Contact Artefacts
please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.

Fort England, including East Barracks - Later Lunatic Asylum, then Mental Hospital
Makhanda (Grahamstown), Eastern Cape

John Todd WELCHMAN: Architect
James H (Lieut) RUTHERFORD: Architect
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT of the CAPE COLONY: Architect

Date:1815 : 1825 : 1894
Type:Asylum
Status:Extant

Located south-east of the centre of Grahamstown. In 1815 constructed of soft brick, the joinery coming from Uitenhage because of the local shortage of carpenters. At the time it was known as Witruggens or the East Barracks. The Rev Shaw held his first service in a room here in 1820. In 1825 it was enlarged, the new buildings designed by RUTHERFORD including a new mess room as extentions, done in strictly classical style. It was established as the Asylum for Grahamstown in 1875 and later as a hospital. Additional buildings were added in 1894 by J ARMSTRONG for the PWD.

All truncated references not fully cited below are those of Joanna Walker's original text and cited in full in the 'Bibliography' entry of the Lexicon.


Books that reference Fort England, including East Barracks - Later Lunatic Asylum, then Mental Hospital

Lewcock, Ronald. 1963. Early Nineteenth Century Architecture in South Africa : a study of the interaction of two cultures, 1795-1837. Cape Town: AA Balkema. pg 74, 194-195, 247-250, 312, 313, 353, 375, 402n
Picton-Seymour, Désirée. 1977. Victorian Buildings in South Africa. Cape Town: AA Balkema. pg 211-212
Potgieter, DJ (Editor-in-chief). 1971. Standard Encyclopaedia of South Africa [SESA] Volume 4 Dev-For. Cape Town: Nasou. pg 648
Radford, D. 1979. The architecture of the Western Cape, 1838-1901. A study of the impact of Victorian aesthetics and technology on South African architecture. Johannesburg: Unpublished Ph.D thesis. Dept of Arch. University of the Witwatersrand. pg 137