Holywell Hospital

Holywell Hospital was first opened with over 400 beds available for mental health in 1899. Initially called the County Antrim Lunatic Asylum, the need was based on the massive pressures already existing at the time in Belfast’s former mental hospital which was then based on the site of the current Royal Maternity Hospital on the Grosvenor Road. The site was originally selected in 1891 and construction later began in around 1894 under the direction of architect John Lanyon, The hospital features a clock tower, construction of which was overseen by Lanyon and which, when illuminated at night, was used by boats to navigate the mouth of the nearby Six Mile Water river. The very original layout…