Ghosts of hospitals past

I know old hospitals aren't beautiful places but I think they're fascinating, in an eerie way.

The website "Lost Hospitals of London" lists 680 hospitals in its index, nearly all of which no longer exist. The reasons for this are varied, but the establishment of the NHS in 1948 and subsequent centralisation of services is a major one. With the advent of new treatments such as antibiotics and vaccinations, isolation hospitals for infectious diseases such as tuberculosis aren't needed as much. People spend less time in hospital following surgery and more conditions can be treated in outpatient facilities or at home. 

Croydon University Hospital, previously known as Mayday hospital, was originally an infirmary built for the nearby Croydon Workhouse. From London Road, the buildings look more modern, but the Woodcroft Wing behind is part of the original infirmary buildings.

The stone below is located in a corridor in the Woodcroft Wing and proudly details the workhouse infirmary facilities in 1883. The "lying in block" was the maternity ward.

The workhouse itself, on Queen's Road, housed destitute people until World War II, when it was requisitioned as a hospital, and when the NHS was established in 1948 it became a geriatric hospital called Queen's Hospital. After closure in 1987, it was derelict and many of the buildings were demolished or destroyed. The central tower has now become luxury apartments, while housing was also built on much of the rest of the site. 

Croydon General Hospital, on London Road, closed in 1996, before being demolished in 2004 and more recently replaced with a school and the Croydon Voluntary Action resource centre. The only remnants of the hospital buildings are former nurses' accommodation on Lennard Road which are still used by the NHS.

Mental health treatment has also progressed, with the former asylums being closed in the 1990s and patients mostly being treated in the community. Croydon's mental health services are now provided by South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, with some inpatient facilities in buildings in the grounds of the historic Bethlem Royal Hospital, on the border of Shirley and West Wickham. The Bethlem moved to its current location in 1930, with its previous location in Southwark becoming the Imperial War Museum.

Asylums were often built a short way outside of London, to give the patients fresh air and presumably take advantage of cheaper land. Some near Croydon were managed by Surrey County, while others were managed by London. Coincidentally, the land the asylums were built on, which is often in green belt areas, turned out to be very popular for housing. 

Cane Hill, Coulsdon - now a housing development which retains the water tower and chapel - see photo below, taken from Farthing Downs.

St Lawrence's, Caterham - very little still exists of this asylum but there is apparently a burial ground somewhere which I plan to go looking for.

Warlingham Park, Chelsham - only the water tower still exists as it is listed. The site is a housing estate. I once visited around the time it closed, when I was around 10 years old, and the buildings were intimidating looking.

Netherne, Hooley - a number of the buildings have been converted into housing and other amenities, with other residential buildings added, to form the village of Netherne-on-the-hill. I recently walked from Farthing Downs to Netherne.

Part of the administration block, Netherne

Close up of the foundation stone on the lower right of the photo above, Netherne

Converted water tower, Netherne

Netherne village hall

The building below was originally the hospital chapel, St Luke's, but has now been converted into a leisure centre complete with swimming pool. Unfortunately, it only seems to be open to local residents, but there are photos on their Facebook page showing the pool.

I hope to visit more of the former asylum sites in the future and share more photos. For more information about former asylums, I recommend the website County Asylums. The forum 28DaysLater is used by "urban explorers" to share photos from visits to abandoned buildings and there's a whole section devoted to asylums and hospitals. If you search the site, there's some photos from before the sites were redeveloped. I find it fascinating how much was left behind when they were closed.