Dorset County Asylum was originally founded 1832 and was based at Forston House in Charminster. By the 1860s, this facility was too small, and the new asylum at the Herrison site was opened in 1863. Herrison House itself was opened in 1904, and in 1940 the institution became known as Herrison Hospital.

Asylums, also known as lunatic asylums, were institutions for the mentally ill. Herrison had a mixture of patients. Some were pauper patients (later called rate-aided or Health Service patients). These patients could not afford to pay for their own upkeep, and so were funded by the parish rates, or later the National Health Service. Others were private patients, where friends or family were paying for their upkeep. Patients could enter the asylum on a voluntary basis, or because they had been certified as mentally ill by a magistrate.

The Herrison collection contains various types of patient records. These records will be under restricted access for 100 years. There are also other records relating to the staff, the buildings and the administration of the institution.

Because much of this collection is under restricted access, and because it is not fully catalogued, it is important that you contact us in advance if you wish to use these records.

If you would like to find information about a patient who was at Herrison within the last 100 years, there is a special procedure for doing this. This is to ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act.