Banstead Hospital
{{EngvarB|date=October 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox hospital
| Name = Banstead Hospital
| Org/Group =
| Image = Banstead Mental Hospital.JPG
| Caption = Banstead Hospital
| Logo =
| Logo Size =
| Location = Belmont, Sutton
| Region = London
| State = England
| Country = UK
| HealthCare = NHS England
| Type = Mental health
| Speciality =
| Emergency = No
| Affiliation=
| Beds =
| Founded = 1877
| Closed = 1986
| Website =
| Wiki-Links =
| Coordinates={{coord|51.3355|-0.1897|display=inline,title}}
| map_type = United Kingdom London Sutton
| map_caption = Location within Sutton
|}}
Banstead Hospital, also known as Banstead Asylum, was a psychiatric hospital in the village of Belmont, Sutton, adjacent to Banstead.
History
The hospital was commissioned by the Middlesex Court of Magistrates, as the Third Middlesex County Asylum. The hospital was designed by Frederick Hyde Pownall,{{cite news |newspaper=The Tablet |date=9 March 1907 |page=25 |title=Obituary |url=http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/9th-march-1907/25/obituar-v |access-date=27 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151009014001/http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/9th-march-1907/25/obituar-v |archive-date=9 October 2015 |url-status=dead }} and opened with accommodation for 1,700 patients in 1877.{{cite web |url=https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/banstead.html |title=Banstead Hospital |publisher=Lost Hospitals of London |access-date=27 May 2018}} Two more blocks were added in 1881, and in 1889 it came under the auspices of London County Council.Sparkes, Roland (2009) Belmont: A Century Ago. Spurs to two of the blocks, based on a design by George Thomas Hine,{{cite web |url=http://www.simoncornwell.com/urbex/misc/arch.htm |title=The asylum architects |publisher=Simon Cornwell|access-date=27 May 2018}} were added in 1893.
The facility became the Banstead Mental Hospital in 1918{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/details.asp?id=43&page=3|title=The National Archives | Search the archives | Hospital Records| Details|website=www.nationalarchives.gov.uk}} and, after a nurses' home was added in 1931, it became Banstead Hospital in 1937. It joined the National Health Service in 1948. In 1967 it split into the Downview Hospital, a facility for adult mental disorders, and the Freedown Hospital, a facility for tuberculosis treatment. It closed in 1986 and was largely demolished in 1989; the site is now occupied by HM Prison High Down.
Notable patients
- Margaret Fairchild (1911-1989), inspiration for The Lady in the Van (2015){{cite web|url=https://thescriptsavant.com/pdf/TheLadyInTheVan.pdf|title=The Lady in the Van|publisher=The Script Savant|access-date=18 October 2019}}
- Vincent Crane (1943–1989), English keyboardist, best known as the organist for The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster.{{cite web|url=http://colin-harper.com/journalism/vincent-crane/|title=Vincent Crane|publisher=ColinHarper|access-date=28 February 2020}}
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book|last=Edwards|first=Gareth|title=The Story of Belmont Hospital 1853-1959|year=1959}}
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Category:Hospital buildings completed in 1877
Category:Hospitals established in 1877
Category:Former psychiatric hospitals in England
Category:History of the London Borough of Sutton
Category:Defunct hospitals in London