Banstead Hospital
Hospital in England
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Banstead Hospital, also known as Banstead Asylum, was a psychiatric hospital in the village of Belmont, Sutton, adjacent to Banstead.
| Banstead Hospital | |
|---|---|
Banstead Hospital | |
  Location within Sutton | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Belmont, Sutton, London, England, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51.3355°N 0.1897°W |
| Organisation | |
| Care system | NHS England |
| Type | Mental health |
| Services | |
| Emergency department | No Accident & Emergency |
| History | |
| Founded | 1877 |
| Closed | 1986 |
| Links | |
| Lists | Hospitals in England |
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,[1] and opened with accommodation for 1,700 patients in 1877.[2] Two more blocks were added in 1881, and in 1889 it came under the auspices of London County Council.[3] Spurs to two of the blocks, based on a design by George Thomas Hine,[4] were added in 1893.[2]
The facility became the Banstead Mental Hospital in 1918[5] and, after a nurses' home was added in 1931, it became Banstead Hospital in 1937.[2] It joined the National Health Service in 1948.[2] In 1967 it split into the Downview Hospital, a facility for adult mental disorders, and the Freedown Hospital, a facility for tuberculosis treatment.[2] It closed in 1986 and was largely demolished in 1989;[2] the site is now occupied by HM Prison High Down.[2]
Notable patients
- Margaret Fairchild (1911-1989), inspiration for The Lady in the Van (2015)[6]
- Vincent Crane (1943–1989), English keyboardist, best known as the organist for The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster.[7]