| Administrative History | Aston Hall was originally the home of of the Holden family from the 18th century. Having served as a military hospital during World War I, the Hall and its grounds were purchased in 1924 by Nottingham Corporation to be the site of a mental hospital under the provisions of the Mental Deficiency Act 1913.
The Nottingham Corporation Mental Deficiency Colony was opened on 6 April 1926. Four additional separate blocks or villas to house the majority of patients were built to the south of the Hall. On the establishment of the National Health Service, which came into being on 5 July 1948, control of the hospital passed from Nottingham Corporation. It came within the remit of the Sheffield Regional Hospital Board, being supervised by Nottingham No. 3 Hospital Management Committee (later Trent Vale Management Committee) and managed as an institution by its own House Committee Management Committee. In the 1950s and 1960s the hospital continued to grow in size with additional villas, offices and staff facilities being built.
In 1974 local control passed to the South Derbyshire District Health Authority. In the 1990s the hospital was gradually wound down as part of the general implementation of the care in the community policy. The actual building of Aston Hall itself (which had come to be known as The Mansion) was sold off in 1995. The hospital's closure was announced in October 1998, but a number of the elderly residents who were deemed too "institutionalised" to live in the wider community remained in accommodation until December 2004. The villas and outbuildings became derelict and were subsequently demolished to make way for housing developments. |
| Custodial History | These records were deposited in Derbyshire Record Office in March 1980 under reference D1593, then re-accessioned in 1996. |