Trengweath Unit, Redruth

A small mental health unit that specializes in supporting young people and their families as well as children who have learning disabilities. There are  also seperate buildings that are used to treat people with behavioral difficulties. They also provide support for people in need of housing, it is part of the NHS that provides care across the south west in different areas. Part of the main struture is said to have belonged to a well known banker, Robert Tweedy, who belonged to the Tweedy family which was well known in Cornwall as they were very wealthy.

 

 Main Building, Trengweath, Redruth

Victorian Building, Trengweath, Redruth

Digby Park - Exeter City Asylum

Exeter City Asylum was opened in 1886 which was designed by Robert Stark Williams a local architect who made the 'asylum' into 2 main ranges with the northern part being made up of service areas, administrative facilities and accommodation for laundry workers. The southern part of the hospital was made up of occupations for the male inmates with the central parts being separate wards for male and female patients alongside open land with the wards being separated by a recreation hall. In 1929 the Asylum was renamed to Exeter Mental Hospital and was used in the first World War to accommodate patients from Bristol City Asylum when it was taken over for military use.

Exeter Lunatic Asylum, 1886

The hospital changed name again in 1949 becoming Digby Hospital, to then become Exe Vale Hospital, Digby Branch in 1962 before it's closer in 1987 a year after Devon County Asylum with 301 beds left in 1971. Similarly to what is now Devington Park, Digby Hospital became housing and is now known as Digby Park, earlier plans show the hospital was to be completely demolished to be replaced by a supermarket and a new housing site but the plans were declined as the main hospital and smaller buildings linking to it are Grade 2 listed. There is still the chapel and the gatehouse visible on entry to the main building with the majority of its features still in place.

Administrative Building, Digby Park, Exeter

Wonford House - St Thomas Lunatic Asylum

Wonford House was built on the 18th of October 1866 and was completed on the 7th of July 1869 with the Earl of Devon officially opening the hospital. This came after 1842 when there was a request to increase the size of St Thomas Lunatic Asylum that lead to the pauper 'lunatics' being removed from the hospital in 1845 as "the majority were incurable" Nick Henry 1980 pg. 58. Bowhill House (St Thomas Lunatic Asylum) was purchased in 1801 with the 'asylum' being established in 1815, before being moved to new grounds after the request of expansion. The main hospital consisted of 3 walled courts, 3 gardens and 5 indoor galleries as the design was similar to a french chateau. The hospital also had a billiard room, ballroom and a chapel that was aimed at entertaining gentlemen. There were 120 beds at the time, it is now park of Exe Vale hospital that accommodates the main royal Devon and Exeter hospital that was moved from Southernhay in 1974.

 Wonford House, 1866

Wonford House is now the headquarters of Devon Partnership NHS Trust, who provide occupational therapy services for those in need. As well as care for those with mental health problems, there are art classes as a form of therapy. Wonford also specializes in treating people with problems such as behavioral and eating disorders.

Front of Main Building, Wonford House, Heavitree, Exeter

Devington Park - Devon County Lunatic Asylum

The Devon County Lunatic Asylum was first opened in July 1845 with the architect Charles Fowler who had created such places as Covent Garden market. His design was that of the Radial design with the main administration building being the center piece and several wards radiating outwards that patients would've lived in. It was built in 1842 and completed in 1845, it was also based on the model of Pentonville Prison.

Engraving of Devon County Pauper Lunatic Asylum 1845

John Charles Bucknill was the first medical superintendent in which he campaigned to have people who were mentally in transferred into his institution. He also made publications to expose the abuse of unstable relatives that was inflicted on them from their families. Elderly people who were deemed unwell were sent to the 'asylum' and arrived in extremely poor conditions, some didn't need psychiatric treatment but Bucknill refused to send them back. In 1862 Charles Bucknill left the institute and was replaced by Symes Saunders where the institution began to go down hill. There began to be severe over-crowding in 1864, which lead to several patients being turned away in 1870 until vacancies could be made and admission decisions becoming more biased towards recovery. The number of patients remaining in treatment at the end of each year was around 590 in the 1860s which had risen to over 800 in the 1880s that contributed to the over-crowding.

John Charles Bucknill

It's first peak of patients was in 1915 at 1,421 but the population eased slightly in the next 7 years before growing again from 1923. In 1929 the Devon County Lunatic Asylum became Devon Mental Hospital, with a separate sanatorium being built in 1877 and further extensions in 1906. The patient numbers peaked again in 1951 with over 1,500 patients under treatment in the hospital there were still issues with over-crowding a there had been no further extensions since 1906. In 1961 the hospital had changed names again to become Exe Vale Hospital (Exminster Branch) to be combined with Digby Hospital and Wonford House, the hospital was also expected to half its beds by 1975. It then became Exminster hospital in 1981 with it being sold in the late 1980s to be closed in 1985. The roofs of the main wards were striped with the site being turned into housing bringing it into the present day and Devington Park.

Adminstrative Building, Devington Park, Exminster, Exeter

Royal Naval Hospital Stonehouse

The Royal Naval Hospital in Plymouth was built opposite Stonehouse Creek in 1791 during the 7 years war. It was intended to be primarily accessible by water. The building of the hospital began in 1758 and was completed in 1762. Extra blocks were added in 1905 to house 'lunatics' and alcholics with the blocks being numbered which was changed to names and letters in 1924. Within each block the wards were numbered 1, 2 or 3. The quadrangle in the main part of the hospital was detached from over wards to stop the spread of infection.

Royal Naval Hospital, Stonehouse, Plymouth

The hospital has been converted into housing with Devonport School For Boys at the rear of the site, the quadrangle is still in place with the majority of the original buildings as it is Grade 2 listed. The extra blocks are that were used for housing 'lunatics' have also been converted into housing. The hospital is now called Millfields.

Front Left Wing, Stonehouse, Plymouth

Finishing the BA, showing work in London and looking for work

The summer show in London was very succesul, as I manged to speak to new people to create new connections that can help me to improve my work. Coming home from London my new focus is on finding work and getting ready for events such as the White Horse Hill exhibition opening in September in which a handful of my images are being used in. I am also looking forward to working with the community project in Bodmin to do with St Lawrence's that will introduce me to a wide range of people to do with the hospital and it's history

My work on display

Showing my work in such a large space has lead me to think about how I would like to carry this project on, as I want to photograph more people to create a larger body of work that emphasizes what I am trying to say. Through exploring new ideas and getting a range of feedback I am confident that I am able to create the work that I need to create an even better exhibition that could be shown in Bodmin for the people of St Lawrence's so see.

Photograph Featured on The National Trust Website For Wembury

Continuing my volunteer work for the National Trust, one of my images that I've taken whilst at Wembury point has been featured on the main Tourist Information page along with other photographers that have photographed that area. I am very happy to receive this recognition as it will lead to further interest in my work and achieve a wider audience. The link to the website is below.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wembury/

Who to Invite to The Summer Show in London

As I have made new connections and gained new experiences, the main group of people that I wish to invite will be organisations such as Plymouth City Museum and Gallery which will be showing the work that I have contributed to the White Horse Hill project, the Records Office, the Cornwall Records Office, people from the National Trust who I've worked with and possibly the National Portrait Gallery. I want my work to be seen mostly by people with interest in history and portraiture as my current project is about the history of St Lawrences, with portraits of the people who used to work there telling their story. This can also relate to people who have worked in a similar environment that has been demolished or converted, with memories of that place still relevant to them.

I will also be talking about my landscape work as I have put some of the images from my last project in the catalog that we have made to show what I am interested in photographing, as I am enjoy photographing historical landscapes and visiting new places with a strong story behind them. By doing this I am showing that I can shoot portraits and landscape, that means I am diverse in how I can show my ideas as although I enjoy historical landscapes I can still show the history of a place through the people that are still connected to it. It is important for me to show these pieces of work as it is something that I am passionate about and hope to carry on through possible funding and confidence as I challenge myself more to do new things that are out of my comfort zone.

More of my work is visible here at my newly furbished website lrundlephoto.co.uk

Re-making My Website

After going over my original website, I decided to make a new one to update my pictures and to make it accessible for people to get to as the previous site wasn't as clear to navigate as I would have liked and felt that it didn't look as professional. I chose to go with  4ormat as my peers had used it and mentioned how simple it was to use with links to social media, one of my favorite features is that it can be viewed on a tablet or mobile phone meaning that I can check how it's working on my own phone while I'm on the move. In this post I have included a few screen shots of how I managed my work with information on why I chose those images.

 

In this section I have selected which images from my times on Dartmoor I wanted to show, as I enjoy visiting the moors and felt that I should include that as separate section as I have a lot of images from projects and my own work. The most recent images I have put at the front of the section to keep people interested and up to date, showing images from the White Horse Hill project that I am currently working on.

The next section that I have looked into is portraiture, as my most current project that will be shown in London is portraiture based. This section is one of the smaller ones which I am going to expand over time as I gain more confidence in myself with meeting new people and photographing them. I am hoping to carry on the St Lawrences project after the final hand in because I think that I could try to get more people and possibly show my work in a space in Bodmin where the previous workers are based.

This page is the first page that people will see when they look at my website, I wanted so showcase the best of my landscape pictures as I want to continue working in landscape photography. Having a mix of different work shows the different skills that I have alongside the different interests that influence my pictures. Along with these pages there is a page dedicated to my National Trust work and a page named Other, that has some of my film images alongside pictures that I have taken that don't fit into the other categories. There is also a about me page and a contact page for people to get in touch with me if they want to know anything about my work or possible clients.

Here is the link to my new fully running website lrundlephoto.co.uk