Inside Fiddington House

Fiddington House was a home for people with nervous disorders from the 1830s until the 1960s. It was privately owned although it took what might be called council residents. But the real money came fr...

A First World War Medical Kit

Today we look at a tin containing its original contents - medicaments. This little tin was produced by Burroughs Wellcome and Co of London. The Wellcome name is still well known in the medical fiel...

A 1920s Carnival

Before 1948 there was no National Health Service in Britain. Some folks could afford the doctor. Others relied on charity. Perhaps people recognised the problems this caused before the politicians. Ce...

Fiddington House – a brief history.

We do not know where these typewritten notes came from but they tell the story of the origins of the Fiddington Asylum. The notes transcribed In 1816 a Mr Willett, linen-draper in Devizes took pre...

Hospital Week

Most people thoroughly cherish our National Health Service and don’t remember life without it. But people whose memories stretch back to the 1940s or before will recall a time when access to health ...

Mustard Leaf

Mustard Leaf or Mustard Paper seems  to have been important material in the treatment of various  injuries and ailments in times past. We have several examples of the material from the earlier decad...

Hospital week children in 1927

This charming photo of youngsters dressed for the carnival in 1927 was taken by the Burgess photographers. We know the names of many of the children. From left to right they are: Bessie Gye who l...

A Virol Jar

Virol was marketed as ‘The Ideal Food’ It was ‘A preparation of bone marrow’ and ‘an ideal fat food for children and invalids’ Virol was first produced, experimentally,  by the Bovril ...

A Victorian Hand Warmer

These days we are accustomed to well heated houses and public buildings and we get from place to place in cars with efficient systems to keep us at a good temperature. It wasn’t always so and in tim...

An Advertisement for Fiddington House

Last year we were handed this advert for the Private Lunatic Asylum at Fiddington House. It comes from an 1880 Kelly’s Directory. A lunatic asylum was founded in the early nineteenth century at P...