Glenside Hospital Museum

Explore Mental Health, Inspire Change

Our Collections

Destigmatising mental illness and learning difficulties, bringing attention to personal wellbeing and increasing understanding of the brain and selfcare 

News & Events

Latest events and exhibitions

Following a short festive break, our museum is now open for 2026.

Our uplifting new exhibition What Brings Me Joy launched on Saturday 8th November - join us to explore this fresh collection of colourful artworks! 

Due to its popularity we've extended our Tea in the Turret event for the winter season, so come and enjoy a cosy tea party in our quirky balcony room.

Check out all of our events via "What's On" in the menu above. 

To explore our museum virtually please download the Bloomberg Connects free digital guide to engage with both during your visit or from any device anywhere. Download the app here.

January 22, 2026
January 22, 2026

Victorian patient portraits: a talk with Dr Paul Tobia 19th March 2026

Unlike the sometimes sterile notes of the medics, these photos brought back their humanity, though often pose more questions: What were they like? Can you tell what was wrong with them? Did they like having their photos taken? In this talk, Dr Tobia will discuss how people with psychiatric problems have been portrayed, how photography changed that, and how our asylum used these photographs.
January 18, 2026
January 18, 2026

2025 at Glenside Hospital Museum in Bristol

We're very grateful to everyone who supported our museum in 2025. Whether you volunteered with us, visited the museum, attended an event, bought from our eBay shop or museum gift shop, created art for one of our exhibitions or commented/liked/shared our social media posts to help raise our profile. Read on for a round-up of our best events of 2025.

Our Collections

We house three collections

Volunteering

The museum has a wide variety of projects and is always looking for people to work on them. There is a lot of historical research to conduct, displays to be put together, and general work to ensure we provide the best visitor experience we can.

We are flexible and able to give volunteers a role that fits in with their own interests or requirements.

Volunteer Options
Group photo of Glenside Hospital Museum volunteers with the Lord Mayor Andrew Varney at PoW! project launch party

Visit Us

Glenside Hospital Museum is located within the grounds of the old psychiatric hospital housed in the 1881 Grade II listed asylum church. The main hospital building is now used by the University of West of England as their Health and Social Care Campus. We’re in situated in the Grade II listed church just inside the grounds. For more details, including group booking and accessibility, please see our visiting page.

 

Visitor Info

"If you have never been to Glenside Hospital Museum, it is a wonderful museum. It is not gloomy or depressing but fascinating and hopeful. A really progressive institution."

Julie Begen

"A fabulous history of the area, the hospitals, and of approaches to mental health and learning disabilities. An amazing array of artefacts, surgical instruments and ephemera. The staff were really welcoming and knowledgeable. Absolutely loved it!"

Lea Roberts

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To stay open the Museum relies on the generosity of our visitors

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Contact us about the museum

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