Downshire Hospital

The hospital, which was designed by Henry Smyth, was opened as the Down Lunatic Asylum in 1869.^[1][2] It was extended in 1883, 1895 and 1904.^[2] It became the Down Mental Hospital in the 1920s and joined the National Health Service as Downshire Hospital in 1948.^[2] Following the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s, the hospital went into a period of decline and provision for patients reduced from over 300 beds to just 16.^[3] Part of the building was subsequently converted for use as offices for Down District Council who began operating there in October 2012.^[4]

• Kelly, Sean (2012). A Grand Old Lady. The Life And Times Of Downshire Hospital 1869-2011. South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust.