 Under the third superintendent John Conolly the institution became famous as the first large asylum to dispense with all mechanical restraints.The asylum is next to the village of Hanwell but parochially was in Southall (officially in the 1830s the northern precinct (chapelry) of Norwood).It is about 8 miles or 13 km west of Central London and 6 miles (10 km) south-east of Uxbridge.