Lancaster Moor Hospital


Lancaster Moor Hospital, formerly the Lancaster County Lunatic Asylum and Lancaster County Mental Hospital, was a mental hospital in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, which closed in 2000.

History

The main building, which was designed by Thomas Standen, was opened as the First Lancashire County Asylum in 1816. A further building, which was designed by Arnold W. Kershaw in the gothic style and known as "the Annexe", was completed in 1883 and is grade II listed as are its walls, railings, and gateways. The hospital's chapel, which was designed by Edward Graham Paley, was built in 1866 and is grade II listed.
Campbell House, a facility for paying "gentlemen" patients, was completed in 1909 and the Ladies' Villa, a facility for paying "lady" patients, was completed in 1916.
The hospital was a pioneering site for the humane treatment of the mentally ill with the introduction of treatments such as electroconvulsive therapy. The writer Alan Bennett describes his mother's treatment in the hospital in his memoirs.
Following the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s, the hospital went into a period of decline and closed in 2000; the Annexe and chapel have since been converted into apartments, and houses are being built in the grounds.