>But Barrow Gurney is a village in Somerset.. perfectly legitimate >and as far as I remember, nothing to do with asylums in any form

Used to be a hospital for the critically bewildered there.

As a kid in Bristol, my Dad often used to admonish us by saying "Deese'll drive I ta Barrol Gurney..." translated, and generally understood as "you're driving me mad".

P.S. I should add that we never succeeded, and he never went   :-)