[1] The hospital was founded at a time when only two other similar institutions existed in England (Bethlem and St Luke's)[2] and was initially located next to the Manchester Infirmary in 1763.

[2] The facility relocated to Cheadle, 10 miles (16 km) to the south, as the Manchester Royal Hospital for the Insane, in 1849.

[2] The hospital expanded through the construction of villas on the Cheadle site in the 1860s and through the acquisition of houses in Colwyn Bay in the 1870s.

[4] The facility became Cheadle Royal Hospital in 1902[2] and North House, with accommodation for 80 additional patients, was opened in 1903.

[5] It had provision for the treatment of 400 patients in 1928[6] but it chose to remain private rather than joining the National Health Service in 1948.