[1] To that end, the County Council purchased the 400-acre (160 ha) Park Farm estate, a short distance from Hellingly village and railway station, from the earl of Chichester for £16,000.

Construction began in 1898[2] and the new asylum was built to a compact arrow plan by George Thomas Hine, consultant architect to the Commissioners in Lunacy.

[2] The main complex comprised an administrative block, central stores, kitchens, a recreation hall and the assistant medical officer's residence.

The estate plan incorporated two driveways: one from the south-west lined with medical officers' residences and the acute hospital and another second from the south routed via the farm, male farm-workers' villa and married attendants' cottages.

[2] Post-war developments included the conversion of the Superintendent's residence to a nurse's home, the closure of the hospital farm, the construction of Tennyson house and the staff social club.