The asylum was designed to cater for 200 patients, although in anticipation of future extension the administrative portion of the building was adapted for a larger number.

It was erected on a commanding site in the parish of Ugborough, on the borders of Dartmoor.

The contracted price for the asylum was £34,514; Pethick Brothers, of Plymouth acted as contractors.

The Mayor, Alderman Waring, Chairman of the Plymouth Justices, laid the foundation stone in 1888.

[4] After the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s, the hospital went into a period of decline and closed in February 1993.