Springfield Hospital, Wandsworth/Tooting - Early 2009

[S8]

So, this was half blag, half permission jobby this time last year, and I kept it quiet as it was a 'we will show you round jobby'.

The day started with me nearly slipping in a freshly laid turd right outside the main entrance (law??), nice, I met the guy who was to show me around and his first question was "Do you want to see one of the disused wards??" FUCK YES! He was a good bloke, spoke for ages about the old asylums etc and I swear he wanted to do a bit of UE, we stood there for about five minutes trying to find a way onto the roof The Hospital trust is undertaking the redevelopment of the site themselves because they feel that if they left it to the developers, they would loose alot of their buildings, and they are striving to preserve the heritage there (makes a change) and obviously, they want the money for themselves. I think they have plans to open a small museum or display when the new hopsital opens.

I was escorted within the buildings, but outside I had free run of the grounds, with securities permission. I am guessing if you turned up without it they would probably call in the copppers if they caught you, but who knows, you may end up in the secure ward

The History, taken from some iffy website I run

The Surrey Magistrates decided that it was time to follow suit of other counties and construct their own County Asylum. The First Surrey County Asylum was built upon the Springfield Park in Wandsworth, originally owned by the Second Earl Spencer who leased the site to Henry Perkins from 1823. In 1834 the Third Earl Spencer sold the freehold to Perkins who decided shortly after to move to Dover and out the land up for sale. The Committee decided that Springfield Park was an ideal location for their first asylum because of its location to the population centres, good clean air, a suitable water supply and a southerly aspect. Further land was purchased 1860 and extended the land to the east, the committee were pleased with this purchase because it contained a public footpath that had taken away the privacy that was needed by the patients. Passers-by, before the path was closed, used to peer into the walled airing courts and at the patients. In 1864 two further strips of land were added to the site, this was the final land purchase for the site and bringing the total land size to approximately 97.5 acres.

Work began on the site in 1838 following the design laid out by W. M. Mosely who was the County Surveyor to Middlesex and had designed parts of the Hanwell Asylum. He was advised by Alexander Morison and Sir William Ellis. Mosely designed Springfield in a Corridor Plan and the exterior was stylised in a Tudor fashion including twisted chimneys (now removed), similar to places such as Hampton Court Palace. The design was praised in architectural journals for its variegated brickwork and subtle angles that saved the facade from becoming bland. The interior however was commented on for being plain and devoid of interest, except for the main hall and staircase. The hospital, including purchase of the estate came to £85,366: 19s: 1d.

The hospital opened on the 14th June, 1841 and admitted 299 patients that had all be examined by Alexander Morison, the visiting physician to Springfield, and taken out of various private madhouses around Surrey. The committee had not realised the demand that the Asylum would receive and in 1849 two further wings to the north of the building were opened, they had space for a further 400 patients, this cost the hospital a further £35,000. Further additions were made to the buildings in the ever losing battle against increasing patient numbers, with two further wings being added to the south of the site in 1874. To combat the problems with infectious diseases spreading through the hospital a cottage hospital was opened in 1872. The chapel was moved from within the main building to a purpose built chapel in 1880, in accordance with the Lunacy Commissions wishes. In 1885 a water tower was constructed to attempt to solve the water supply problems that were being experience from the two onsite wells, this was demolished in 1976. The most ambitious extension to the site was construction of the “Annexe for Idiot Children” whose purpose was to remove all the mentally handicapped patients, especially children, from the main wards within the hospital, this was opened on the 15th October, 1897. Under the Mental Treatment Act of 1930 the annexe was converted to house voluntary patients, it is now the admission block. This idea was strongly advocated by the current superintendent, Hugh Gardiner Hill and one of the committee members, John Langdon Down. The final extension, bar the current upgrades and extensions, was in 1931 when the infirmary block was opened.

The site is still currently the headquarters of South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust and provides a range of local mental health care services as well as a number of leading specialist services. This visit would not have been possible without the kind permission and guidance of the trust. At the present, the trust has submitted plans to redevelop the older hospital buildings into flats as some are empty and most are no longer suitable for today’s standards of care. This does not mean that mental health will not be treated on site as there are plans to build new facilities to the north of the site. The trust will be undertaking the development themselves to ensure that the heritage of the site will be preserved and the money made ploughed back into the new units. Please see Here for further details

...The photos..

Interior first, what you all really want to see

The Admin Building






Now the ward, the reason they want to move is because it is very dark and with the corridors double loaded, not very nice.















What they guy reckons is the old staff rooms (built 1874) but he isn't sure...



And the cells, still kitted out in some places...





And a day room



Now the outside:

The main block



1974 extension



Detail about every window



Wiredly, the chiney is listed and being kept



The male wing (I think) now empty, but they keep the heating on to stop the damp, apparently.



Open door, very tempting, but running in a secure ward wasn't something I wanted to do lol



This entire building is the Mortuary, not sure what it is used for at the moment though :shock: (County asylums show it as boarded, think it has been turned into offices...)



The catholic Chapel, now a matress store



and the other chapel (built 1882 IIRC) Rec Hall on the right, apparently not very interesting inside as there have been partitions put in



Service road





The Idiot Child Annexe



What the new buildings will look like

They plan to keep all the main building, the mortuary, the chimney, annexe and the supers house, I think both chapels are to be kept along with the rec hall...Top day out, bombed it over the Friern in the afternoon[/QUOTE]