Timeline: Denbigh's North Wales Hospital

Denbigh's sprawling Victorian asylum has been torched, vandalised and has fallen into a derelict state while wrangling about its future has continued for three decades. Here, we look back on its past amid new hope that development work could, finally, get under way.

Built between 1844 and 1848, North Wales Hospital was designed to provide care for up to 200 Welsh-speaking people suffering from mental illnesses.

However, by the mid-20th Century it housed about 1,500 patients, boasting its own farm and therapeutic workshops.

As medical and public opinion turned against Victorian-style asylums, it was first earmarked for closure by then-minister for health, Enoch Powell, as early as the 1960s.

Yet it took until 1987 for the recommendation to be implemented, with the last patients leaving in 1995.

It was sold to private firm Freemont, but as plans to redevelop the site into mixed-use commercial and residential units floundered, the condition of the buildings quickly deteriorated.

In November 2008, the main hall in the building was destroyed in a blaze which required 50 firefighters to bring it under control.

Three years later in 2011, Denbighshire council was forced to step in to carry out £1m of emergency safety work despite issuing Freemont with a repairs notice.

As looting and vandalism continued, in 2013 the council voted to initiate a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) for the hospital.

A High Court appeal by Freemont failed in 2015, and later that year the order was rubber-stamped by the Welsh Government.

In 2016, the council approved development plans by the Prince's Regeneration Trust for business units, 34 apartments and 200 houses to be built within the grounds.

However, as legal issues continued, the grounds were hit by fires in February and July 2017 and the damage led to a wing of the main building being demolished.

Last month, a new company, Signature Livings, revealed plans to build residential homes and two hotels on the site.

But before the proposals could even be submitted to the council, another blaze broke out on 4 April.

The council has described the ongoing compulsory purchase as "a lengthy legal process".

But it said it was "determined to do whatever is necessary to secure the redevelopment of this strategically important listed building".