A visit to this cemetery reveals a rare and little-known site, reflecting the history of departmental psychiatry in Mayenne.
Continuous self-guided tours using the Wivisites app
Location
Within the hospital grounds, on the La Plaine site of the former EDSM (Etablissement Départemental de Santé Mentale - Departmental Mental Health Establishment), it is nestled along the voie verte (former railway line). Access is via the psychiatry entrance at 222 boulevard Paul Lintier.
History 1878-2017
The La Roche Gandon departmental asylum for the insane opened in 1858 (after an initial building in 1929). In 1878, it established the cemetery on the other side of the Route de Paris on the land of the Baudrairie farm, which it rented and finally bought in 1888. It was intended for the burial of patients living in the asylum, who were often destitute and forgotten by their families. Initially 6,000 m² in triangular shape and walled on two sides, it now covers 4,200 m². A 1950 plan shows 882 burial plots, but if the disused part is added, there are more than 1,200 to consider. The last burial was in 2002, and in 2017 Geneviève Féllion's ashes were scattered on the grave of her husband, who was a medical director and then chief medical officer, buried in 1989.
Only six or seven psychiatric cemeteries have been preserved in France, three of which are listed as historic monuments, the best known of which is Cadillac (Gironde), founded in 1920.
Location
Within the hospital grounds, on the La Plaine site of the former EDSM (Etablissement Départemental de Santé Mentale - Departmental Mental Health Establishment), it is nestled along the voie verte (former railway line). Access is via the psychiatry entrance at 222 boulevard Paul Lintier.
History 1878-2017
The La Roche Gandon departmental asylum for the insane opened in 1858 (after an initial building in 1929). In 1878, it established the cemetery on the other side of the Route de Paris on the land of the Baudrairie farm, which it rented and finally bought in 1888. It was intended for the burial of patients living in the asylum, who were often destitute and forgotten by their families. Initially 6,000 m² in triangular shape and walled on two sides, it now covers 4,200 m². A 1950 plan shows 882 burial plots, but if the disused part is added, there are more than 1,200 to consider. The last burial was in 2002, and in 2017 Geneviève Féllion's ashes were scattered on the grave of her husband, who was a medical director and then chief medical officer, buried in 1989.
Only six or seven psychiatric cemeteries have been preserved in France, three of which are listed as historic monuments, the best known of which is Cadillac (Gironde), founded in 1920.
