Roundway Hospital

Roundway Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in the parish of Roundway near Devizes, Wiltshire, England. It was originally called the Wiltshire County Lunatic Asylum and later the Wiltshire County Mental Hospital. It opened in 1851 and closed in 1995.

The hospital was conceived in 1848 by a committee of Justices chaired by Sir John Wither Awdry for "providing an asylum for the pauper lunatics of the county of Wiltshire alone". Forty-eight acres of land was purchased from Mr T. H. S. Southeron at the end of Pans Lane in the parish of Roundway. The money was raised by loans from the government and other subscribers, to be paid back over 21 years. Construction was started in 1849. The architect was Thomas Henry Wyatt, well known for his institutional architecture. The style was Italianate and the first phase cost £19,594. Construction was by T & W Piper, and the addition of ironwork by Knight & Co. for railings around the buildings cost a further £1,069. The principal building material was stone from the Murhill quarries near Winsley, and the roof slates came from Wales. The quarries were conveniently placed about 15 miles away along the Kennet and Avon Canal, which had opened some 50 years earlier. The slates were likewise transported by canal.

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