Tour Scotland Photograph Video Murray Royal Hospital Chapel Perth Perthshire

Tour Scotland photograph of Murray Royal Hospital Chapel in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland. The hospital was founded by James Murray, a labourer who inherited a fortune in 1809 when his half brother drowned in a storm which sank the ship carrying him home from India. It was in his own will that James Murray left two thirds of his estate for purpose of establishing an asylum in Perth. He stipulated verbally that the patients from the parishes that he had lived in, namely Perth, Dunbarney and Rhynd would be received at charitable rates, and that his brother John, and his heirs would be, when possible, represented on the management of the Asylum. He died in 1814. Designed by the architect William Burn, born 1789, died 1870, the hospital opened in 1827 as the Murray Royal Lunatic Asylum with accommodation for 80 patients, officials and staff. The building itself is in a neo-classical style in an H plan consisting of a long south front with a central entrance pavilion and rooftop octagon. The building maximised the opportunities of its pleasant open hillside site, and was further extended by Burn in 1833. In 1848 a nearby villa was acquired and modified as accommodation for 'higher class' patients, and in 1888 new infirmary wings were added to the rear of the main building. A chapel was built in 1901, designed by Physician Superintendent Dr A.R. Urquhart it was partly built by the patients.



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