The hospital, which was designed by Thomas Henry Wyatt and David Brandon using a corridor layout, opened as the Buckinghamshire County Asylum in January 1853.[1]
Additional wings to the main building and a detached chapel were added in the late 19th century.[1]
It became Buckinghamshire Mental Hospital in 1919 and, after additional staff accommodation was built in the 1930s, it joined the National Health Service as St John's Hospital in 1948.[2] An admissions building and a sports and social club were completed in 1959.[1]
After the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s, the hospital went into a period of decline and closed in 1991.[1] Despite extensive local protests, the hospital buildings were subsequently demolished and the site redeveloped for residential use.[1]
