Local history: End of an era with closure of St. Mary’s Hospital

By Tom Gillespie

Part One

FOR almost 140 years St. Mary’s Lunatic/Mental Hospital, later St. Mary’s Psychiatric Hospital, was a town within a town in Castlebar.

When it closed in November 2005 a special feature on the history of the hospital was published in The Connaught Telegraph, with contributions from many former staff members and colleagues and former councillor and Mayor of Castlebar, Johnny Mee.

We learned that the mentally ill of Co. Mayo were cared for at St. Mary’s Hospital for 139 years.

In 1865 the first portion of the hospital was built, and officially opened on April 23 (St. George's Day), 1866. The whole complex spanned over 200 acres.

The first admissions were transferred from Ballinasloe by horse and sidecar in 1866.

The District Lunatic Asylum, as it was then known, was more akin to a jail than a hospital with a high wall, locked gates and doors. The general staff with responsibility for the delivery of care were known as attendants.

The main focus of treatment was on social disabilities, with an emphasis on the correction of behaviours, as stated in the ‘Handbook for Attendants on the Insane’.

Asylums had no ‘active’ role to play in the treatment of those whom it considered curable. They merely readjusted the patient’s social and mental world to lead the patient back to good thoughts and correct actions.

Extensions were added in 1878, 1882, 1902 and '36, to cater for the ever growing population of patients.

In May 1900, a tender was accepted from Mr. John Mulligan, Swinford, for the construction of a hospital chapel. The cost of the chapel was £3,636 (€4,620) and it was completed in June 1902. The foundation stone for the last extension, or ‘new wing’ as it became known, was laid in 1934 and bears the inscription: ‘Foirsinge a Leigeadh le Teach na nGealt 1934’.

Patient numbers peaked during the years 1959 to 1963, when numbers increased to 1,300. By 1966, patient numbers had decreased to 1,077, comprising 577 male patients and 500 female patients. The staff complement was 249, with 132 male and 117 female staff.

When one considers the patient population was similar to the population of many small towns throughout Mayo at the time, it is easy to understand how St. Mary’s was described as a ‘town within a town’.

The history of St. Mary’s Hospital, entitled ‘Serving Mayo Mental Health from 1866’, written by Mr. Joe McDermott, was dedicated to the patients and staff who cared for them. Published in 1999, it is an important historical reference and is recommended reading.

Johnny Mee, whose father worked in the hospital as an electrician, recalled: “Up until the late 1960s the hospital was completely self-sufficient in the provision of meat, vegetables and other commodities. A bakery, built in 1932, situated close to where the main entrance to Mayo University Hospital now stands, provided bread for the patients and staff at the time.

“St. Mary’s hospital was always a town within a town because they had their own meat and their own bakery. They were self-sufficient. During the war years they grew their own vegetables on the hospital farm at Moneen.

“The farmyard was situated approximately where the staff dinning hall/central supplies area of Mayo University Hospital now occupies. A herd of over 60 pedigree Friesian cows, whose offspring built up several fine herds throughout the country, provided milk to the hospital.

“With a cobbler, tailor, baker, gardener, farmers and butcher, all the needs of this community were catered for within its sprawling 200 acres.

“From 1970 to 1992 the late Dick Bourke of Breaffy was the butcher for St. Mary’s Hospital. Paddy Hoban had the contract of supplying the beef and Paddy Flannery had the contract to supply sheep. Then that was changed and Matt Shaw was brought in, buying the cattle and sheep as the land steward.

“There was a good stock of animals and three or four cattle a week were killed, about 24 sheep and four or five pigs.”

From the mid '50s, attitudes were slowly changing towards mental illness. In 1957, St. Mary’s became one of the first hospitals in Ireland to remove locked gates. This was followed later by the demolition of the higher perimeter walls, which occurred in 1963. This allowed for greater interaction between patients, staff and the people of Castlebar.

In the ‘60s there was less need for big hospitals and the ‘70s became an era of rehabilitation. Attempts were made to give people back the skills they lost because of their illness or due to institutionalisation.

The first major move from St. Mary’s started in 1972 when St. Teresa’s New Psychiatric Unit was opened for the admission of patients with mental illness. This unit was built on the grounds of St. Mary’s but was managed by Mayo General Hospital service and staffed from St. Mary’s. It had a bed complement of 44.

In the ‘70s there was the realisation that something further needed to be done in terms of the treatment of people with mental illness. There were 1,100 patients resident in St. Mary’s at any one time during the 1970s.

The community rehabilitation programme was introduced in Mayo and people who had recovered were prepared for home or to group homes or hostels. This started on a small scale by taking patients home initially for a visit, which was a major breakthrough for patients and their families.

Then came the development of the community psychiatric services with the establishment of clinics and community mental health centres and group homes throughout the county.

* Part 2 in tomorrow's print edition: The sporting side of St. Mary’s