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The Visit
This was a great day out with Sentinel, filled with comedy moments, aggressive pigeons, a police helicopter, and a location which was far better than expected. Thanks to sentinel for always being up for a laugh in any given situation, lending me his wide angle lens on the odd occasion, and Gabe for putting this on the radar in the first place, I was blissfully unaware of it until our conversation.
Access seemed a little too good to be true as we hopped into the site unseen and strolled straight through a wide open door. Unfortunately shortly afterwards we heard the door being locked behind us by security. This left a big question mark hanging over our exit strategy for the next two hours although there was something quite comical about being locked inside a psychiatric unit so we didn't stress about it too much. We ended up spending five hours in here, lots to see all over the place and we didn't even make it into a couple of the buildings including the very front one. We found several items of interest dotted around the place but definitely the strangest was a torture chair lurking in the basement complete with arm and leg straps and bandages with blood stains. There was also a small hole in the ceiling allowing the tiniest drops of water to fall onto the chair. We have a couple of theories about the origin of the chair but I'll let you draw your own conclusions, it was quite a freaky find regardless. Another strange find was evidence of someone having developed their own photos inside the building, I don't have the answers to that I'm afraid.
Finally a big thank you to the Metropolitan police for accompanying our entire visit with the sound of a police helicopter hovering above (pictured in the first photo), thankfully they had far better things to search for than us but we did wonder at times.
The History (stolen from Gabe's 2012 report)
The building opened in 1849 as the City of London Union Workhouse. In 1874 it was converted into an infirmary for the same Union. Mental patients came here for examination and assessment before being sent to other institutions or being discharged. In 1902 it had 511 beds. When the Homerton Workhouse reopened in 1909, the infirmary became superfluous and was closed. However, it reopened in 1912 as the City of London Institution to treat the chronically ill. It was later renamed the Bow Institution.
The LCC took over administration in 1930, when all the Boards of Guardians were abolished. In 1933 the number of beds in the Institution was increased to 786 and a mental observation unit established. In 1935 fire destroyed the west wing and the main building. In 1936 the Institution was renamed St Clement's Hospital.
During WW2, when it had 397 beds, the hospital was badly damaged by bombs in 1944. In 1948 it joined the NHS and the bomb damage was repaired. By 1959 the Hospital had become exclusively psychiatric. It became part of the London Hospital Group in 1968 and was then called the London Hospital (St Clement's). In 1974, after another NHS upheaval, it became part of the Tower Hamlets Health District, when it had 146 beds. By 1979 it had 135 beds. In 2003 the East London and The City Mental Health NHS Trust decided to sell the site for redevelopment. The Hospital closed in 2005, with clinical services moving to a new purpose-built adult mental health facility at Mile End Hospital.
The Pics:
Found this book open on this page I kid you not!
Some kind of makeshift dark room....
The Chair
View from the clock tower
Worse photos can be found here https://www.flickr.com/photos/74870643@N02/sets/72157643376912974/
Thanks for looking
This was a great day out with Sentinel, filled with comedy moments, aggressive pigeons, a police helicopter, and a location which was far better than expected. Thanks to sentinel for always being up for a laugh in any given situation, lending me his wide angle lens on the odd occasion, and Gabe for putting this on the radar in the first place, I was blissfully unaware of it until our conversation.
Access seemed a little too good to be true as we hopped into the site unseen and strolled straight through a wide open door. Unfortunately shortly afterwards we heard the door being locked behind us by security. This left a big question mark hanging over our exit strategy for the next two hours although there was something quite comical about being locked inside a psychiatric unit so we didn't stress about it too much. We ended up spending five hours in here, lots to see all over the place and we didn't even make it into a couple of the buildings including the very front one. We found several items of interest dotted around the place but definitely the strangest was a torture chair lurking in the basement complete with arm and leg straps and bandages with blood stains. There was also a small hole in the ceiling allowing the tiniest drops of water to fall onto the chair. We have a couple of theories about the origin of the chair but I'll let you draw your own conclusions, it was quite a freaky find regardless. Another strange find was evidence of someone having developed their own photos inside the building, I don't have the answers to that I'm afraid.
Finally a big thank you to the Metropolitan police for accompanying our entire visit with the sound of a police helicopter hovering above (pictured in the first photo), thankfully they had far better things to search for than us but we did wonder at times.
The History (stolen from Gabe's 2012 report)
The building opened in 1849 as the City of London Union Workhouse. In 1874 it was converted into an infirmary for the same Union. Mental patients came here for examination and assessment before being sent to other institutions or being discharged. In 1902 it had 511 beds. When the Homerton Workhouse reopened in 1909, the infirmary became superfluous and was closed. However, it reopened in 1912 as the City of London Institution to treat the chronically ill. It was later renamed the Bow Institution.
The LCC took over administration in 1930, when all the Boards of Guardians were abolished. In 1933 the number of beds in the Institution was increased to 786 and a mental observation unit established. In 1935 fire destroyed the west wing and the main building. In 1936 the Institution was renamed St Clement's Hospital.
During WW2, when it had 397 beds, the hospital was badly damaged by bombs in 1944. In 1948 it joined the NHS and the bomb damage was repaired. By 1959 the Hospital had become exclusively psychiatric. It became part of the London Hospital Group in 1968 and was then called the London Hospital (St Clement's). In 1974, after another NHS upheaval, it became part of the Tower Hamlets Health District, when it had 146 beds. By 1979 it had 135 beds. In 2003 the East London and The City Mental Health NHS Trust decided to sell the site for redevelopment. The Hospital closed in 2005, with clinical services moving to a new purpose-built adult mental health facility at Mile End Hospital.
The Pics:
Found this book open on this page I kid you not!
Some kind of makeshift dark room....
The Chair
View from the clock tower
Worse photos can be found here https://www.flickr.com/photos/74870643@N02/sets/72157643376912974/
Thanks for looking
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