The Manor Hospital, formerly The Manor Asylum and The Manor Certified Institution was a mental handicap and

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociat ...

in Horton, near

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

, Surrey,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

History

Ancient use of the site

Pottery sherds and worked

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

s, found on the site of Manor Hospital, show that human activity occurred the early

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

and two staters (coins) from this period have been found in the area. This is further to Bronze Age remains which were discovered on nearby Long Grove Road.

Construction and development

The first of the

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. The hospitals were built by the London County Council to alleviate pressure on London's e ...

to open on the Horton Manor estate, the Manor Hospital was developed around the existing Horton Manor House between 1896 and 1899 to the design of William C. Clifford-Smith, Architect to the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

. The redbrick manor house was used for the administration offices, with similarly styled buildings built for staff quarters. The storerooms, kitchens and laundry were also built from red brick, with curved gables and slate roofs. Porter's lodges were built at the entrances on Horton Lane and Christchurch Road. Initially, 700 harmless chronic female patients lived in single-storey pavilions of wood and corrugated iron radiating from the main corridor. Further pavilions were built to the north of the manor house, one of which served as a chapel. An isolation hospital was built in the southwest part of the site and an existing farm bordering Horton Lane provided work for the patients and helped the asylum to maintain self-sufficiency. In 1901 accommodation was added to the site for 100 male patients who were to provide labour for the Horton Estate's Central Pumping and Power Station. By 1909 ten permanent brick buildings had been added.

Wartime use

In 1916, the asylum was requisitioned by the Army Council and became the Manor War Hospital. All mental patients were transferred to other institutions and the hospital used to treat soldiers wounded in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Mental handicap hospital

After West Park Hospital opened in 1921, the hospital was redesignated as a Certified Institution for Mental Defectives. The new patients continued to provide labour in the workshops making brushes, shoes, baskets and clothing and learning carpentry and sewing. In the 1930s Horton Lodge, a large Georgian era mansion on Christchurch Road, was purchased by the LCC as an annexe for the Manor and West Park Hospitals. It was renamed Hollywood Lodge, to avoid confusion with Horton Hospital. The hospital joined the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

in 1948, and continued to care for moderately mentally handicapped young adults and disturbed adolescents. The hospital gained an international reputation for industrial and behavioural therapy and by 1951 it had 1417 beds. In 1971 there were 1067 beds, 25 of which were in locked wards. By this time the state of the pavilions was causing concern: despite having been built with a life expectancy of 15 years, they were still in use 70 years later. Subsequently, the hospital was redeveloped with large single-storey redbrick bungalows units with flat roofs replacing the old huts. In 1973 the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in

Banstead Banstead is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It is south of Sutton, south-west of Croydon, south-east of Kingston-upon-Thames, and south of Central London. On the North Downs, it is on three of the four main ...

Woods, formerly a children's hospital, became a satellite of the hospital. The hospital by this time had 1042 beds, including those in Hollywood Lodge, Aldingbourne House (a 60-bed unit near

Chichester Chichester () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publi ...

where patients would be sent for seaside holidays) and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Decline and redevelopment

Following the introduction of Care in the Community, the hospital was gradually reduced in size as patients were moved into alternative accommodation: by 1990 only 454 beds remained. The hospital closed in 1996 although the garden centre and Pine Lodge, a community-based day centre for adults with learning disabilities remained open. Hollywood Lodge was used as a care home after the closure of Manor Hospital. The care home itself closed in 2003 before being partially destroyed in an arson attack in February 2005. The bungalow villas have since been demolished and replaced by a new housing estate called 'Manor Park'. The Manor House, Medical Superintendent's house, three of the service blocks and both porter's lodges have been converted to residential use.

References

{{authority control Former psychiatric hospitals in England Hospitals in Surrey Epsom Hospital buildings completed in 1899 Hospitals established in 1899 Hospitals disestablished in 1996 1899 establishments in England Defunct companies based in Surrey Defunct hospitals in England