In early 19th Century Ireland, mental illness appeared to be rife, or was it?  Some reasons for being admitted to your local asylum were; 'Moral Causes, Physical Causes, Hereditary and Not Known'. Moral causes included 'poverty, reverse of fortune', 'grief, fear and anxiety', 'religious excitement', 'domestic quarrels', 'ill-treatment', 'pride', 'anger' and 'love, jealousy and seduction'.  If these were some of the conditions to gain entry, that would explain why they were over crowded. 

There were also adverse treatments that the patients had to suffer, one was known as the "Circulating Chair",  the patient was tied to the chair in a seated or lying position.  The chair would then be rotated at a high speed, sometimes up to 60 times a minute.  Witness reports described it as "obstinate and furious", the swing "generated a sufficiency of alarm to ensure obedience, in the melancholic it provoked a natural interest in the affairs of life. 

For people living in th...

Something I noticed a while ago was the deeper into the countryside that I find an abandoned home they always will be the ones with the religious figurers and symbols.  This was one house I came across a few months ago.  The only room still accessible was this bedroom, unfortunately it had already been trashed but I thought I would capture what I could of the religious figures. 

All that was left in the room was a hospital bed, clothing and religious reminders.  All the clothing seemed to be female, I would assume she lived here on her own. 

A souvenir from Lourdes side by side with Jesus and the thorns.

A longer view of the room towards a wardrobe with two religious heads and a cross.  The lady must have liked to collect handbags as these were a plenty but had been thrown around the room with other belongings.

                            A closer view of the heads, it's almost like they are looking away in shame at the mess....

I documented this cottage almost 5 years ago.  It sat on a road I travelled on everyday and I hadn't noticed it due to the fact it was completely overgrown in weeds and brambles.  One evening on my route home I had stopped outside the front of the cottage to give right of way to a local herd of cows from the opposite field.   That's when I spotted the chimney.  There was nothing else for it, that night I packed my camera and  took off to fight my way through the  brambles {it was the middle of the summer so these were in full force!}

 I got to the front door which was hanging off it's very hinges, stepped inside and almost hit my head off the low ceiling.  The windows were small and the light inside was low, but I wasn't letting this stop me.  I went into the kitchen which had been trashed by years of vandalism, it was hard to get a photograph in here and make sense of the mess.  What I did find was this blue gentleman's jacket hanging up on the wall, I presume...