Londonderry County Asylum

The Londonderry County Asylum (Irish: Tearmann Chontae Dhoire) was a psychiatric hospital at Strand Road in Derry, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

Londonderry County Asylum
Londonderry County Asylum
Shown in Northern Ireland
Geography
LocationDerry, County Londonderry,, Northern Ireland
Coordinates55.0029°N 7.3240°W / 55.0029; -7.3240
Organisation
TypeSpecialist
Services
SpecialityPsychiatric hospital
History
Opened1829
Closed1905

History

The hospital, which was designed by Francis Johnston and William Murphy, opened as the Londonderry Asylum in 1829.[1] It had been built at a cost of £25,678 and was intended to cater for the counties of Londonderry, Donegal and Tyrone.[2] The asylum initially provided accommodation for 104 patients but had to be extended the following year so it could accommodate 150 patients.[2] After the patients were transferred to the new Gransha Hospital, the asylum closed in 1905.[3][4]

By the mid 1960s the site had become overgrown and the remaining buildings were demolished soon after. There are local stories of tunnels running from the old infirmary, (where Clarendon Manor is now located at the top of Clarendon Street/Asylum Road) that ran into the asylum. Another tunnel running from the asylum Superintendent's residence on the Northland Road to the asylum was reported to have been bricked up in the 1960s.[5] The North West Regional College Strand Road Campus is now located on the site of the asylum.[6]

References
  1. "Saint Ita's Hospital, Portraine". National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  2. Lewis, Samuel (1837). "Topographical Dictionary of Ireland". S Lewis & Co.
  3. "Londonderry County Asylum". Hansard. 13 June 1895. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  4. "Huge blaze at old hospital 'was deliberate': Fire Service". Belfast Telegraph. 9 March 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  5. "Tunnel under Northland Road, Londonderry". Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  6. "College map" (PDF). The North West Regional College Strand Road Campus. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
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