The hospital has its origins in a medical facility formed from two cottages in Louden Road in 1866.

[2] The hospital joined the National Health Service in 1948 and a new out-patients building opened in 1954.

Some £500,000 of the legacy was spent on an eight-station renal dialysis unit which opened in June 2006.

[5] Following a feasibility study carried out in 2006, a tender competition for the new hospital was undertaken and a planning application for a £26 million scheme was submitted to North Norfolk District Council in November 2008.

[7] Philanthropic individuals who were interested in the management of the cottage hospital and attended the opening of the new cottage hospital in 1888 included Sir Samuel Hoare M.P., and the Buxton and Gurney families,[8] prominent Quaker families.