The Epsom Cluster

The Epsom hospital cluster was the largest group of psychiatric hospitals in Europe – and possibly the world. Built to house 10,000 of London’s ‘pauper lunatics’, it was like having another town on Epsom’s doorstep. An extraordinary undertaking, the five planned asylums were almost self-sufficient and employed tens of thousands of people over the years. Some patients lived in the cluster for almost their whole lives while others stayed for only a short time, and each of their experiences were un