page_title: Cane Hill Hospital
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Cane Hill Hospital / History
caption_attribution_description: Cane Hill Asylum water tower in Coulsdon, South London. The hospital was demolished in 2010, leaving only the chapel, administration building and water tower.
context_page_description: Cane Hill Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in Coulsdon in the London Borough of Croydon. The site is owned by GLA Land and Property.
context_section_description: The hospital has its origins in the third Surrey County Pauper Lunatic Asylum, designed by Charles Henry Howell and built in two stages between 1882 and in 1888. The design which involved a 'radiating pavilion' layout was original. The hospital was taken over by London County Council in 1889.
  The hospital took in a large number of discharged mentally ill servicemen during the First World War, the earliest patient recorded being admitted in 1915 but later discharged to another hospital in 1923. Records for nearly 40 such service patients – some of whom died and were interred in the hospital cemetery – have been found. It was renamed the Cane Hill Mental Hospital in 1930.
  By the late 1980s the number of patients had greatly declined, largely due to the recommendations of the Mental Health Act (1983) with its emphasis on care in the community. Following a gradual winding down of hospital services and operations, the entire hospital with the exception of a small secure unit had closed by late 1991. The secure unit moved into what had been the Coulsdon Cottage Hospital: in 2006 it held 23 patients and was run by the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM). The unit closed in February 2008, with the patients and staff being transferred to the River House, a new Medium Secure Unit at Bethlem Royal Hospital.
  Demolition of Cane Hill started in March 2008 and was completed by the end of 2010. Only the chapel, administration building and water tower remained.
  On 13 November 2010 a fire took hold in the administration block and went on to destroy all but the front facade of the building. The fire also destroyed the iconic clock tower. At about midnight, firefighters saw the clocktower crash to the ground in the blaze. The fire had been started in the basement of the building, draughting its way up through the ground and first floors before finally destroying the roof.
caption: Cane Hill water tower in 2014, after the hospital was demolished
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