Rainhill hospital 1992 The Empty Wards

The Lancashire County Lunatic Asylum was erected on Rainhill Road in Prescott and opened on the 1st January 1851. In 1858 it had 400 patients. It was a stone building, and was enlarged in 1860 and again in 1886 by the erection of an annexe available for 1,000 patients, at a cost of £200,000, from designs by Mr. G. E. Grayson, architect of Liverpool. Built to the Corridor Plan. By 1900 the total number of patients was 2,029. By 1936 it was said to be the largest psychiatric hospital in Europe with a total of 3,000 patients. It was named Rainhill Hospital under the National Health Service. It closed in June 1992. Very little is left of the building and the beautiful grounds have now been replaced by a business park Brought To You By. www.highroydshospital.co.uk