Frognal House
Encyclopedia
Foots Cray
Foots Cray is a place in the London Borough of Bexley, near the town of Sidcup, in southeast London, England, United Kingdom.It took its name from Godwin Fot, a local Saxon landowner recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, and from the River Cray that passes through the village. It lay on the old...
near Sidcup
Sidcup
Sidcup is a district in South East London in the London Borough of Bexley and small parts of the district in the London Borough of Greenwich.Located south east of Charing Cross, Sidcup is bordered by the London Boroughs of Greenwich and Bromley and Kent County Council, and whilst now part of...
, Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, was built in the early 18th century.
History
Frognal House was purchased by Thomas TownshendThomas Townshend (MP)
The Honourable Thomas Townshend was a long-standing British Member of Parliament.Townshend was the second son of Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, from his first marriage to the Hon. Elizabeth Pelham...
in 1752 and became the residence of his son, Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney
Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney
Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney PC , was a British politician who held several important Cabinet posts in the second half of the 18th century...
, after whom Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia was named. In 1915 the Marsham-Townshend family sold the house and 1740 acres (7 km²) estate to the government.
The house is also famous for being the original building of the Queen's Hospital (later Queen Mary's Hospital), Sidcup, developed as the First World War's major centre for facial and plastic surgery, largely through the efforts of Harold Gillies
Harold Gillies
Sir Harold Delf Gillies was a New Zealand-born, and later London based, otolaryngologist who is widely considered as the father of plastic surgery.-Personal life:Gillies was born in Dunedin, New Zealand...
. Opened in 1917, the hospital and its associated convalescent hospitals provided over 1,000 beds, and between 1917 and 1921 admitted in excess of 5,000 servicemen.
In 1974, a new Queen Mary's Hospital was built to replace the original Great War hospital, and since November 1999 Frognal House has been a residential and nursing home run by Sunrise Senior Living
Sunrise Senior Living
Sunrise Senior Living, Inc. is a senior living company based in Tysons Corner, unincorporated Fairfax County, northern Virginia, which operates over 300 Sunrise locations in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Sunrise specializes in Alzheimer's care, Assisted living and Skilled nursing...
, their first location in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
The house gave its name to the nearby Frognal Corner, once a crossroads where the Sidcup Bypass crossed Perry Street and, since 1987, a grade-separated junction at the intersection of the A20 and the A222.