Cane Hill Hospital

Cane Hill Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in Coulsdon in the London Borough of Croydon. The site is owned by GLA Land and Property.

Design and construction

The main buildings at Cane Hill were designed by Charles Henry Howell, consultant architect to the Commissioners in Lunacy and built on a hill-top site overlooking Coulsdon and Farthing Downs. The hospital opened in two phases, in 1882 and in 1888 as the Third Surrey County Lunatic Asylum.

Operation

The first superintendent, James Moody, was knighted for his psychiatric work and, following his death in 1915, he was succeeded by Dr George Lilly who retired in 1949. In the post-war period, Cane Hill's superintendent for twenty-three years was the eminent psychiatrist Dr Alexander Walk (1901–1982). Walk was renowned for his scholarship and was an authority on the history of British psychiatry.

During its lengthy period of operation, several patients who were related to famous people passed through the doors of Cane Hill – these include Charlie Chaplin's mother Hannah, and the brothers of Michael Caine and David Bowie. Bowie's album The Man Who Sold The World featured the administration block of Cane Hill on its sleeve. At its peak, the hospital housed almost 2,000 patients.

Cane Hill (disambiguation)

Cane Hill was a psychiatric hospital in Coulsdon in the London Borough of Croydon.

Cane Hill may also refer to:

See also