[1] Following a report by the Lunacy Commission into overcrowding at Knowle Hospital in the south of the county, a new site was required to house the expanding population.

[2] The hospital was designed by George Thomas Hine but, because of a delay caused by a reduction in demand for mental health services in the county, construction did not commence until 1913.

[2] The works which were carried out by Thomas Rowbotham progressed slowly because of shortage of labour during the First World War but were completed in 1917.

They appointed Taylor Woodrow as developers for most new building on the site, and Thomas Homes for conversion of many of the old hospital blocks into housing and community facilities.

The new housing development was called "Limes Park" and formed the core of a new civil parish named Rooksdown.