About: Sheriff Hill Lunatic Asylum

Sheriff Hill Lunatic Asylum (also known as Gateshead Fell Lunatic Asylum) was located at Sourmilk Hill in Sheriff Hill, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. At that time Sourmilk Hill Lane continued across Church Road and onto what is today Larne Crescent, the asylum occupied the land on the corner of modern-day Larne Crescent and Church Road. It operated during the nineteenth century and provided isolation and medical care to hundreds of patients at a time when disease and illness in England were treated predominantly through isolation and asylum. At least two patients escaped from the institution, which closed around 1880.