The History of High Royds, Menston

By Kim Revill

High Royds – now known as Chevin Park – is a former psychiatric hospital that first opened in 1888. In Victorian times, the hospital was also known as the West Yorkshire Pauper Lunatic Asylum.

During the Victorian and Edwardian era, those committed to asylums did not even have to fit the brief for traits of insanity. Women, in particular, were often incarcerated at the insistence of their husbands if they were said to be feeling ‘sad’ following childbirth. Others could be committed to the asylum for simply being branded a ‘nagging wife’ or being deemed ‘difficult’. Pastoral and holistic care were not on the agenda for many patients as is the normal and decent practice today.

Many suffering with severe depression or ‘insanity’ were administered electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or, worse, they were lobotomised. When not being treated, patients were permitted to use the facilities at High Royds, which had a library, surgery, bakery shop, dispensary and even a cobblers’ workshop.

Photo: Jez and Ruth Newsome

“Centrepiece”

High Royds was set in 300 acres of land and patients were expected to tend to the landscaped gardens, work on the nearby farm and carry out domestic work to earn their keep.

Timekeeping was an essential part of daily routine both for the staff and patients, and a reminder of this was the handsome clock encased in the castellated rectangular tower at High Royds, still standing and preserved to this day. It provided, and still provides, a wonderful centrepiece of the former hospital that was converted to flats shortly after it finally closed in 2003.

The clock tower has splendid battlements and Gothic arches and was made by those ubiquitous Leeds clock makers, Potts and Sons, who were part of a golden age of public timekeeping devices and whose business was first established in the city of Leeds in 1833.

“Renovated”

Although many parts of the hospital were demolished and the remaining buildings renovated, High Royds still, today, closely resembles the original hospital building. Several publications have sealed the history of High Royds. These include Mark Davis’s book West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum and Those Were the Days!! by F. E. Rogers. The latter chronicled his many years working at High Royds.

Although the hospital closed more than twenty years ago, High Royds has been a popular location for film and television companies and is still a well-loved landmark in Menston. Local indie band Kaiser Chiefs were inspired to pen a song about High Royds, and Leicester rockers Kasabian named an album after it.

Article taken from ‘Ilkley and Around in 50 Buildings’ by Kim Revill, published by Amberley Publishing