In the mid-1850s, the counties of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire set about looking for a site for a new asylum to house their 'pauper lunatics'. Two hundred acres of farmland at Stotfold on the Hertfordshire-Bedfordshire border were purchased and in March 1860 the first patients were admitted to the new Three Counties Asylum (TCA). The asylum was in operation for almost a century and a half and, as approaches to treating mental illness changed, so did TCA.

About the Author
Judith Pettigrew is a social anthropologist and an occupational therapist with a PhD from the University of Cambridge. She is a senior lecturer in the Department of Clinical Therapies at the University of Limerick.

Rory Reynolds is a systemic family psychotherapist in CAMHS Bedfordshire. Alongside his mental health work, Rory runs a successful theatre company and is the longstanding artistic director of the Queen Mother Theatre in Hitchin.

Sandra Rouse is also a social anthropologist with a PhD from the University of Cambridge.


Book Information
ISBN 9781909291508
Author Judith Pettigrew
Format Paperback
Page Count 192
Imprint Hertfordshire Publications
Publisher University of Hertfordshire Press
Weight(grams) 333g