Title: Asylum Square, Church Road, Sheriff Hill
Photographer: Unknown
Date: Date Unknown
Reference Number: GL001554
Item Description: Asylum Square was to be found on the site of Gateshead Fell Lunatic Asylum in Sourmilk Hill Lane, just off Church Rd., Sheriff Hill.
The asylum was established, by a Mrs Orton. It is not clear when she opened the Asylum, but when advertising in the Newcastle Journal in 1834, Samuel Kent, the new proprietor, claimed that “This institution has been established for the last 30 years.” Kent, a local farmer who owned Beacon Lough Farm, took over in 1834. The asylum was closed in 1860. Ordnance survey maps seem to suggest that the buildings of the asylum, though renamed as Kent’s buildings and Asylum Square, survived into the 20th century and D. Lumley, in his book “The Story of Gateshead Town”, written in 1932, claimed that “a great part of the building still remains”.
The modern housing of Larne Crescent replaced the old Asylum buildings. One well-known resident of the Asylum was the brother of artist John Martin. He was sent to the Asylum in 1817 after threatening to shoot the Bishop of Oxford. He remained for three years, after which he escaped from the roof of the building. He was recaptured but later released.
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