An order of nuns, known as the Orders of the Star of Bethlehem, set up a priory which would later become better known, in the name's contracted version, as the mental asylum of "Bedlam". The priory originally stood in Bishopsgate, the modern site of Liverpool Street Station. It only began to take in the mentally ill patients, for which it became famous, a hundred years after its establishment, with the first being treated in 1357.
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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Bedlam". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 July 2012 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=114, accessed 23 November 2024.]