Cane Hill
Encyclopedia
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
in Coulsdon
Coulsdon
Coulsdon is a town on the southernmost boundary of the London Borough of Croydon. It is surrounded by the Metropolitan Green Belt of the Farthing Down, Coulsdon Common and Kenley Common...
in the London Borough of Croydon
London Borough of Croydon
The London Borough of Croydon is a London borough in South 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. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name...
. Built to care for patients in the eastern part of Surrey, remote from the Springfield
Springfield Hospital
Springfield University Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Tooting, South London and also the headquarters of the South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust....
and Brookwood Asylum
Brookwood Hospital
Brookwood 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, 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 by late 1991. It formerly housed up to 2,000 patients, but with Care in the Community
Care in the Community
Care in the Community is the British policy of deinstitutionalization, treating and caring for physically and mentally disabled people in their homes rather than in an institution...
, modern medication and the Mental Health Act (1983), it was almost empty by the time of its closure. The secure unit moved into what had been the Coulsdon Cottage Hospital
Cottage Hospital
The 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...
. In 2006 it held 23 patients and was run by the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
The South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS foundation trust based in London, United Kingdom. It comprises three psychiatric hospitals The South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS foundation trust based in London, United Kingdom. It comprises three psychiatric...
(SLaM). It closed in February 2008, with the patients and staff being transferred to the new Medium Secure Unit, River House at Bethlem Royal Hospital
Bethlem Royal Hospital
The Bethlem Royal Hospital is a psychiatric hospital located in London, United Kingdom and part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Although no longer based at its original location, it is recognised as the world's first and oldest institution to specialise in mental illnesses....
.
Historical Notes on Cane Hill
The main buildings at Cane Hill were designed by Charles Henry HowellCharles Henry Howell
Charles 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 site overlooking Coulsdon and Farthing Downs
Farthing Downs
Farthing Downs is an open space in Coulsdon in the London Borough of Croydon. Together with New Hill to the south-east, it is owned and managed by the Corporation of London. It is also part of the Farthing Downs and Happy Valley Site of Special Scientific Interest, notified in 1975. Happy Valley is...
. It opened in two phases, in 1882 and in 1888. The first superintendent, James Moody, was knighted for his psychiatric work and, following his death in 1915, he was succeeded by Dr George Lilly who retired in 1949. In the post-war period, Cane Hill's superintendent for twenty-three years was the eminent psychiatrist Dr Alexander Walk (1901-1982). Walk was renowned for his scholarship and was an authority on the history of British psychiatry.
During its lengthy period of operation, many notable patients passed through the doors of Cane Hill - these include Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
's mother, and the brothers of Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
and David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
. Bowie's album The Man Who Sold The World featured the administration block of Cane Hill on its sleeve.
Urban Exploration and the Afterlife of Cane Hill
Because of its immense size and relatively undamaged state, Cane Hill became extremely popular among urban explorersUrban exploration
Urban 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. On his extensive website, Simon Cornwell has described the complex nature of the Cane Hill Cult. However, fire and structural damage, as well as increased security, reduced its popularity on the UK urban exploration scene.
Cornwell's contribution to the post-modern literature of urban exploration
Urban exploration
Urban 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...
has featured Cane Hill as the focal point of personal and psychological recovery. Styling himself as a "guerilla historian", Cornwell has presented his compulsive "invasions" of the asylum in their historical context in an institution of compulsory detention. Cane Hill, for decades a refuge for the abandoned and the dispossessed, is itself now "abandoned" and in his many expeditions to its interior, Cornwell has recorded the experience physically, emotionally and photographically. The work of these urban explorers is akin to that of psychotherapists who explore the psychological structures of emotional trauma and bereavement.
In later years the interior of the buildings deteriorated greatly. Damage and lack of maintenance caused rot and water damage to the wooden floors, causing collapse in many of the out-lying buildings. The water tower
Water tower
A water tower or elevated water tower is a large elevated drinking water storage container constructed to hold a water supply at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system....
of the asylum housed a low-power analogue television repeater
Repeater
A 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 was powered by a diesel
Diesel engine
A 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...
generator, since there was no mains power supplied to the site after the switchgear was destroyed following an arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
attack.
There were many 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 was in the middle of the London green belt
Green belt
A 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 were 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 are often sited on land on the edge of towns in semi-rural areas that are now protected against unrestricted development.
The Fate of Cane Hill
The hospital buildings were not listed. English HeritageEnglish Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government 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". However, Cane Hill was not an early echelon asylum; it was 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 Partnerships
English Partnerships
English 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 Cane Hill started in March 2008 and was completed by the end of 2010. Only the Chapel, Administration building and Water Tower remained. A few buildings outside of the main fence remained, most notably the cottage hospital/secure unit.
On the 13th November 2010 a fire took hold in the administration block and went on to destroy all but the front facade of the building.
The fire also destroyed the iconic clock tower. At about midnight, firefighters saw the clocktower crash to the ground in the blaze.
The fire had been started in the basement of the building, draughting its way up through the ground and first floors before finally torching the roof.
Along with the clock tower, the fire destroyed many of the exterior masonry walls, rendering the building in a state of imminent collapse.
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External links
- Photographic tour Photographic tour of the hospital and grounds.
- The Cane Hill Project exploring and documenting Cane Hill
- Cane Hill Demolition A set of photos detailing the demolition of Cane Hill
- http://urbandesertion.squarespace.com/cane-hill/ Pics from 2005 onwards