WELCOME TO FAIRFIELD HALL

The beautiful building we now find ourselves custodians of, opened its doors to its first occupants on 8 March 1860. Originally called the Three Counties Asylum, it was designed by architect George Fowler Jones. The term ‘Three Counties’ comes from the counties who set up the committee that planned the asylum, namely, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire.  Three wings of Fairfield Hall are now named after these counties. Another wing, Pryor, is named after the chairman of the Committee of Visitors, Marlborough Pryor.

For those wanting to discover more about the history, there is a book called A Place in the Country: Three Counties Asylum 1860-1998, written by two doctors and one of the social workers who worked here. It was reprinted in 2017, and two of the original authors, Rory and Judith, arranged a book launch here at the Community Hall on the Park during which they talked about the Halls history and their time working here. A copy is also available from the library. Local historian Richard Knight also has a very interesting website at http://www.threecountiesasylum.co.uk with lots of interesting stories and artefacts on the building.