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As one of the earliest county asylums built, St. Lawrences was exemplar of both an
unsuitable building form (the original building had radially positioned wards) and a severe
underestimation of potential patient numbers.
After the initial Radial Building was constructed in 1820, the asylum reached capacity
over seventeen years later (this despite Cornwall’s fondness for placing pauper lunatics in the workhouse
as it was cheaper), and the piecemeal construction of various wards and buildings over the site would
continue until the Foster Building was built at the turn of the century.
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Approaching the east side of Carew Building (Allen Ward) from the west. © Simon Cornwell 2006
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