Epsom Cluster
{{Short description|Psychiatric hospitals}}
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File:Horton_hospital_admin_2009.JPG
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The Epsom Cluster, also referred to as the Horton Estate, was a cluster or group of five large psychiatric hospitals situated on land to the west of Epsom.{{cite web |url=http://www.thetimechamber.co.uk/Sites/Hospital/EpsomCluster/Epsom.php |title=The Horton Estate, Epsom Cluster, Epsom |accessdate=2008-12-23 |quote=Following the Legislation passed in 1888 the London County Council begun to build the necessary institutions around the London Borough. However these became over-crowded very quickly and a solution was needed and in 1896, 1096 acres of the Horton estate in Epsom was acquired for the price of £35,900. The original plan was to build six hospitals on the site with the ability to house up to 12,000 patients, the hope to alleviate the over-crowding in the London Hospitals; only five were built in the end.}}
The hospitals were built by the London County Council to alleviate pressure on London's existing lunatic asylums, which had by this time become overcrowded. The County Council continued to manage them until they were nationalised, becoming part of the National Health Service in 1948.
The cluster comprised:
The Horton Light Railway transported building supplies and then coal and provisions to the hospitals in the cluster. The cluster was served by a central cemetery on the corner of Hook Road and Horton Lane until 1955{{cite web |url=http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/HortonCemetery.html |title=Horton Cemetery |accessdate=2012-01-20}} and a central waterworks and power station until the arrival of mains services.{{cite web |url=http://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/briefhistoryepsom.html |title=Lost Hospitals of London |accessdate=2012-01-20}}
Present day
Following changes in the provision of mental health care, including a greater emphasis on care in the community, most of the hospitals' patients were discharged in the 1990s and early 2000s. As of 2011, much of the estate had been redeveloped for housing, including most of The Manor and Horton sites and all of Long Grove. NHS psychiatric units remained operational at St. Ebba's, Horton Haven, West Park and the Manor while redundant areas at West Park and St. Ebba's were undergoing redevelopment.{{cite web |url=http://www.the-epsom-cluster.co.uk/ |title=Epsom Clusters |accessdate=2008-12-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091123202019/http://www.the-epsom-cluster.co.uk/ |archive-date=2009-11-23 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://derelictmisc.org.uk/westpark.html |title=West Park Hospital |accessdate=2012-01-20}}{{cite news |last= Atkins |first= David |date= 2 August 2020 |title= Surrey's former asylums and mental hospitals and what they are now |url= https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surreys-former-asylums-mental-hospitals-18653920?fbclid=IwAR0KcW1FkgxvL50OB_-dN9li-bUV9R2rziSBxuLZ-w7xDVE9-hwBffICCqE |work= Surrey Live |access-date= 4 October 2021 }}
Notes
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External links
- [http://www.thetimechamber.co.uk/sites/Hospital/EpsomCluster/Epsom.php A History of the Epsom Cluster]
{{Epsom Cluster}}
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