Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum officially opened in April 1820, on a site to the north of the town. The curative regime was based on the principles of ‘moral treatment’ pioneered by the Quaker Retreat at York, encouraging the individual to regain self-control and reason through kindness, nourishment and healthy activity.
In 1875, the asylum received a Royal Charter from Queen Victoria and became the Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum.
In 1882, the asylum moved further west, to a new site at Westgreen Farm, near the parish of Liff and Benvie. The main asylum was sold to Dundee District Lunacy Board in 1903, and renamed the Dundee District Asylum.
The National Health Service took over control in 1948, and the buildings at Liff finally closed in 2001 following the opening of a psychiatric unit at Ninewells Hospital.
The records for Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum are housed within the Tayside Health Board Records at University of Dundee Archives Services.