A committee was formed and it purchased 120 acres of land on Chartham Downs to set up an asylum to cater for the needs of the whole of East Kent.
The first buildings were designed By John Giles and were built between 1872 and 1875. The first patients were admitted on 05th April 1875 to the new "Kent County Lunatic Asylum". The Hospital closed in 1993, by which tome it's name had changed to St. Augustines, and redevelopment into housing commenced in 1997.
A small number of the existing buildings were redeveloped but most buildings were just flattened and new houses built on the land.
There remains just 2 or 3 buildings just sat there untouched, undeveloped and deteriorating due to the elements and the local vandals.