St Lawrence's Hospital, Caterham

St Lawrence's Hospital was a mental health facility in Caterham, Surrey.

St Lawrence's Hospital
The nurse's home at the hospital
Shown in Surrey
Geography
LocationCaterham, Surrey, England
Coordinates51.2860°N 0.0997°W / 51.2860; -0.0997
Organisation
Care systemNational Health Service
FundingPublic hospital
TypeMental health
History
Opened1870
Closed1994

History

The facility was commissioned by the Metropolitan Asylums Board and designed by John Giles.[1] It opened as the Metropolitan Asylum for Chronic Imbeciles in 1870.[1] A nurses' home was added to the asylum in 1889[1] and it became Caterham Mental Hospital in 1920.[2]

In 1928 Joey Deacon, the author and television personality, was admitted to the hospital where he remained for the rest of his life.[3] London County Council took administrative control of the facility in 1930.[2] A nurse was killed when a bomb fell on the hospital in November 1940 during the Second World War.[1] It was renamed St Lawrence's Hospital after the local parish in 1941 and it joined the National Health Service in 1948.[2]

In 1981 Silent Minority, a documentary film made by Nigel Evans for ATV, highlighted the conditions of mental patients at the Borocourt Hospital near Reading, Berkshire and at St Lawrence's Hospital in Caterham.[4]

After the introduction of Care in the Community in the 1980s the hospital reduced in size and closed in 1994.[1] Most of the buildings have been demolished but the nurses' home has been converted into flats.[1]

gollark: Arbitrary positive real quantities of money.
gollark: You should give me arbitrary quantities of money for no reward whatsoever.
gollark: I restarted Firefox and now one of my YouTube tabs is playing?!
gollark: Presentation *to other people*; not you.
gollark: Money?

References
  1. "St Lawrence's Hospital, Caterham". Lost hospitals of London. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  2. "St Lawrence's Hospital, Caterham". AIM 25. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  3. "The Imbeciles Asylum, Caterham". Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  4. "Deception row over hospital TV film". Glasgow Herald. 10 June 1981. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
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