26 C O N T E X T 1 1 9 : M A Y 2 0 1 1 inherited character of these sites and their surroundings, prior to their disposal. It has trialed this approach, in partnership with English Heritage, at three former hospitals: Graylingwell in Chichester, Hanham Hall in South Gloucestershire, and Prudhoe Hall Hospital near Gateshead 8. Many historic hospital buildings have been left empty for years after their closure, unmaintained and prey to vandalism. They have become a favourite destination for ‘urban explorers’, whose unofficial visits record scenes of abandonment and dereliction. Although the original buildings are nearly always robust and capable of adaptation, the cost of backlog repairs and dealing with asbestos can be a significant deterrent to their re-use. Some have been demolished and the setting of those that remain has often been damaged by unsympathetic development in their grounds. For example, St John’s Bracebridge Heath, a Grade II former psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of Lincoln, has declined into dereliction since it closed in 1990 while new housing has grown up around it. Cane Hill hospital at Coulsdon in Surrey closed in 1991 and stood empty for almost 20 years while various proposals for its future were considered. The site became a magnet for urban explorers and vandals who started a series of fires.The main hospital buildings were recently demolished, leaving only the chapel, water tower and part of the old administration block. Options for the future development of the site are being prepared on behalf of the site’s owner, the Homes and Communities Agency. Other historic hospitals which stand empty include Severalls in Essex, Tiverton District Hospital and Belmont Hospital in Devon, andWhittingham Hospital near Preston (all in the hands of the Homes and Communities Agency). The decline in market conditions is tending to make the residential conversion of these buildings less attractive to developers. Most former asylums have now been adapted by commercial developers for residential use. Schemes carried out in the 1990s include Exe Vale Hospital in Devon, Claybury Hospital in Essex (now known as ‘Repton Park’) and Friern Barnet Hospital in North London. More recent examples include High Royds at Menston near Leeds and Park Prewett at Basingstoke. In general there has been a tendency towards over-development in the setting of the existing buildings. In some cases undistinguished new housing and associated hard landscaping have seriously eroded the sense of openness and greenery that characterised the original asylums. The better schemes have sensitively adapted the original buildings and maintained the generous open spaces around them, creating highly desirable environments for modern living. An example is Knowle Village near Fareham (originally the Hampshire County Lunatic Asylum, opened in 1852), where new housing blends harmoniously with the retained buildings. A large portfolio of former National Health Service hospital sites was transferred to English Partnerships in 2005. The transaction involved 96 sites across England with land totalling 1,600 hectares, including 44 listed buildings and several well-preserved asylums set in landscaped grounds. Four of these (Graylingwell, Fairmile, Springfield and Severalls) were already on English Heritage’s Register of Historic Parks and Gardens, and five were protected as conservation areas, including Park Prewett near Basingstoke, West Park in Epsom and Graylingwell in Chichester. English Heritage undertook a comprehensive review of the portfolio to ensure that the historical and architectural significance of each site was understood, and to identify any heritage assets that merited statutory protection. English Partnerships merged with the Housing Corporation in 2008 to create the Homes and Communities Agency. The HCA holds and disposes of surplus public-sector land to meet government objectives, including the provision of low-cost housing. However, the economic situation during the last four years has effectively stalled some mixed-use regeneration schemes, so that the HCA is holding sites for longer periods. Nonetheless, some schemes are moving ahead, including those at Graylingwell and Fairmile. A number of former military hospitals have been converted successfully, including St Nickolas’s Hospital in Great Yarmouth (built as the Royal Naval Hospital between 1809 and 1811), the Royal Herbert at Woolwich and the former Dreadnought Seaman’s hospital at Greenwich (dating from the 1770s and now part of the University of Greenwich). Two significant hospital sites have recently gone through the process of disposal from the MOD estate and await re-use. At the Royal Naval Hospital at Haslar there are numerous historic buildings on the 23-hectare site, which is designated as a conservation area and included in English Heritage’s Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.The impressive ranges of the original hospital date back to 1754 and are listed Grade II*. Plans for a mixed-use development of the site, including a Veterans Village, were announced in 2009. At Aldershot, the Cambridge Military Hospital (listed Grade II and located in a conservation area), a large purpose-built hospital dating from 1879, stands on a ridge above Aldershot Military Town. The hospital is unoccupied and is a building at risk.The re-use of the hospital is an important element in plans for the Aldershot Urban Extension. References 1 www.ihbc.org.uk/ context_archive/72/ hospitals/reuse.html 2 For histories of individual county asylums, see www. countyasylums.com/ about.html 3 Through the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 4 Hospitals: a suitable case for treatment; Mind Over Matter: a study of the country’s threatened mental asylums; Health Warning: historic hospitals at risk; Hospitals: a medical emergency 5 English Hospitals 16601948: a survey of their architecture and design, edited by Harriet Richardson, published by the former Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments for England, 1998 6 TheWorkhouse: a study of poor-law buildings in England, Kathryn Morrison, published jointly by English Heritage and the former Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments for England, 1999 7 Essex Hospitals 1800–1948: a study of their history, design and architecture, Essex County Council, 1999 8 These trials are described in Capitalising on the Inherited Landscape: an introduction to historic characterisation for masterplanning, www. helm.org.uk/upload/ pdf/HCA_Historical_ Characterisation_ Accessible_version.pdf Will Holborow is head of the Government Historic Estates Unit in English Heritage. The administration building at Cane Hill Hospital in Surrey as it appeared in 2007. Following a serious fire in 2010, most of the structure is due to be demolished. (Photo: Homes and Communities Agency)
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