Clare Hall Manor is a former health facility in Blanche Lane,

South Mimms South Mimms is a village and civil parish in the Hertsmere district of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It is a small settlement located near to the junction of the M25 motorway with the A1(M) motorway and is perhaps more widely known because ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, England. It is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

The estate was formed in the early 18th century. The house was built as a private residence in 1745 and became St Monica's Priory, a Roman Catholic nunnery, in 1886. In 1896 the house was converted into a hospital so allowing the transfer of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

treatment services from

Highgate Hospital Highgate Hospital was a name used to refer to the infirmary building which opened in 1869 on the St Pancras side of Dartmouth Park Hill in Highgate, London. History The facility has its origins in the St Pancras Union Infirmary, which was design ...

; the new facility became known as Clare Hall Hospital. Following substantial progresstowards eradication of smallpox, the hospital converted to the treatment of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

patients in 1912 and became Clare Hall Sanatorium in 1929. In 1938, a series of brick huts, operated as part of the

Emergency Medical Service Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. ...

, was built on the opposite side of Blanche Lane and were in use throughout the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It joined 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 " ...

as Clare Hall Hospital in 1948. After the hospital closed in 1974, the buildings were acquired by the

London Research Institute The Cancer Research UK London Research Institute (LRI) was a biological research facility which conducted research into the basic biology of cancer. The LRI officially became a part of the Francis Crick Institute ("the Crick") in April 2015, rese ...

which carried out

biotechnological Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used by ...

research at the manor. After research services transferred to the

Francis Crick Institute The Francis Crick Institute (formerly the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation) is a biomedical research centre in London, which was established in 2010 and opened in 2016. The institute is a partnership between Cancer Research UK, Impe ...

in 2015, Clare Hall was advertised for sale.

References

{{reflist Grade II listed buildings in Hertfordshire Defunct hospitals in Hertfordshire Hospitals established in 1896 1896 establishments in England