The hospital was built in 1904 as the (Leicestershire) County Lunatic Asylum to the designs of S.P. Pick, an accomplished and prolific Leicester architect working in a vaguely Art Nouveau manner. It finally closed in 1996 when the site was purchased by Alliance and Leicester for their new headquarters.
As well as serving the needs of over 900 patients at any one time it also provided both paid and voluntary employment for many local residents. The hospital also had a active social scene with thriving badminton, bowling and cricket clubs.
From 1811 until 1948 the Counties of England , Wales and Scotland provided their own system of custody and care and treatment for the Mentally Ill People. These Asylums often took the form of large structures – ranging in capacity from 40 to 3,500 inmates.
By their nature, the County Asylums were placed throughout the Country, usually (but not always) within the County they served. Locally they provided a sustainable source of employment for generations and developed their own communities to serve them. Farther afield they were often view with suspicion or fear – a distant place where disturbed local people or relatives would be ‘removed’ to, and often surrounded with much folklore.
Additionally, sites deemed suitable for would usually be large isolated tracts of land, often served by minor roads and branch railways – the qualities of such sites provide the ideal curative sources for good light, fresh clean air and a handsome outlook across farmland and woodland.
Why County Asylums?
In the past, the former County and Borough Asylums have been largely overlooked, partly due to fear and misunderstanding of their patients and also from their origins as publicly owned – unlike such the (usually older) Private, Charitable and Subscription Asylums such as Bethlem, Montrose, and Royal Holloway Sanatorium.
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