The Sussex County Asylum was opened in 1859 and until its formal closure in 1995, housed and treated tens of thousands of patients. Before the nineteenth century, madness and insanity was generally treated at home. The first purpose-built hospital for insane patients was Bethlem Hospital built in 1676. The Asylum was one of the last asylums to be built following the 1845 Asylums Act and at one point housed over 1000 patients. Many of the first patients to arrive came from overcrowded asylums in London. The original building survives and is now Grade II listed and used as residential properties.
The cache is located within the old burial ground of the asylum (which extends further towards the hospital and is now a green space) and in this location 4 gravestones of former patients can be found.
These gravestones and the people buried here inspired me to further research and I am currently doing a PhD at the University of Sussex where I am investigating the experiences of the patients between 1890-1913.