page_title: Sheriff Hill Lunatic Asylum
section_title: Ownership and Operation
hierarchical_section_title: Sheriff Hill Lunatic Asylum / Ownership and Operation
caption_attribution_description: English: Sour Milk Hill Lane, Sheriff Hill, Gateshead in 2010. This is the former site of sheriff hill lunatic asylum which stood on this site in the ninteenth century.
context_page_description: Sheriff Hill Lunatic Asylum was located at Sourmilk Hill in Sheriff Hill, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. At that time Sourmilk Hill Lane continued across Church Road and onto what is today Larne Crescent, the asylum occupied the land on the corner of modern-day Larne Crescent and Church Road. It operated during the nineteenth century and provided isolation and medical care to hundreds of patients at a time when disease and illness in England were treated predominantly through isolation and asylum. At least two patients escaped from the institution, which closed around 1880.
context_section_description: It is likely that the asylum was opened by a Mrs Orton and that at some stage soon after ownership was transferred to Jacob Gowling and his wife, who soon moved onto nearby Wrekenton to open a new asylum in a similar vein.  In 1834, the asylum was in the hands of Samuel Kent, a wealthy local man who owned Beacon Lough Farm and who remained proprietor until the asylum was closed. According to the 1841 census there were 81 inmates at that time. In 1844, records show that the asylum had 86 patients. Of these, some eighty are recorded as being "pauper" whilst the other six are listed as "private". The weekly charge for the receipt and treatment of paupers was "8/- including clothes". In 1855, the asylum was contracted to receive paupers requiring treatment from neighbouring Newcastle.  This increased the patient numbers to ninety-four, with eighty-eight paupers. 
  In 1817, Jonathan Martin, the brother of artist John Martin, was committed to the asylum after threatening to shoot the Bishop of Oxford.  He escaped via the roof three years later. Another, more notorious incident occurred in December 1842:
  An epileptic lunatic escaped from Mr. Kent's asylum at Gateshead Fell ... He was immediately pursued but was not retaken ... He escaped on Saturday night and on the Monday after his escape he murdered his wife and his daughter in a violent paroxysm of epileptic mania, in a most savage and horrid manner.  This wretched man is now a furious criminal maniac...
caption: The site of the asylum
exif: {"Image Make": "AGFAPHOTO", "Image Model": "DC-1003", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2010:05:15 13:23:27", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "Copyright 2008", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Manual", "Image DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "Image FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "35", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Image Sharpness": "Normal", "Image ExifOffset": "324", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1086", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4330", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Shutter Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:05:01 05:39:14", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:05:01 05:39:14", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "2453/500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "497/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "297/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "MultiSpot", "EXIF LightSource": "Daylight", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "31/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "712", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "534", "EXIF RelatedSoundFile": "", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}