THE HISTORY
The hospital began as one of the earlier county asylums, opening as Surrey County Pauper Lunatic Asylum. It was Surrey's first asylum, followed by Brookwood (1867) and Cane Hill (1882). By 1849, the asylum had become rapidly overcrowed and so had a forward extension added to the east and west wings in 1849. Various other additions occurred over proceeding years. Tooting was actually in Surrey until 1889, showing how far towards the city the county once spanned. At this time, the asylum was transferred to Middlesex County Council and became Wandsworth Asylum. The Lunacy Act of 1890 differentiated between ill adult and handicapped children, and so in 1897 the Annexe for Idiot Children was build next door (more on this). After a brief stint as a war hospital in WW1 as was common, it's name was changed to Springfield Mental Hospital. The hospital at its height has 2,000 patients. It's a strange building today, once built in the countryside and now feeling like a country manor displaced into urban London. I guess that's most asylums since urban growth.
At somepoint approaching the new millenium the central admin section and eastern wing of the hospital closed as a result of the care in the community act. The admin bit and eastern wing forward extension was converted to luxury housing in the last few years, whilst the rest of the eastern wing sat abandoned until recent works. The western wing and it's forward extension remained in NHS use for mental health until January of this year. The hospital appears in this excellent documentary with Stacey Dooley, and provides some interesting food for thought on care in the community. The residential development is now called The 1840 as a nod to the hospital's opening date. Substantial new build developments have occurred on the hospital grounds too, and the entire original hospital building will eventually be converted. The NHS do still however operate from outbuildings at the site.
1946 aerial showing the hospital and it's then-rural surroundings. Surviving sections are highlighted: (Blue) first disused eastern wing, once derelict now stripped. (Green) current residential conversion. (Yellow) Recently disused NHS western wing. (Pink) Hall and chapel now over the road. (Orange) Elizabeth Newton Wing/Annexe for Idiot Children still in NHS use.
THE EXPLORE
It's time for another episode of me scraping the asylum barrel.
Whilst out and about with @KismetJ in Croydon we were looking for something to see after a morning outing. Given that Springfield wasn't too far, we decided to go and see what was left. We thought it unlikely that anything would be explorable but were pleasantly surprised. I'd remembered seeing MotionlessMike's report on the recently closed section but somehow didn't realise it was the bit we'd explored until after. I instead thought it was the mini-asylum next door, now the Elizabeth Newton wing, originally the children's annexe. This bit is active so we didn't attempt it, though I'd love to see inside. The door was open so I started walking in but it was dark so I thought best not. Anyway, I digress.
The explore began with us entering the eastern wing of the building in a pretty bait fashion, which is the side of the hospital with the beds and bits we've all seen online, abandoned some time ago by the NHS as an immediate consequence of care in the community. Sadly, it's now stripped out and tbh I'm gutted I missed it as it looked excellent, but that's my own fault for slacking. By now, it's stripped of furnishings but there's still some original pillars, arches and nice staircases here and there. Incase you're wondering, the hall and chapel is now over the road and used as a nursery.
After exploring the eastern building site, we attempted to cross over into the western half which was still used by the NHS until January this year.The next thing I knew we were in, and spent a good while exploring until it got dark. It's pretty modernised in much of this area, but it is rather big and there's a few orginal features still visible. As mentioned in MM's report, the bones of an asylum are still visible. In the whole building, I think the best bit was funnily enough the staircases. It's always a familiar sight in a former asylum to see the wide staircases, and I was quite satisfied to find myself standing in them once again.
I decided to return again several weeks later, joined by @Llama @Stumpy_UX @ash47 and others, as it was getting too dark before to see much. Well in typical fashion we didn't arrive till 3pm leaving us less than two hours of daylight. Fortunately, IEven just this western wing is massive so it made up for the lack of original features in scale. It made for a pretty relaxed explore on the whole - now for the pics.
EAST WING
Long disused, now stripped
TBC
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