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Harold Court was built in 1868 as a private house for W.R.Preston, a local
solicitor and farmer. He became bankrupt in 1881, and his house was taken
over by the Shoreditch Children's Home. From 1892 until 1918 it was used as
a lunatic asylum, and on the 1898 OS map is shown as 'COUNTY LUNATIC ASYLUM
(Harold Court)'. The building is only 2 miles south-west of Warley, so
presumably helped to house the overflow from there.
It was later used as a TB Sanatorium, and was sold to the Essex County
Council in 1960. The building is still standing (see photos attached),
perhaps now private flats.
David Emery
Harold Court was used as an annexe for the main asylum. See The First Hundred Years
for the discussion about its connection with the main asylum.
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