DISPLAY CASE
Victorian and Edwardian Fair Mile
This print shows the Asylum as originally conceived. It was divided into two principal blocks, a north block and a south one. Each of these in turn had a male and a female side.
The north block (behind the buildings to the left of this image) was more secure, with smaller windows, and included a padded room on each side. This was where the more acute or destructive patients were housed. The south block was home to new admissions and to convalescent patients who might become well enough to discharge. The south block also enjoyed access to the extensive grounds of the Asylum.
Ground Plan of the Berkshire Asylum
Reference: BCC misc roll 41
This ground plan, drawn for Berkshire County Council, shows the original Asylum buildings in light pink, with the later Victorian and Edwardian extensions in the two darker shades. By this time the north side of the Asylum had been given over solely for the use of male patients, with the females on the south side.
Asylum Diet Sheet
Reference: Q/AL12/1
This page from the annual report shows the weekly menu for patients’ food in 1870.
The diet was bland and repetitive. Breakfast was bread and butter with tea, with dinner consisting of regular meat and potatoes interspersed with soup, Irish stew or meat pie. Supper was a further helping of bread and butter with tea.
Those patients who worked were also entitled to additional food. This was in the form of two helpings of bread and cheese, served with a weak beer. Patients also benefited from fresh fruit and vegetables from the Asylum’s kitchen garden and farm. The rations at Fair Mile probably compared well to what most working class patients ate at home, and were certainly far more generous than in the workhouse.
Fair Mile at Christmas
Reference: Original photograph in private collection
This photographs show an Asylum ward decorated for Christmas.
The Asylum had a friends’ society who donated decorations and distributed Christmas cards and oranges to the patients, and the staff had geese for their Christmas meal. There was a special theatrical performance each year at Christmas time to which members of the public were invited.
Fair Mile at Christmas
Reference: Original photograph in private collection
This is another image of Fair Mile at Christmas time. The photographs were originally kept at the Hospital and appear to have been part of a Fair Mile collection.