Tour of the Former Fair Mile Hospital, Cholsey
The Fair Mile Hospital (before 1948 known by a succession of different names) was until relatively recently Berkshire’s county lunatic asylum.
If the term ‘lunatic asylum’ sends shivers of dread down your spine, be ready to adjust your perceptions. Consider the alternatives and try to understand that the Victorian asylum system was a well-founded effort to tackle mental illness head-on through compassion, diligent care and research. No mental institution was ever entirely sweetness and harmony, but these places made possible valuable advances in mental health care.
Ian Wheeler’s guided tour will take us around the site with a site plan to help visualise the site as it once was.
The meeting place will be notified a few days before the visit. Please arrive 10 mins early for signing in and safety briefing etc.
Numbers are limited, so pre-booking is required. Bookings close three days beforehand.
Image: The Fairmile Hospital front by Bill Nicholls, CC BY-SA 2.0
To book, scroll down.
Date
- Tue 19 May 2026
Time
- 14:00 - 16:00
Tickets
- £5.00
Location
- Reading Road, Cholsey, Oxfordshire OX10 9HH
Category
Organiser
-
The Centre - Berkshire FHS
-
Email
booking@berksfhs.org.uk -
Website
https://berksfhs.org/branches/
Speaker
-
Ian WheelerIan Wheeler was not only a Cholsey kid, but actually lived at Fair Mile Hospital for the first three months of his life. This distinction, plus long-term family associations with the hospital, led to the publication of his book Fair Mile Hospital: a Victorian Asylum in 2015.
Now busily retired, Ian’s ‘portfolio’ career has included sales, purchasing, computer systems, train driving, health & safety, quality assurance and editing for a major academic publisher. In quieter moments, Ian is a performing folk musician and enjoys model railways, morris dancing and good beer – although not necessarily in that order.