Abandoned Norwich: St Andrew’s Asylum, Norfolk
Standing out like a sore thumb, the rest of the buildings that made up this mental asylum were all flattened in 2012, a few concrete floors and piles of rubble the only remains of what was once a complex that could hold up to 700 patients. The remains, which include the clocktower, are not listed or protected, so it’s assumed that the developer that owns the site wishes to use these buildings in their future plans.
St Andrews Asylum was also known as the Norfolk Lunatic Asylum Annexe. Typical of many asylums, it was designed in 1811 and opened in 1814, with an arrangement of larger buildings all linked with a long connecting corridor. Built to house “chronic lunatics, imbeciles and idiots”, the buildings were said to be “somewhat plain, simple and comparatively cheap construction”, and described as “a sort of go-between the Asylum and the Workhouse.”
During the first World War the hospital was used as a war hospital, and it became known as the Norfolk Mental Hospital in in 1920. In 1923 it was renamed again to St Andrew’s Hospital. In the interwar period, more than 1110 patients were housed here. More recently it operated as an NHS hospital, until finally closing in 1998.
Disturbingly, in 2020, a murder took place on the site, as detailed by the BBC “A man has appeared in court charged with murdering his wife at a derelict mental health hospital. Michael Cowey is accused of killing 38-year-old Gemma Cowey in Thorpe St Andrew, near Norwich, on Friday.Ms Cowey, a mother of three, was found with stab wounds at the former hospital site off Yarmouth Road at 12:45 BST and pronounced dead at the scene.”
The site has been earmarked for construction since 2012, however little work has taken place. In 2023, the remaining building suffered a significant arson attack, which led to some to call for its demolition.
