The facility has its origins in a house of industry which was acquired by the county authority in Suffolk in 1827 and converted into a lunatic asylum in 1829.

[1] The asylum was re-modeled to a design by Scott and Moffatt in 1844.

[1] A chapel was added in 1862, additional ward pavilions were built in an echelon formation in the 1870s and two more ward blocks were completed in 1904.

[1] The facility became St Audry's Hospital for Mental Diseases in 1917.

The administration block with the main entrance has been a Grade II listed building since 11 June 1985,[3] and the South Entrance Pavilion has been Grade II listed since 14 November 1997.