NHER 48966 (Monument record) - Site of Borough Psychiatric Hospital

Site of Borough Lunatic Asylum. Shown as Disused on (S1) Presumably closed when Hellesdon Hospital was opened in 1880 (NHER 63799). (S1) shows a Cross-of-Lorraine shaped building with an L-plan annexe to the north east and a cruciform building (possible chapel) to the east. Site now covered by housing and warehouses.
E. Rose (NLA), 10 October 2006.

The Borough Asylum is noted by website (S2) but this currently has little additional information on its history and use.
P. Watkins (HES), 27 February 2020.

The northern east-to-west aligned wing was constructed first, this being the only element of the main building that appears on the Millard and Manning map of 1830 (S3). The site is though marked as 'Infirmary' - which refers to the workhouse infirmary that had been established here in the early 18th century, within a former lazar house (most likely the hospital of St Mary and St Clement - see NHER 629). The other buildings shown at this location on (S3) were potentially associated with this earlier institution.
P. Watkins (HES), 31 March 2022.

February 2014. Excavation.
Partial excavation of plot to south of Jolly Gardeners Court.
An east-to-west aligned flint and mortar wall exposed at the southern end of the site has been tentatively associated with the medieval hospital of St Mary and St Clement. A red brick wall built atop these foundations is thought to have been associated with one of the first of the buildings constructed for the Borough Psychiatric Hospital in 1828 – representing the north wall of the building shown on (S3). It is therefore possible that an earlier building had been demolished at this time, potentially one that had been used by the workhouse infirmary.
A small cemetery was exposed immediately to the north of these walls which contained the remains of six individuals. Although not precisely dated these are thought to have been associated with the Borough Psychiatric Hospital rather than either the medieval hospital or the later workhouse infirmary.
See report (S4) and NHER 65546 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 31 March 2022.

January-February 2020 and February 2022. Trial Trenching,
Evaluation of proposed development sites to east of Starling Road.
The eight trenches excavated across these two phases of work revealed a number of brick walls that were clearly associated with the Borough Lunatic Asylum - these corresponding with buildings and boundaries shown on the Ordnance Survey 1:500 Town Plan map (S5). These included walls associated with the elongated block to the east of the main 'H'-shaped building. It was noted that these walls appeared to be of different ages – leading to the suggestion that this building may have incorporated an earlier structure associated with the workhouse infirmary.
One of the free standing walls encountered had formed the boundary of the easternmost of the two courtyards associated with the main building. The remnants of a brick and flint cobble courtyard surface survived on one side of this wall.
Further south, three boundary walls were recorded that had enclosed a courtyard or plot immediately south of the cross-shaped building that had potentially been the asylum's mortuary chapel. An enclosed plot of land to the east was also investigated. No possible graves were encountered.
See reports (S6) and (S7) for NHER 69707 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 21 January 2026.