The Lancaster County lunatic Asylum opened in 1816, It was a a wholly self -contained community of its own with farms, piggery's allotments ,bakeries ,sewing workshops a soda-water bottling plant and laundry, it was almost a town within a town by 1925 there were over 3,000 patients and 1500 staff the asylum covered around 600 acres, they had there own orchestra not a band orchestra, plus what would today be professional football and cricket teams a cinema their own coaches to take patents out , a fire station and two churches plus a full time garden and building staff. The name changed firstly to Lancaster County Mental Hospital , and then to Lancaster Moor Hospital.
Queen Victoria agreed to become patron and as the result in 1866, 43 acres of land at Greaves were bought to establish the hospital The Royal Albert in the hope that this new institution would relieve the pressure on the Moor.
In 1879 work started on 41 acres of land across Quernmore Road known as Lancaster Moor. the Annexe was opened in 1883 with a further patient capacity of 825 beds. The hospital closed in 1999 and is now a luxury residential housing complex.
