Tone Vale Hospital was built in 1897 and closed in 1995. This is now pretty much totally converted into homes, and a few leisure services.
The main recreation hall is really the only derelict piece of interest left. Situated bang in the middle of the development, it contains a curious selection of junk – presumably from people now living in the converted parts…
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I was admitted to Merrifields in the late 80′s. With adolescent behavioural problems!!. I was one of the lucky ones who was never pinned and injected with sedatives, or pinned and forced to have metal clamps in the mouth to be fed. But we all saw it. We were just “children” suffering from one form or another of Mental illness. I remember “escaping” to goto the shop situated in Tone Vale where we witnessed adults young & old wandering the corrordoors in zombie like states. What I saw & how issues were dealt with by “The Professionals” regarding patients will forever be with me & it’s frightening. Even now at nearly 35 yrs old, something can happen & I am right back to Taunton, Merrifield & Tone Vale. E-mail: h-m-v@hotmail.co.uk
I worked there 1988-90 and thought it was a hell of a strange place, and yes some of the staff were more in need of treatment than the patients it seemed !! I lived on site and was in the nurses home (not a nurse btw) or involved with patients at all. It was one of those places that was VERY spooky . I had a very bad time career wise whilst I was there and was so glad to hear it had shut.
i was in maryward tonvalein1973 on mary ward i rember dr friskin staffnurse tutt sister hanson and many more would like to get hold of my records for my drs does anyone remberme
I wish to record my sincere thanks to all contributors for all the posts on this site. It is important that these things are remembered, good or bad. In particular I thank those that have traumatic memories and/or experiences to relate. I hope that sharing them helps and wish you all the very best for the future.
I was admitted to Merrifields childrens unit, and was there from Oct 1957 to Oct 1958. I was given two kinds of tablets and also iron tonic. Me and other patients were forched to have ECT against their will. It was about the worst year of my life. My parents got me out of the place. I am now 61< still haunts me now and stll have flashbacks
I was a patient on Mary and Olivia wards as a young teenager in the late 60s and early 70s. I was anorexic. I think I threw a glass and ended up on a back ward where we used to be herded up the main road in overalls and wellies to wash eggs at the local chicken farm. It was so humiliating. We had a very strict regime of activities and no privacy. We slept in a dormitory and had to bath in a communal bathroom. I am still not sure what therapeutic effect all this was meant to have. I have rebuilt my life over the years and now have a good career and a grown up family. I shall never forget the treatment I received. The only good thing to come from that time is that I make sure that the people I have looked after never experience what I did. The previous postings are very disturbing. Would it be possible to bring this treatment of young children to the public attention as others have done.
I agree with you, Liz, the treatment of children at Tone Vale/Merrifield should be brought to wider public attention.
As it happens, I am working on something along these lines – but don’t hold your breath (I came across this site in the earlier research stages for my ‘project’). Meanwhile, however, I’d support anything anyone else might have in mind for doing this.
By the way, I can’t believe I said in a previous post (above) that I didn’t witness the kind of horrors described by another poster. The thing is (I think), if you’re exposed to these things for long enough they become ‘normal’, and in the years following they stay with you, but somehow it’s such a long time since you last noticed how horrific they were that you just accept them. But once you start itemising the things you witnessed and experienced (as I’ve been doing in the course of what I’m working on) you start to realise how scandalous it all is.
futurepast@eschaton.org.uk
hi i was in merrifield childrens unit for many years as my parents didnt want me i was told i was an uncontrollable child yeah right! i was later told years later that i should never have been put there but hey i was.And some of the things i saw was well should never have happened really the treatment of the kids was so wrong and that is what they were kids im now 39 and have 4 kids of my own but will never forget the years i lived there and tone vale and merrifield was pulled down years ago to build houses .I also spent some time in tone vale why ask my parents when i was 17 the drugs they gave me were horrible and i didnt feel human at all.
just wanted to add what i wrote i remember the awful times when one of my friends was always getting pinned down and given injections and also remembering the way they forced fed the anareixcs its all coming back now sadly and the agression from the staff was unbelievably rough to say the least.After leaving merrifield i self harmed as i thought it was the norm and had been there for so long i was there from 1981 till 1986-7 and seeing my friends being pinned down and striped naked and put inthe time out room i have also had a drinking problem but its sorted now but living in a place like merrifield does make you change
definatly agree with you there tina about the self harm. I learnt more about self harm in merrifields then i already did, also became more sneaky with it. Trouble with some places like this is you could be admitted with one sort of problem, needing to or not, and end up learning alot more about other things which rub off onto you as well.
i just found out that my best friend was in tone vale from the age of 8 to 14, and i am sickend to know he was given electrike shock treatment for all those years, he is such a sweet person now, i couldnt understand how he ever ended up there, he still finds it almost too painfull to talk about. and those years haunt him still.
Hi everyone, i just popped back to this website to have a look, and its really good that other people have left comments further specially kenny which i do remember well he use to look out for me and help me when i was in trouble i would like to shake his hand 1 day and say THANK YOU.. There was so much more which went on there which would take hours to write, not just went on in merrifields also tone vale.. I have also just found out that there are still a few of the old staff from merrifields who are still currently working with children down in the taunton area ? I would love to go and knock there door and ask them why they treated me and other pupils the way they did. I have 1 of the names which i wont mention over the air on this website, but for example,i had tourettes and sometimes i kept spitting, which i dont do now,this member of staff said if i dont stop spitting he will take me to the toilet and make me spit untill i fill one of the toilet pans up, so the next day i still spat. so he dragged me to the toilet held my head over the pan and forced me to spit,instead i was violently sick as no one had pulled the flush after they had been to toilet?? I was then told not to tell no one about this otherwise i would loose a weekends leave ? I would love to meet him again and let him try and do it again i think it would be the other way round now. I feel that was child abuse ? Like i said there is so much more, i wont even start on tone vale, oh and there was brooklands home in Langport part of the merrifields chain ? I have a very good memory, and these last couple of weeks every thing is coming back to me, its like being haunted i even wake up some nights thinking about it. If anybody wants to get in contact or wants to write a book or require a story or anything please feel free to contact me i wiil leave my e-mail address at the bottom. I would like to send my biggest love and best wishes to all the people who went through what I and many other people did.xx . email me at , christopher.witts@ntlworld.com
Chris, I’ve emailed you with what information I’ve got. Good luck, and let us know how you get on.
Thanks DMA, will do.. Might even go to take a break magazine or maybe a newspaper and try and get this nightmare out of my mind , there must be someone out there whos interested in a story which made so many children suffer in the 70s and 80s due to the poor running of this unit and hospital ??
I am from Brighton but I lived for a short time in Wiveliscombe and I often drove through Cotford St Luke when it was being built. I was interested in this building and found out it used to be a hospital for mental health patients but this is the first time I have ever known the true extent of what went on in that hospital and I am absolutely horrified. My heart goes out to all of you who suffered at the hands of these monsters. I am a therapist based back in Brighton now and many of you sound like you have rebuilt your lives but I truly hope you can all find the outlet you need to lay these terrible memories to rest. I think you are all very brave and my thoughts are with you. SJR