Hello and welcome to my Three Counties Asylum website.

On this site you will find a wealth of information regarding the great Victorian Asylum which stands proud on the Arlesey / Stotfold border. It is the only complete surviving example of a Victorian Asylum that I know of  in Great Britain,

It  was designed in the wonderful gothic romantic style by George Fowler Jones.

Most people living in and around Arlesey, Stotfold, Letchworth, Hitchin and Ickleford will of at some point in there lives had something to do with the Three Counties Asylum or as it is better known in modern times as Fairfield Hospital.

First and foremost it has been a place of patient care. For nearly 140 years it was operating as a psychiatric hospital to care and treat the thousands of patients that  passed through its doors. It was also a place of employment and employed many local people including my uncle and aunt John and Helen, who met there while doing their nurses training, they later married and are still going strong after 45 years.

It was a great shortcut for people especially the fishermen who would cut through on their way to the Arlesey lagoons .

People in there hundreds and thousands would visit Fairfield hospital in the summer for the fetes especially  in the 1970's and 1980's with top DJs like Ed Stewpot and stars of Coronation Street attending in 82 ,I believe it was Bill Roache who plays Ken Barlow and Pat Phoenix who played Elsie Tanner.

Kids rode illegal motorcycles through it and around it {yes i was one of those, see the stories page for details of my prosecution!}

The grounds of the Asylum played host to many sports such as  cricket, bowls and football and many of the local folks would get merry in the club house afterwards.

There was also a cinema {my cousins saw The Exorcist there age 13!}

We even have tales of MURDER! and  STRANGE  DEATHS ,Some people might say this is not P.C. but there is nothing written here that can not be found on the Internet or the public records office. Its all part of the asylum story, Its only fair to portray all aspects of asylum life and history.

So you see the hospital has touched  many lives over so many years in so many ways.

Locally we were very concerned that the old place would be demolished when it closed its doors in 1999 , thankfully it was saved and the outside restored to its former glory and the inside turned into luxury apartments, The Fantastic Bannatyne’s Health Club and the wonderful relaxing ambience of Doughty’s Brasserie compliment and fuse well with the refurbishment.