Moorfields Bethlem - The landscape - 1676-1815
Until
the mid-eighteenth century, the
Moorfields Bedlam, designed by
Robert Hooke, was the
only significant example of a
purpose-built lunatic hospital in Britain. Major features of Hooke's
Bethlem, in terms of the setting,
accommodation and treatment, provided the model used for other charitable
lunatic hospitals founded in
the eighteenth century and even the publicly funded county asylums in the
nineteenth century. As such its
estate was very influential in asylum construction, including the principal
elements of the estate: the
building, airing courts and forecourt.
The new site selected,
close by Bishopsgate, at the head of Moorfields, was
chosen for its "health and aire",
the benefit of an ample, unsullied fresh air supply and its effective
circulation being regarded by the
Governors as the key to healthy surroundings.
The poem Bethlehem's Beauty (1676) emphasised the
perceived virtues of the new site's healing air:
Th' Approaching Air, in every gentle Breeze,
Is Fan'd and Winnow'd through the neighbouring Trees,
And comes so Pure, the Spirits to Refine,
As if th' wise Governours had a Designe
That should alone, without Physick Restore
Those whom Gross Vapours discompos'd before
The Governors employed the prominent architect Robert Hooke (1635-1703),
who was actively involved in
the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire, to design the building.
Largely constructed by 1676, it was
probably only the third purpose-built asylum, after one in
Valencia (1409, destroyed 1512) and the
Dolhuys in Amsterdam (1562).
Andrews states, in connection with the intentions of the Governors, that
they were
"much more concerned with the 'Grace and Ornament of the _
Building' than with the patients'
exercise or any other therapeutic purpose - New Bethlem was constructed
pre-eminently as fund-raising
rhetoric, to attract the patronage and admiration of the elite, rather than
for its present and future inmates,
whose interests took a poor second place'"
The Moorfields Bethlem was in Lower Moorfields, to the west of Bishopsgate.
. Like Bishpsgate, it was outside the north boundary of
the City, although only just so. The site for the building ran parallel
to the ancient London Wall, and only
nine feet (3m) to the north of it, occupying open ground on the site of the
old City ditch which had been
filled in. The site formed the south boundary of, and overlooked,
Moorfields, a series of substantial formal
public open spaces laid out from 1605, which, although largely surrounded
by development, formed a
finger of open space which led directly out to the open fields to the
north.
Moorfields Bethlem was palatial in
scale, even in terms of new constructions put up as part of the building
campaign after the Great Fire,
being intended to accommodate 120 patients. The about 540 feet (166m) long
entrance facade on the north
front was depicted by Robert White in an engraving of 1677
(external link to picture), shortly after
construction, together with parts
of the grounds.
The single-pile building was of two storeys over a
basement, and showed Dutch and French influences in its elaborate external
decoration. The patients were
segregated indoors, at first with males on the ground floor and females on
the first floor. The cells, for
individual patients, led off galleries which served for communication and
for exercise in inclement weather.
John Evelyn was one of the many admirers of new Bethlem, describing it as
"magnificently built, & most
sweetely placed in Morefields". There must surely have been a service
entrance on the south side of the
building, between it and the City Wall, although the space between the two
was only nine feet (3m).
White's engraving clearly shows the grounds and part of the
provision made
for patient exercise.
The outline in plan form of the building and its open spaces in
relation to their setting is also shown
on contemporary maps of London such as Morgan's map of 1682
(external link to map)
Robert White's 1677 engraving
and Morgan's 1682 map are
the two main illustrative
sources available for Hooke's Bethlem as it was when first built.
The grounds were divided into a
large rectangular forecourt in
front of the building, flanked by two smaller exercise yards. The whole was
approached via the formally
laid out and enclosed lawns of Moorfields, a fashionable recreational space
for the local inhabitants which
had been one of the first such formally designated public open spaces.
Security at Bethlem was of great
concern, as patients were perceived to be continually likely to abscond as
the opportunity arose. As reliable
staff to supervise patients were difficult to find, the Governors had to
rely on making the environment itself
provide the means for ensuring confinement. The first three reports on the
construction of the building by
the hospital's Committee of Governors were largely taken up with matters
concerning the boundary wall
that was to surround the hospital and its grounds, and to confine the
patients.
The existing London Wall was used to form part of the secure 680 feet
(c.207m) long south boundary
wall. On the other sides a wall was to be constructed at 14 feet (4.2m)
high along the sections which
bounded the airing courts, with a coping expressly intended to stop the
lunatics escaping. The exception
was the front, north, wall of the forecourt which ran parallel to the whole
length of the building and divided
it from the adjacent Moorfields. This c.420 feet (c.128m) long central
section of the whole north wall
would be only eight feet (2.5m) high, so
"that the Grace and Ornament of
the said intended Building may
better appeare towards Morefeilds"
The lowering of the forecourt wall did
not affect security, for the
patients were forbidden to exercise in the forecourt.
(Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives, Bridewell and Bethlem Court of Governors
Minutes, 23.10.1674)
The wall was broken
by six evenly spaced panels of
iron railings, each forming a ten-foot (c.3m) wide clairvoie intended to
enhance the views of the building
from the adjacent and impressively laid out Moorfields open recreational
space. The views were clearly
intended to impress the users of Moorfields, both nearby residents and
visitors alike, and the visitors to
Bethlem itself upon their approach.
Clairvoie (clear view): a gate, fence or grille placed in an otherwise
solid barrier to provide a clear view of outside scenery or, in this case,
the building inside.
The north side of the building and the forecourt are shown in detail on
White's engraving
, with a passer-by
admiring the ensemble. The clairvoie panels were flanked by piers
surmounted by stone pineapples.
At the
centre of the forecourt wall an elaborate triple gateway gave access from
the formally fenced and tree-lined
lawns of Moorfields to the north, between which the visitor approached. The
portentous gateway was
elevated above a flight of steps and surmounted by the
life-sized statues
of two figures depicting raving and melancholy madness,
attributed to Caius Cibber.
From here the visitor crossed the expensively paved
and gravelled forecourt to gain access to the main entrance at the centre
of the building. There were
numerous large windows in the north walls of the ward wings, flanking the
central administrative block,
allowing for the ample ingress of light and air. Those in the raised ground
floor and first floor, in
particular, gave the patients an elevated view of the forecourt, and beyond
this of the designed open spaces
of Moorfields.