Royal Albert Hospital (original part only)
Royal Albert Hospital (original part only), Ashton Road
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1194930
- Date first listed:
- 30-Nov-1970
- List Entry Name:
- Royal Albert Hospital (original part only)
- Statutory Address:
- Royal Albert Hospital (original part only), Ashton Road
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2007-03-11
- Reference:
- IOE01/15271/23
- Rights:
- © Mr Chris Thoume. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1194930
- Date first listed:
- 30-Nov-1970
- List Entry Name:
- Royal Albert Hospital (original part only)
- Statutory Address 1:
- Royal Albert Hospital (original part only), Ashton Road
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Royal Albert Hospital (original part only), Ashton Road
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Lancashire
- District:
- Lancaster (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SD 47660 60082
Details
SD46SE
1685-1/1/10
LANCASTER
ASHTON ROAD
Royal Albert Hospital (original part only)
30/11/70
GV
II*
Mental hospital. 1868-1873. Designed by Paley and Austin. Dressed sandstone with ashlar dressings and with red St Bees sandstone in bands at impost level on the ground and first floors and as eaves corbels. Hipped roofs of green Coniston slate. Gothic Revival style.
Symmetrical plan with two storeys above a basement, and attics with gabled dormer windows. Six bay central block flanked by eleven bay wings which have, in their centre, a three bay canted projection and, at the end, a wider and taller three bay pavilion with a separate roof. Most ground-floor windows have paired lancets under a two-centred arched hoodmould, and most first-floor windows have paired lights under flat lintels. Those in the projections and pavilions are more ornate, mostly with triple lancets under an oculus. All dormer windows have cross casements and hipped roofs with finials.
The central block has a single-storey triple-arched porch with columns of red sandstone set between wide projecting bays. These have two paired windows on the ground floor, between which is a buttress which supports a canted oriel on the first floor. Above and behind the porch is a wide three storey tower with four corner turrets and a tall steeply-pitched roof with three tiers of gabled dormers. The centre of the middle storey of the tower has a clock flanked by statues of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, sculpted in Longridge stone by Mr Bridgeman of Lichfield and unveiled in 1888, all under an arcade of trefoiled arches under gablets. The long rear wings to left and right have either bay centres between projecting three bay pavilions with separate roofs.
INTERIOR: in the centre block is an imperial staircase with an ornate wrought-iron balustrade which rises behind a triple arch with elaborate waterleaf capitals; further to the rear is the five-bay De Vitre Hall with two-light transomed windows under an oculus and a roof of six arch-braced trusses which have a king post with an arch on either side above the collar.
HISTORY: established as the 'Royal Albert Idiot Asylum for idiots and imbeciles of the seven northern counties.' It accepted both paying patients and those admitted by the vote of subscribers.
Listing NGR: SD4766060082
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 383042
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Cross, F, Time Honoured Lancaster, (1891), 382-395
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 28-Jun-2026 at 12:51:03.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.