I found somewhere else that "Bedlam" and "Bethlem" were common variants of "Bethlehem" in Middle English, and that the full name of the hospital was "St. Mary of Bethlehem" (later Bethlem Royal Hospital). I've known since I was a kid that "bedlam" meant any place or condition of noise and confusion - but I didn't find out until a few years ago that Bedlam had been a mental hospital.

The fascinating site Wildlone linked to says the hospital was founded as a priory for monks in 1247. A page the site says the hospital hospital moved to a new site in Beckenham, Kent, in the late 1920s, and is still operating today. Is it still called Bedlam?

-Joe Offer-