St. Fintan's Hospital, Portlaoise (previously Maryborough District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1833 – Currently in operation (partially)
Front exterior with main entrance (shrouded by trees) and pathway leading to formal gardens and summer house pavilion.
St. Fintan's Hospital, Portlaoise (previously Maryborough District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1833 - Currently in operation (partially)
Ground floor cells and ward corridor, all asylums of that era were vaulted throughout solid masonry, principally as a defence against fire.
St. Ita’s Hospital, Portrane, North County Dublin / (previously Portrane Auxiliary Asylum)
Est: 1901 – Closed: 2013
Ward interior.
St. Dympna's Hospital, Carlow (preivously Carlow District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1831 - Closed: 2011
Patients quarters
St. Otteran’s Hospital, Waterford (previously Waterford District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1833 - Closed: 2012
Formally Day Room for patients converted to Staff Board Room
St. Loman’s Hospital, Mullingar, Westmeath (previously Mullingar District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1855 - Closed: 2014
Mullingar: efforts to restore patient individuality included the introduction of hair salons in many hospitals.
St. Loman’s Hospital, Mullingar, Westmeath (previously Mullingar District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1855 - Closed: 2014
Ward Interior
St. Brigid’s Hospital, Ardee, County Louth (previously Ardee Mental Hospital)
Est: 1933 - Currently in operation.
Laundry drying racks: high technology in a building where patient’s wards were still heated by open fire.
St. Canice’s Hospital, Kilkenny City (previously Kilkenny District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1852 - Closed: 2006
Tennis Courts, Handball Alleys, Playing Fields and even Pitch and Putt Courses were established in the early to mid 20th Century to aid patients well being for the duration of their stay.
St. Ita’s Hospital Portrane, North County Dublin (previously Portrane Auxiliary Asylum)
Est: 1901 – Closed: 2013
Recreation Hall with orchestra gallery and stage with a capacity for 1,200 patients, ranks as one of the largest indoor public spaces in Ireland.
St Ita’s Hospital, Portrane, North County Dublin (previously Portrane Auxiliary Asylum)
Est: 1901 – Closed: 2013
Externals of the Western Wards
Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin (previously Central Criminal Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1850 - Closed: 2021
Dining Hall
St Ita’s Hospital, Portrane, North County Dublin (previously Portrane Auxiliary Asylum)
Est: 1901 – Closed: 2013
Playing pitches
St. Columba’s Hospital, Sligo (formerly Sligo District Lunatic Asylum, latterly Clayton Hotel)
Est: 1855 - Closed: 1993
Once referred disparagingly as ‘The Leitrim Hotel’ has confounded its sceptics and reinvented itself as just that and popular wedding venue.
St. Canice’s Hospital, Kilkenny City (previously Kilkenny District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1852 - Closed: 2006
Laundry room drying racks.
St. Brigid’s Hospital, Ardee, County Louth (previously Ardee Mental Hospital)
Est: 1933 - Currently in operation.
Deconsecrated Church.
St Ita’s Hospital, Portrane, North County Dublin (previously Portrane Auxiliary Asylum)
Est: 1901 – Closed: 2013
Externals of the Eastern Wards
St. Finan’s Hospital, Killarney, Kerry (previously Killarney District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1852 - Closed: 2012
TB Ward with large windows for air circulation and to draw spectacular views of Macgillycuddy Reeks.
St. Fintan's Hospital, Portlaoise (previously Maryborough District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1833 – Currently in operation (partially)
Hospital mortuaries allowed a more dignified departure for those who passed away within the walls.
St. Davent’s Hospital, Monaghan (previously Monaghan District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1869 - Closed: 2020
Final resting place for up to 10,000 anonymous former patients, most asylum burial grounds have been provided with later memorials.
St. Mary’s Hospital, Castlebar, Mayo (previously Castlebar District Lunatic Asylum, latterly ATU Mayo Campus)
Est: 1866 - Closed: 2006
Resident Medical Superintendents gained substantial detached dwellings commensurate with their social standing. Today the buildings of the former hospital are part of the third-level campus of Atlantic Technology University.
St. Loman’s Hospital, Mullingar, Westmeath (previously Mullingar District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1855 - Closed: 2014
Dining Hall
St. Loman’s Hospital, Mullingar, Westmeath (previously Mullingar District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1855 - Closed: 2014
Catholic Church.
St. Canice’s Hospital, Kilkenny City (previously Kilkenny District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1852 - Closed: 2006
Stairwell to staff quarters.
St. Fintan's Hospital, Portlaoise (previously Maryborough District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1833 – Currently in operation (partially)
Many hospitals added their own abbatoirs to butcher livestock raised on their own farms as to supply meat to hospital kitchens. This demonstrating one aspect of the self-sustaining entities of these institutions.
St. Conal’s Hospital, Letterkenny, Donegal (previously Letterkenny District Lunatic Asylum / Tirconaill Mental Hospital)
Est: 1865 - Closed: 2010
Formal Gardens
St. Otteran’s Hospital, Waterford (perviously Waterford District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1833 - Closed: 2012
Ward Corridor.
St. Senan's Hospital, Enniscorty (previously Enniscorty District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1868 – Closed: 2013
Enniscorthy Hospital is distinctive for its exterior brickwork—made from clay excavated directly from the site on which it stands—and for its five prominent Italianate campanile towers. A local legend, though incorrect, claims that the hospital’s design was originally intended for a palace in a distant region of the British Empire and was somehow exchanged before being repurposed for the institution built in Enniscorthy.
St. Joseph’s Hospital, Limerick (previously Limerick District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1827 - Closed: 2014
Parting message before the closure of the ward.
St. Brigid’s Hospital, Ballinasloe, Galway (previously Connaught District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1833 - Closed: 2011
Front exterior and main entrance where before what became a car park would have been an elaborate landscaped forecourt.
St. Joseph’s Hospital, Limerick (previously Limerick District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1827 - Closed: 2014
Deconsecrated Church.
St. Luke’s Hospital, Clonmel, Tipperary (previously Clonmel District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1835 - Closed: 2012
The rear elevation of the institution reveals the influence of the panopticon design originally devised for prisons. Its layout enables centralized surveillance over the flanking, winged ward corridors that extend from the main central block, where the cupola or clock tower is located.
Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin (previously Central Criminal Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1850 - Closed: 2021
Outdoor Airing Yards.
St. Luke’s Hospital, Clonmel, Tipperary (previously Clonmel District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1835 - Closed: 2012
Ward Stairwell
St. Davent’s Hospital, Monaghan (previously Monaghan District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1869 - Closed: 2020
Ward Interior.
St. Otteran’s Hospital, Waterford (perviously Waterford District Lunatic Asylum)
Est: 1833 - Closed: 2012
Additional expansion of wards in 1895 created a whole new ‘garden front’ overlooking the parklands to the rear of the hospital.