Epsom Cluster

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.^[1]

The hospitals were built by the London County Council^[1] 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:

• Horton Hospital
• Long Grove Hospital
• Manor Hospital
• St Ebba's Hospital
• West Park Hospital

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^[2] and a central waterworks and power station until the arrival of mains services.^[3]