It is our duty to remember the work of our forefathers, to commemorate their achievements and to learn from their experiences. Time passes us by and society changes, Cane Hill no longer serves a purpose as a mental health facility and is thus lost to us.
Many people contributed to the rich and illustrious history of Cane Hill, and this site attempts to celebrate the work they did by bringing together words and images from people who experienced Cane Hill.
[Photograph by Ernie Townsend, 1986]
Hi Ali,
was good to chat with you about the hill last night,
Had a look on flicker for those old cane hill cafe photos, but found nothing.
Would be very interested to see those shots in the hall you told me about or any links to photos up on flicker when cane hill was in use.
See you sunday the 20th.
Regards,
Phil
Phil
15 Dec 09 at 1:10 am
hey Ali, great work documenting cane hill.
I was wondering if you can help me find patients from the hospital still alive now, or if you know any? seems like there are some anecdotes in your site.
im working on a film, i can tell you more about it
thx,
s
san
12 Feb 10 at 3:26 pm
Hi Ali, I work at Cane Hill from 1982 to 1985. I met my wife there. I was led to understand the Mr Townsend was writing a book some years ago? I have been looking for some old Photos of staff who work at Cane Hill. Maybe we should look and find some of the old staff who work at Cane hill. I have a lot of very good memories working at Cane hill. Please email me and keep me inform.
Thank
Garry
Garry Smith
12 Mar 10 at 7:02 pm
From a newsletter published in 2002, Mr Townsend was indeed writing a book. I don’t know what came of it though. Finding photographs of staff is quite difficult, although the archivist at Croydon Library holds a box of general images from the hospital. I’ll let you know if anything new comes up.
Ali
Ali
15 Mar 10 at 3:20 pm
Ali, I have a scan of a canehill handbook. It’s a sort of recruitment type thing, entitled :
CANEHILL HOSPITAL
TRAINING SCHOOL FOR PSYCHIATRIC NURSING
If you’re interested in adding it to this site I can email you the files. let me know at my email.
paul
17 Mar 10 at 5:14 pm
Hi there, I have a full survay of fire equipment on the wards and blue prints of the hospital I took of some of the older sites and made into two PDF files. If your interested contact me via email. (the ‘o’ in nothing being a zero ‘0′.
Adam
23 Mar 10 at 8:29 pm
Sounds great Adam, thanks for this.
Ali
23 Mar 10 at 9:42 pm
This site is amazing, I am currently doing my Art A-level and Cane Hill heavily features in my coursework unit as I decided to do it about decaying buildings but since then I have become fascinated with the history and tales of Cane Hill. So do you mind if I use some of the articles and photographs in my project? I stumbled across another website and this photographer has some copies of original documents you might be interested in, however I tried to contact her myself but have had no luck and her website was last updated in 2008 so I am not too sure where she has disappeared to. This is the website http://www.amelieriis.co.uk/cane_hill.htm she also looks at other asylums too… the documents are under interesting things.
Alexia
Alexia
18 Apr 10 at 10:09 am
Thanks Alexia, a lot of work has gone into it so I appreciate your comment! You are welcome to use the images in your coursework, however I would appreciate a credit where you do – a link to the site would be nice. There’s plenty of other sites about Cane Hill around too – if you follow the links you may like what you find. Re: Original documents, I acquired some from somebody authorised to salvage at the site – let me know what you’re looking for, and maybe we could sort something out?
Ali
Ali
19 Apr 10 at 8:39 am
amazing site .
would love to meeeet for a drink with any cane hill lovers and show some of my photographs .Hear stories, that kind of thing
Denis
10 Jun 10 at 1:45 am
Dear Ali,
I couldn’t find any other way to contact you but I’m currently in the middle of doing picture research for Bizarre magazine and we are doing a feature on the closure of Cane hill and really need some archive images, everything you have on this site is amazing so if it was possible would you be able to send me some high res examples of what you have and of course the pictures would get credited and the website would be mentioned.
Also, would you happen to know of any other good places that I can obtain archive images?
Thank you for your help
Emma Thatcher
Emma
15 Jul 10 at 11:12 am
I have reason to believe that a relative of mine died in Cane Hill in the 60’s, having been hospitalised for about 30 years. Does anyone know how I can check hospital records for patients who died and were buried there?
I live just down the road from the old hospital site and have found your website absolutely facsinating. If I find anything while researching my family tree which will help you…I will let you know.
Jackie Tanner
17 Jul 10 at 6:53 pm
Thanks Jackie, I’d appreciate that.
Unfortunately the patient records that were left in the hospital were destroyed during demolition. Croydon Archive (above the library) and the City of London Archives may be able to help if further records were kept off site. As far as I know, there is no definitive record of who was buried in the cemetery but individual records may reveal some secrets.
Ali
19 Jul 10 at 11:55 am
Hi There,
I am interested to film a short film segment for TV? Would that be possible…are the buildings still up. Please can you email me a contact number its for Channel Four on Thursday. We hoping to walk around the site and some of the old buildings.
Tim
tim burke
10 Oct 10 at 9:25 pm
Hi Tim, the majority of the buildings are now demolished, but the administration block and chapel are still standing.
Ali
25 Oct 10 at 9:34 pm
Hi Ali, fantastic site you have here, I’ve been fascinated by Cane Hill since I first went there back in 2004. I had 1000s of photographs of the place until my HDD went ‘fssst’ now sadly I only have a couple of dozen
I wonder if you have a hi-res copy of the actual site plan at all Ali and if I might have a copy, I plan on enlarging some ofmy photographs as art to use around the house and would love the builing plan from 1883 as a centrepiece, a bit odd I grant you but it was such a magical & mysterious place it has a lasting effect on you. Regards
Kane
Kane
10 Dec 10 at 1:35 pm
As far as I remember from talking to the site security just before demo started, Admin & the Chapel are being kept and renovated.
Lets hope they are.
Kane
Kane
10 Dec 10 at 3:28 pm
I hope so, although the fire to the Admin Block could see it’s end.
Ali
21 Dec 10 at 7:31 pm
Thanks Kane, I don’t have any copies of the site plan, but Simon Cornwell has some hi-res scans. http://simoncornwell.com/urbex/projects/ch/index.htm
Ali
21 Dec 10 at 7:33 pm
I was the Personnel and Services Manager at Cane hill from 1981 to 1983 working for the legendary Jim Kiley and Steve Sheath. I ran Personnel, library, Occuptional Therapy, Hairdressers and all staff accomodation. It was quite and experience in which I learnt a tremeddous amount for someone age 23. I drove past it last week and was saddened to see the magnificent buildings and grounds (including the cricket pitch) all lost. It was a place which exuded a strange mixture of happiness and misery for its staff and patients – and was full of history.
Robert Ingram
7 Feb 11 at 12:13 pm
Hi,
Im doing my Family Tree at present and have found that my grandads half brother died in the hospital in 1930, is there any way to found more details about this.
Nigel Welsh
15 Feb 11 at 4:40 pm
Hi Nigel, unfortunately records are very sparse, particularly prewar. Have you tried the archive of London City Council, as they were responsible for the hospital in this period?
Ali
21 Feb 11 at 4:38 pm
I found the messages on Canehill very interesting particularly as I had an aunt who had a stay in there possibly in the 1950’s?, I recall being driven past it by my father and he told me that one of his sisters was in there, I believe her name was either Doll or Nell O’Brien and her upbringing was in Bermondsey, London. I have no idea how long she was there or if she is alive or dead but I would love to know for family research. Kevin O’Brien.
kevin O'Brien
8 Jun 11 at 6:34 pm
Hi Kevin, thanks for the comment. I’m sorry but I have no information on individual patients, except for those famous patients mentioned elsewhere on the site. Hopefully the information that I’ve collected can give you an idea as to what the hospital was like when your father’s sister was there.
Ali
12 Jun 11 at 5:54 pm
My mother was a patient at Cane Hill at the time you mentioned and her maiden name was O’Brien. Can you let me know your father’s christian name. It may just be a coincidence as my mother also grew up in Bermondsey.
Vivian McCann
2 Nov 11 at 6:38 pm
I was interested to see Kevin O’Brien’s message. I believe he is talking about my mother. All the facts he has given fit. If he would care to post a message back to me I will happily give him more information.
Vivian
Vivian McCann
24 Nov 11 at 6:46 pm
[...] If any of this has inspired you the way it inspired me, you can find out endless amounts online. Some of the websites that I used for research include: Epsom’s Hospital Cluster, Simon Cornwell, and canehill.org. [...]
A little bit of history » Life by Lotte
23 Oct 12 at 10:22 am
I worked at Cane Hill in the eighties as a medical secretary and have found this site very interesting. I have some good memories of Cane Hill and was saddened to see the pictures of the derelict site. My office was at the front of the building which I think is still standing. I lived very near to the hospital so it was only a short journey to work. It is so sad to see the derelict wards with all the abandoned items – beds, suitcases, pianos, etc and even patients’ notes. I loved working at Cane Hill and remember with fondness my colleagues, doctors, nurses and the patients.
Joan Taylor
25 Jan 13 at 11:11 am
I am a writer currently doing in depth research on the history, architecture and social impact of British Mental Asylums for my debut novel (can share more on this if you wish.)
This site is a rich source of information for me, especially the memories section which gives me a detailed impression of what life might have been like in my own fictional Asylum.
I would love to learn more about Cane Hill; (one of the first British Asylums I discovered during preliminary research)as it seems like a rich and colourful model upon which to base my Asylum. Furthermore, if there are any other sites that are this rich in Asylum history, please let me know!
best regards,
Marion Aneira
Marion Aneira Capelsion
10 Feb 13 at 3:06 am
Hi Marion, thanks for the feedback. For the sake of accuracy, you’d do well to note that there’s no such thing as a ‘mental asylum’. The terms that have been used are ‘lunatic asylum’, in Victorian times, and more recently, ‘mental hospital’.
There are several other sites with a lot of information on asylum history, and the books that I’ve recommended are well worth reading. Any factual accounts from staff are worth reading, as is ‘Madness in it’s place’, by Diana Gittens, a collection of accounts from staff at Severalls, a hospital in Essex.
If you want to know more about Cane Hill, there’s a lot of interesting documents at the archive at Croydon library.
Ali
10 Feb 13 at 3:49 pm