Patients and staff at North Essex Partnership said their final farewells to Severalls Hospital in Colchester last week.

More than 100 people took tours of the closed facilities, organised by North Essex Partnership, which offered a last chance to reminisce about their memories of the site.

Those who attended had the opportunity to walk around the Severalls estate for the last time accompanied by tour guides.

Visitors on the tour wrote farewell messages on a commemorative wall which will be photographed and preserved.

Director of resources at North Essex Partnership, Rick Tazzini, said: “Severalls Hospital was opened 100 years ago and in its early years, up to 2,000 people were treated here.

“It was a community with its own infrastructure and facilities. It even had its own bakery.

“Treatment for mental illness has come a long way – we now provide treatment for 20,000 people across North Essex, with more than 95% receiving care in their own homes.”