Merrifield Children's Unit

Merrifield Children's Unit (also known as Merryfield or Merrifields) was a residential children's and adolescents' psychiatric institution in the grounds of Tone Vale Hospital (an adult mental hospital) approximately 3 km (1.9 miles) north west of Norton Fitzwarren, near Taunton, Somerset, England, in what is now the village Cotford St Luke.[1]

Merrifield Children's Unit
View of the extended Merrifield Children's Unit, as officially opened in March 1976
Shown in Somerset
Geography
Location	Cotford St Luke, Somerset, England
Coordinates	51.0392°N 3.1886°W
Organisation
Care system	NHS
Type	Psychiatric institution for children
Services
History
Opened	1950s
Closed	1995
Links
Lists	Hospitals in England

History

The Merrifield Unit was established by psychiatrist Dr Martin Frank (known as 'Jim') Bethell (d. 1982)[2] as a regional unit for the treatment of young people.[3] By November 1961, it was catering for 36 'psychotic and maladjusted' children.[4] In the mid-1970s, the Merrifield buildings were upgraded, and a substantial new extension was opened in March 1976 by Sir Desmond Pond.[3]

The Unit served the whole of South West England, and for much of its existence its management was under the control of Dr Bethell and nursing officer Donald Mackey.[5] Other child psychiatry specialists associated with Merrifield included Dr Adriaan Bakker[6] and Dr Frank Bayley.[7] Of the Merrifield patients, one observer notes, "Some of the children, although highly disturbed, were extremely well read and educated."[5]

Tone Vale Hospital, Merrifield Unit's parent institution, was closed in 1995,[1] as was Merrifield itself.[8] The entire site is now occupied by the newly built village of Cotford St Luke.[9] Merrifield is succeeded by the Orchard Lodge Young People's Unit located in Cotford St Luke.[10]

References and allusions in literature

In her memoir, The Light in My Mind,[11] Joyce Passmore writes of being admitted to Merrifield in 1957 at the age of 13 suffering with epilepsy, prior to being transferred to the main adult hospital.[12] The novel Delivered Unto Lions[13] by David Austin is based on the experiences of a Merrifield patient in the 1970s.[8]

See also

• Healthcare in Somerset
• List of hospitals in England

References

1. "Tone Vale". County Asylums. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
2. "Obituary". British Medical Journal (Clinical research ed.). 284 (6316): 673–674. doi:10.1136/bmj.284.6316.673. PMC 1496215.
3. "Obituary". British Medical Journal (Clinical research ed.). 284 (6326): 1416–1417. doi:10.1136/bmj.284.6326.1416. PMC 1498317.
4. "Psychotic and Maladjusted Children". Hansard. 29 November 1961. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
5. Hinton, David, & Clarke, Fred. (Eds.). (1997). The Tone Vale story: a century of care. Bishop's Lydeard: Rocket Publishing. p. 43. ISBN 1-899995-05-6
6. "BJ Psych Bulletin" (PDF). University of Cambridge Press.
7. Elsevier Heath Sciences. (1976). The medical directory, 1976: general alphabetical list A - Mac & Mad - Z, Part 1. Oxford, UK: Churchill Livingstone. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-443-01440-6
8. "Tone Vale children's unit remembered in novel". This is The West Country. 8 November 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
9. "Cotford St Luke". The Exmoorian. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
10. Farr, Hannah, & O’Herlihy, Anne. (Compilers). (2004, November). Child & adolescent mental health in-patients units in England, Scotland, Wales and Belfast: unit directory (2nd ed.). London: College Research Unit of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. p. 32.
11. Passmore, Joyce. (2010). The Light in My Mind. Yeovil, UK: Speak Up Somerset. ISBN 978-0-9549772-5-2
12. "My fight back to life after being tricked into hospital hell". Somerset Live. 10 September 2010. Archived from the original on 13 September 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
13. Austin, David. (2010). Delivered Unto Lions. Dooagh, Ireland: CheckPoint Press. ISBN 978-1-906628-21-5

External links

• Media related to Cotford St Luke at Wikimedia Commons, which shows some of the former hospital buildings