The foundation stone was laid on 25 July 1899 by Lady Belper, wife of the chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council.

[1] The new building – designed by architect Edgar Purnell Hooley, better known as the inventor of Tarmac – was two stories high, cost £147,000 and had accommodation for 452 patients (226 of each sex).

It was used as a military hospital in the later stages of the First World War, from August 1918 to October 1919, to care for shell shocked soldiers.

[3] The hospital underwent a strike and occupation in April 1922, when the staff members of the National Asylum Workers' Union were resisting a reduction in wages.

[6][7] A woman alleged that Jimmy Savile lifted her skirt when she was at a disco at the hospital and then aged 14.