IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Kingsley Avenue, HITCHIN, SG5 4FX

Grid ref approximate. I have no idea why I took such a lousy photo (or chose to inflict it on you all). I was there to photograph a Robey stationary steam engine that is now at Launceston. This had not long come to light and I was down there pretty quick (along with other assorted enthusiasts).

Robey of Lincoln horizontal single cylinder drop valve engine built in 1905. It is now preserved by the Robey Trust in Tavistock.

A small part of the main building of the former mental hospital, closed in 1999 and now converted for more normal residential and commercial use. The architecture is hugely impressive, that is, both huge and impressive! Grade II listed buildings, opened in 1860, architect George Fowler Jones.

The Victorian mental hospital, opened as Three Counties Asylum, closed in 1999. The main buildings were converted to houses and flats, and new housing built in the grounds. Some of these central parts have become community facilities.

The asylum was built to serve mental patients from the three counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Huntingdonshire. It was built in several stages commencing in 1856 to the designs of the architect George Fowler Jones. The semi-circular building was, I think, one of two recreation halls added in 1870 to the original central block. By 1881 two main symmetrical wings had been added to this central block, and in so doing I think that the longest corridor of any building in Europe at that time was created. The whole building was Grade II Listed in 1985. In 1927 the name of the asylum was changed to the Three Counties Hospital and in 1960 to the Fairfield Hospital. With the move towards care in the community the hospital became surplus to requirements and was closed in 1999. The building has since been refurbished to create high class apartments, with new housing estates being built in the former hospital grounds, the whole estate becoming known as Fairfield Park. The site is currently in the civil parish of Stotfold but has always been associated with the adjacent parish of Arlesey which had a railway station on the main east coast railway named after the asylum.

Formerly the main building of Fairfield Hospital and now converted to residential use.

This was built as the Three Counties Asylum in the mid-19C. When completed c.1870 it had 1000 beds. It has been converted to apartments. The OS map shows that the main driveways are rights-of-way, although there are signs denying this. See https://www.fairfieldparishcouncil.gov.uk/does-kingsley-avenue-have-public-access-rights/ .

Please see Image for a brief history. This is the southern and front façade of the western of the two wings completed by 1881. The tower beyond the corner is the same one visible in the above photograph. The overall impression of the exterior of the building is one of lightness with a vague feeling of a French chateau or an Oxbridge quadrangle.

The Victorian mental hospital, opened as Three Counties Asylum, closed in 1999. The main buildings were converted to houses and flats, and new housing built in the grounds. The church is a grade II listed building, 1870s.