Bexley Hospital was a

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

at Old Bexley Lane,

Dartford Heath Dartford Heath Common is an area of open heathland situated to the south-west of Dartford, Kent, England, covering around of open space. Dartford Heath is classified as lowland heath and is one of only two substantial heathland blocks remaining i ...

Bexley Bexley is an area of south-eastern Greater London, England and part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is sometimes known as Bexley Village or Old Bexley to differentiate the area from the wider borough. It is located east-southeast of Char ...

, in the County of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. It operated between 19 September 1898 and 2001.

History

The hospital was designed by

George Thomas Hine George Thomas Hine FRIBA (1842–25 April 1916) was an English architect. His prolific output included new county asylums for Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Surrey, East Sussex and Worcestershire, as well as extensive additions to many others. Bi ...

and opened as the Heath Asylum on 19 September 1898 . Its name was changed to Bexley Mental Hospital in 1918, and it was also known as the Bexley Asylum or informally as the Village on the Heath. Building the hospital cost £34,000, and it was designed for 2,000 patients. By 1939, the main hospital had expanded to 18 wards (each holding 60 patients), which had become six acute (admission) wards and 32 other wards by the 1970s. A large chapel, seating 850 people, was included within the hospital. Government policy to close Victorian hospitals led inpatient numbers to fall, and by 1977 the number of patients was below 1,000. It was brought into the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

in 1948. In the 1970s, there were sporting facilities and a weekly film at the cinema, plus a library, and hairdressing for men and women. The Friends of Bexley Hospital provided coach outings and equipment for special projects. Bexley Hospital was built some distance away from the immediate community as it was designed to be self-sufficient. Until 1961, the hospital had a farm with chickens, ducks, cattle, sheep, and pigs, plus a market garden for vegetables. When the hospital first opened, the patients undertook the maintenance and upkeep of the asylum, along with other duties such as cleaning and making beds; in later years, the farm was maintained by patients, who also looked after the gardens and grounds of the hospital. The hospital closed in 2001. The site of the hospital was redeveloped in the early 2000s, and is now a housing estate. Some of the original buildings from the earlier hospital site are still in existence, under new uses.

References

{{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1898 Defunct hospitals in London Former psychiatric hospitals in England NHS hospitals in London 1898 establishments in England 2001 disestablishments in England