This site tells the story of Dartford isolation and mental hospitals, their patients, nurses, doctors and staff through photographs, documents and oral recordings.
Starting out with the River Hospitals in the mid 19th century the history will progress to their establishment on land, the changes wrought by the two world wars (a history of use by American, Australian, Dutch and German troops) and their gradual closure after WW2.
Similarly, the story of the lunatic asylums including the establishment of children’s education, early pioneering psychiatric work and the many hospital workshops that employed the more able inmates.
