The last patients at a Victorian hospital were today being transferred from the site as it closed its doors on more than 100 years of history.

High Royds Hospital in Menston was releasing its remaining patients on five wards. They were being taken to the Mount Hospital in Leeds.

Opened in October 1888 as the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, the sprawling psychiatric hospital is to be developed into a housing estate, which will see the Grade II listed location converted into houses and flats.

London-based Raven Group bought the 82-hectare site for £26 million last October and is also planning to build a school and make 75,000sq ft of office space available.

The hospital was the third establishment of its kind in the former West Riding of Yorkshire, the other two being Wakefield Asylum, opened in 1818 and Wadsley Asylum, opened in 1872.

The site included a library, surgery, dispensary, ballroom, butchers, dairies and bakers. By the 1930s a sweet shop, cobbler, upholsterer and a tailor were all added, turning the hospital into a small self-contained village.

A thanksgiving service, historic tours and a gala have been held for staff and residents to mark the closure of the historic site. A gala evening will be held for staff at Pennington's Club, in Bradford, on Thursday, March 27.

People will be able to take home a piece of history from an auction being held on Thursday, March 20, which will see many of the original items of furniture and fixtures go under the hammer.

Leeds Mental Health Teaching NHS Trust is moving out of the hospital into modern mental health units as part of a £47 million reprovision process.

Councillor Michael Dunn (Lab, Aireborough) said the hospital's closure would have a mixed reaction from the public.

"The hospital has a long history in the area and people regard it as a feature of the landscape. For many people who worked there it has a long and memorable past but now there are different, more modern ways to deal with mental health," he said.

He added that many residents were concerned about traffic congestion in the village but Raven Group planned to introduce a regular shuttle bus from the estate to the railway station to stop people using cars to travel to the station or to work.

A planning application for the development, which will only see buildings added in the late 20th Century being replaced, is expected to be submitted to Leeds Council next month.

Anyone interested in an auction catalogue should contact Hilditch Auctioneers on (01666) 822577.