The asylum complex included the main facility, an electricity plant, gas works, bakery, fire department, farm, mortuary, landscaped and vegetable gardens and cemetery.

During World War II, the asylum took in emergency civilian and military patients, including the first group of 242 injured and sick soldiers evacuated after the Battle of Dunkirk.

The county hired Scottish architect, William Lambie Moffatt (1807 – 1882) to design and oversee the construction of the new facility.

Moffatt designed the building in the Rundbogenstil style, using a corridor layout, with two separate male and female wings.

[1][3] The asylum, built with an initial cost of £65,000, consisted of the main facility, along with an electricity plant, gas works, bakery, fire department, farm, mortuary, landscaped and vegetable gardens and cemetery.

New Emergency Medical Services were added at the beginning of World War II to accommodate civilian casualties in air raids.

During the early 1940's, casualties from the Birmingham Blitz were transferred to Burntwood Hospital and housed within the grounds in Nissen huts.

From 1940 to 1947, the asylum took in emergency civilian and military patients, including the first group of 242 soldiers evacuated after the Battle of Dunkirk.

The remaining patients either joined local community care programs or were transferred into private psychiatric hospitals.