...
07/06/2026

The Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Right Reverend Michael Beasley, and his family came to visit the cemetery today and were touched by the place, it's history and the exhibition in the chapel.
The Bishop met some of the volunteers who work so hard to preserve and protect the site.
As a site that is still consecrated by the church it was a pleasure and an honour to welcome them.

Photogrpah: The Right Reverend Michael Beasley , volunteers and Rosie the spaniel.

Open again this Sunday 7th June 11.00am-3.45pm.Mendip Hospital Cemetery is the last resting place of nearly 3000 poor fo...
06/06/2026

Open again this Sunday 7th June 11.00am-3.45pm.
Mendip Hospital Cemetery is the last resting place of nearly 3000 poor folk from all over the old County of Somerset, including Bath and South Bristol. Glove makers from Yeovil and Langport lie alongside coal miners from Midsomer Norton and Radstock. Agricultural labourers, domestic servants, old soldiers...all lie here, many far from home. They were all patients at the Somerset and Bath Pauper Lunatic Asylum which was later known as Mendip Hospital. The land they were buried in was earmarked for housing development at the beginning of this century but was saved by the people of Wells and is now a living memorial to them all.
Find out about them in an exhibition of photographs and stories in our lovely chapel. The names, dates and place of origin of all buried here can be seen in an alphabetical burial register.
Find us halfway along Hooper Avenue, just off Bath Road, Wells. Dogs welcome on leads. Admission is free but please leave us a donation if you can. Detailed directions and more information can be found on our website:

https://mendiphospitalcemetery.org.uk

Let there be light!One of our volunteers, too bashful to want credit, has replaced the lighting in the cemetery chapel -...
04/06/2026

Let there be light!

One of our volunteers, too bashful to want credit, has replaced the lighting in the cemetery chapel - entirely on his own.

Whereas visitors to the chapel and its exhibition were previously immersed in a rather tenebrous half-light produced by four failing spots of uncertain wattage, we now have concealed uplights the length of both sides of the chapel, supplemented by a downlight in each corner.
Apart from the fact that the exhibition is altogether more visible, the walls and ceiling now glow. It's not quite the Sistine Chapel (we have no renaissance graffito), but you can now see that the stonework is a thing of beauty, and the roof beams (possibly of cedar) are rather fine too.

Enormous thanks to our anonymous Sparks for a superb job.

(By the way, the cost of the materials has been met from our modest bank balance. As mentioned in previous posts we finance the maintenance of the chapel and 3 acre cemetery entirely through the donations of YOU, our followers and friends. We have no other income, grants or subsidies. If sixty people each donated just £5, we would cover the cost of new lighting. If you would like to contribute, please see the QR code at the top of this page, or visit our website mendiphospitalcemetery.org.uk and hit the donate button. Any amount, however small, will be much appreciated.)

The cemetery is open to visitors every Sunday and Wednesday until the end of September 11am to 3.45 pm, admission free.

We've had a very productive day up at the Cemetery:New lights have been installed in the chapel (see following post) and...
04/06/2026

We've had a very productive day up at the Cemetery:

New lights have been installed in the chapel (see following post) and Colin has put the finishing touches to his project first reported here on 1st June.

This is the headstone of James Bennett Prescott, born 17th August 1886. The stone was found in several pieces, but fortunately with sufficient detail remaining to identify the deceased.
Our own records show that James came to the Somerset and Bath Asylum from the Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar. He died in April 1911 aged 24.
Earlier research on the surviving gravestones in the cemetery (by P. J. Bendall) shows that James was born to Samuel and Edith Prescott of Fromefield and was baptised at Christ Church, Frome, on 1st October 1886.
The Royal Navy Register of Seamen's Services records that James, then a page boy, joined the Navy in 1904 and served on various ships until 15th March 1911 (just a month before he died) at which point he was described as being insane. What led to that diagnosis and exactly how he died is not known (at least to the author of this little note), although it is worth noting that at the time there were over one hundred thousand patients within one hundred mental institutions around the United Kingdom.

As already observed, Colin constructed the concrete surround using moulds that he made himself. The stone is laid in slate and Colin has reseeded the surrounding area with grass.

It really is a fine job!

Mann at work!Here our ever resourceful volunteer Colin demonstrates that there is almost no limit to his handicraft, by ...
01/06/2026

Mann at work!

Here our ever resourceful volunteer Colin demonstrates that there is almost no limit to his handicraft, by constructing a surround for one of our gravestones.
Colin uses his own brand of reinforced concrete (employing chicken wire and porridge oats) constructing the wooden moulds himself. The base was lined with pond liner, filled with gravel, hopefully to deter weeds.
We only have a small group of volunteers, three now in their eighties, but the range of skills is startling.

If you are interested in joining the volunteer team (on Thursdays throughout the year) do make yourself known on a Sunday or Wednesday when we are open 11 a.m. - 3.45 p.m. or message [email protected]

OPEN WEDNESDAY JUNE 3RD 11 am to 3.45 pmIt is National Volunteers Week and time to celebrate all the volunteers connecte...
01/06/2026

OPEN WEDNESDAY JUNE 3RD 11 am to 3.45 pm

It is National Volunteers Week and time to celebrate all the volunteers connected with the Mendip Hospital Cemetery.
There are volunteers who research, volunteers who mow, cut, plant, prune, look after the gravestones and grave markers, volunteers who are meeters and greeters, who clean the chapel, who welcome visitors, who spread the word about this unique place and ALL the volunteers work hard to preserve and protect the last resting place of 3,000 patients and staff of the Somerset and Bath County Pauper Lunatic Asylum/Wells Mental Hospital/Mendip Hospital.
If you visit the cemetery admission is free but we would appreciate a donation to support the work of the volunteers and to ensure the site is looked after in to the future.
Thank you
Dogs very welcome on a lead, water and treats provided for our canine friends.

Hope to meet and greet you.
Photograph: Richard Leigh born in Wedmore was a vegetable cropper in Bleadney near Wells. Admitted with Senile Dementia.
He died in April 1908 aged 74 in the presence of H Holman, Day Attendant and is buried in section E 282.
May he rest in peace.

Have you visited our peaceful, beautiful 3 acre garden cemetery on the edge of Wells? We are open again this Sunday 31st...
29/05/2026

Have you visited our peaceful, beautiful 3 acre garden cemetery on the edge of Wells? We are open again this Sunday 31st May from 11.00am until 3.45pm.
An exhibition in our little chapel tells the story of the Mendip Hospital from 1848 until it’s closure in 1991, with photographs and stories of some of the near 3000 patients and staff from all over Somerset, Bath and South Bristol who were buried here between 1874 and 1963. All their names are recorded in an alphabetical burial register in the chapel.

Stately yew trees planted in 1880, a mini woodland walk, a thriving pond, beehives, and really exceptional views. See how our dedicated volunteer gardeners are turning what had once become a waste land into a dignified memorial to all those who rest here.
Entry is free and dogs on leads welcome, but please leave us a donation if you can to help us carry on our work. We are all volunteers.
More information and details of how to find us are on our website: https://mendiphospitalcemetery.org.uk

Thank you to all who visited yesterday despite the heat. Shade was found in our cool chapel and under the trees.Lily Gul...
28/05/2026

Thank you to all who visited yesterday despite the heat. Shade was found in our cool chapel and under the trees.
Lily Gullick's family came to pay their respects, and a visitor from Berkeley in Gloucestershire was very complimentary about the site, its peace and the respect shown to those buried here.
Open again on Sunday 11 am to 3.45 pm please come and visit.

Photograph: Lily Gullick, not forgotten, but remembered by her family and visited yesterday. Buried in Section F 047
South West Heritage Trust

Not exactly cool, but plenty of shady spots to linger a while.Take a look in the pond - it’s positively pullulating with...
26/05/2026

Not exactly cool, but plenty of shady spots to linger a while.

Take a look in the pond - it’s positively pullulating with newts, dragonfly larvae, pond skates and water boatmen.

Address

Hooper Avenue
Wells
BA53NA

Opening Hours

Wednesday 11am - 3:45pm
Sunday 11am - 3:45pm

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