It was an imposing building which at one time encompassed a farm, bakery and its own glass houses where fresh fruit and vegetables were grown.
It came out of the 19th century legislation and drive on the part of government to build asylums to house ever-increasing numbers of people who were deemed to be in need of care and supervision in some way.
When it first opened, it was designed to accommodate approximately 200 patients, but at its peak there were well over 1000 residing there. Many of them long-stay patients, many of them there for decades. There were also around 700 staff, not just doctors and nurses, but also employed to look after the buildings themselves and the grounds. The hospital was a well-known site situated high up on the western outskirts of Carmarthen, overlooking the Towy Valley.
This project is an oral history project capturing the memories of those involved in the life and community of St. David’s. Up until now, it has been very much a hidden history. It is exciting the extent to which we can learn so much from the past, which can help us appreciate how we got to the present and also how we can change things for the better for the future.
St. David’s Hospital witnessed many changes in terms of how patients were treated. Key to all this is capturing those recollections, whether it be through the medium of film or audio recordings or indeed through the submission of written stories.
The stories collected will be captured in written, audio or filmed dialogue and will be available to view online and used to produce a booklet and DVD. We will run community events to promote the project, and people will be able to bring along items, photos and stories to be recorded.
We will run community events to promote the project and people will be able to bring along items, photos and stories to be recorded.
