History
“Before the creation of West Ham of a borough in 1886, the county paupers within the West Ham area were sent to the Essex County Asylum in Brentford. One West Ham had become a borough it was immediately decide by the council to construct their own Asylum as they did not feel that the County Asylum should be used. Although this would take them twelve years to do so. The council sought the purchase of the land at Blue House Farm on the outskirts of Ilford for £8,835 and immediately put into the motion the planning of their Asylum. To do this, they visited a number of Asylums around the country, both local and far afield, so that they would be able to provide the best possible facilities in their asylum.
Lewis Angell, the Borough Architect, was selected for the design of the Asylum for the council – this was to be his only Asylum. The Asylum was designed on a Compact Arrow layout with a south facing aspect and were constructed from red brick with white lintels on the windows – at the time the layout was described as the pavilion system. The foundation stone was laid by Alderman William Ivey on the 3rd of August, 1898 and the construction taking three years to complete, with the first patients being admitted on the 6th of August 1901. During the construction of the Asylum, the contractors, Leslie and Co, built a railway to the site in order to transport the construction materials to the grounds, with the line being brought down from the Great Eastern Railway. The asylum was designed to house 800 within 17 wards, 8 male wards housing 350 patients and 9 female wards holding 450 patients. The site also contained an administration block, main hall, central services and workshops and a typical water tower. The total cost of the design and construction was £338,633.”
Source: https://www.countyasylums.co.uk/goodmayeschadwell/
