Cane Hill was a
psychiatric hospitalA psychiatric hospital, sometimes known as an asylum, is a hospital specializing in the treatment of serious mental illness, usually for relatively long-term inpatients....
in
CoulsdonCoulsdon , known by locals and historically as Coalsden, is a town on the southernmost boundary of the London Borough of Croydon. It is surrounded by the Greater London greenbelt of the Farthing Downs, Coulsdon Common and Kenley Common.-History:...
in the
London Borough of CroydonThe London Borough of Croydon is a London borough in south-west London, England and is part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the largest London borough by population. It is the southernmost borough of London...
. Built to handle patients unable to attend the Springfield and
Brookwood AsylumBrookwood Hospital at Woking in Surrey, was established in 1867 by Surrey Quarter Sessions as the second County Asylum, the first being Springfield Asylum in Tooting....
s, both of which were filled to capacity, it opened in 1882 as the
Third Surrey County Lunatic Asylum. Following a gradual winding down of operations, it closed all but its secure unit in late 1991. It formerly housed up to 2,000 patients, but with
Care in the CommunityAlthough this policy has been attributed to the Margaret Thatcher government in the 1980s, community care was not a new idea. As a policy it had been around since the early 1950s...
and modern medication and
sectioningInvoluntary commitment is the practice of using legal means or forms as part of a mental health law to commit a person to a mental hospital, insane asylum or psychiatric ward against their will and/or over their protests. In some juridictions , it was once known as the "restraint of the insane"...
laws, it was heavily underused by the time of its closure.
Cane Hill was a
psychiatric hospitalA psychiatric hospital, sometimes known as an asylum, is a hospital specializing in the treatment of serious mental illness, usually for relatively long-term inpatients....
in
CoulsdonCoulsdon , known by locals and historically as Coalsden, is a town on the southernmost boundary of the London Borough of Croydon. It is surrounded by the Greater London greenbelt of the Farthing Downs, Coulsdon Common and Kenley Common.-History:...
in the
London Borough of CroydonThe London Borough of Croydon is a London borough in south-west London, England and is part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the largest London borough by population. It is the southernmost borough of London...
. Built to handle patients unable to attend the Springfield and
Brookwood AsylumBrookwood Hospital at Woking in Surrey, was established in 1867 by Surrey Quarter Sessions as the second County Asylum, the first being Springfield Asylum in Tooting....
s, both of which were filled to capacity, it opened in 1882 as the
Third Surrey County Lunatic Asylum. Following a gradual winding down of operations, it closed all but its secure unit in late 1991. It formerly housed up to 2,000 patients, but with
Care in the CommunityAlthough this policy has been attributed to the Margaret Thatcher government in the 1980s, community care was not a new idea. As a policy it had been around since the early 1950s...
and modern medication and
sectioningInvoluntary commitment is the practice of using legal means or forms as part of a mental health law to commit a person to a mental hospital, insane asylum or psychiatric ward against their will and/or over their protests. In some juridictions , it was once known as the "restraint of the insane"...
laws, it was heavily underused by the time of its closure. The secure unit moved into what had been the Coulsdon
Cottage HospitalThe original concept of a cottage hospital was a small rural hospital having up to 25 beds. One advantage of such a hospital in villages was the familiarity the local physician might have with their patient that may affect their treatment...
building run by asylum. In 2006 it held 23 patients and was run by the
South London and Maudsley NHS TrustThe South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS foundation trust based in South London, England. It is the principal provider of mental health and substance misuse services to the London Boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark...
(SLaM). It closed in February 2008, with the patients and staff being transferred to other hospitals in the SLaM group.
The main buildings on the site were designed by
Charles Henry HowellCharles Henry Howell FRIBA was the principal architect of lunatic asylums in England during much of the Victorian era.Based in London and a partner in the firm Howell & Brooks, Howell designed asylums at Cane Hill , East Riding at Beverley , Moulsford, near Wallingford , Brookwood , Cholsey...
and built on a hill-top overlooking Coulsdon and Farthing Downs. It opened in two phases, in 1882 and in 1888.
Due to their immense size and relatively undamaged state, they became extremely popular among
urban explorersUrban exploration is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of urban areas or industrial facilities. Urban exploration is also commonly referred to as infiltration, although some people consider infiltration to be more closely associated with the exploration of active or...
in the 1990s. Fire and structural damage and increased security have reduced its popularity in the UK urban exploration scene recently. In recent years the interior of the buildings have deteriorated greatly. Damage and lack of maintenance has caused rot and water damage to the wooden floors, causing collapse in many of the out-lying buildings. The
water towerA water tower or elevated water tower is a large elevated water storage container constructed for the purpose of holding a water supply at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system. Pressurization occurs through the elevation of water; for every of elevation, it produces of...
of the asylum still houses a low-power analogue
television repeaterA repeater is an electronic device that receives asignal and retransmits it at a higher level and/or higher power, or onto the other side of an obstruction, so that the signal can cover longer distances.-Description:...
belonging to National Grid Wireless. This is now powered by a
dieselA diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber during the final stage of compression...
generator, since there is no longer any mains power supplied to the site after the switchgear was destroyed following an
arsonArson is the crime of deliberately and maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires caused by lightning for example. The study of the causes is the subject of fire investigation...
attack.
There have been proposals to re-develop the site as a housing estate or a business or science park, and plans to convert some of the buildings into a modern medium-security hospital. However, the hospital is in the middle of the London
green beltA green belt or greenbelt is a policy and land use designation used in land use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighbouring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges which have a linear character and may run through an...
, so there have been lengthy delays and discussions about the exact nature of any re-development plans. This problem afflicts many former psychiatric hospitals in the UK, as they were often sited on land on the edge of towns in semi-rural areas that are now protected against unrestricted development. West Park Hospital in
EpsomEpsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England. The town is located south-south-west of Charing Cross, within the Greater London Urban Area. The town lies on the chalk downland of Epsom Downs.-History:...
is still derelict for the same reasons.
During its lengthy operation, a number of notable patients passed through the hospital, including the mother of
Charlie ChaplinSir Charles Spencer Chaplin, KBE was an English comedic actor and film director. Chaplin became one of the most famous actors as well as a notable filmmaker, composer and musician in the early to mid Classical Hollywood era of American cinema.Chaplin acted in, directed, scripted, produced and...
, and brothers of
Michael CaineSir Michael Caine, CBE is an English film actor. Caine has appeared in more than 100 films, and is one of only two actors to have been nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade since the 1960s Sir Michael Caine, CBE (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, Jr.; 14 March 1933) is an...
and
David BowieDavid Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. Active in five decades of popular music and frequently reinventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
. The original cover of
The Man Who Sold The WorldThe Man Who Sold the World is the third studio album by David Bowie. It was originally released on Mercury Records in November 1970 in the United States and in April 1971 in the UK. The album was Bowie's first with the nucleus of what would become the "Spiders from Mars", the backing band made...
by Bowie features the administration block of the hospital. The hospital's motto was
Aversos Compono Animos, which translates to 'I bring relief to troubled minds'.
The hospital buildings are not listed.
English HeritageEnglish Heritage . is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government with a broad remit of managing the historic built environment of England. It is currently sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
first considered the buildings as part of their Thematic Review of Hospital Buildings in the 1990s, but listing was not granted. Croydon's Planning Brief for Cane Hill of March 1998 suggested the retention and re-use of the Administration Block and Chapel but the buildings were not on the local list nor was any part of the site considered a Conservation Area. An attempt to list the buildings again in 2006 failed; it did have local interest (in particular the Administration Block and the Chapel) but better examples of early echelon asylums exist. Cane Hill is not an early echelon asylum; it is a unique example of a transitional type, best described as "Radiating Pavilion".
In 2006, Hipposcope Films started planning to film a documentary about the history of the asylum. The site's owners,
English PartnershipsEnglish Partnerships was the national regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by Regional Development Agencies on a regional level...
, who purchased the site in April 2007, apparently gave permission for Hipposcope to access Cane Hill. Filming inside the asylum was due to start according to the project's site in late 2007/early 2008 but there had since been no new news updates and the site has now been taken down.
Demolition of the site started in March 2008, as of July 2009 only three wards, administration block, water tower, and chapel remain.
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