Orchard Hill (formerly Queen Mary's Hospital) Carshalton, Surrey SM5
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Orchard Hill (formerly Queen Mary's Hospital) Carshalton, Surrey SM5 by Philip Talmage as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
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Image: © Philip Talmage Taken: 4 Sep 2005
Orchard Hill, run by Sutton and Merton Primary Care Trust, is an old long-stay hospital that provides a home to over 100 adults with learning and physical disabilities. In 1896, the Metropolitan Asylums Board acquired a 136-acre site at Carshalton on which they intended to construct a 800-bed convalescent hospital, to be known as the Southern Hospital. Buildings for this purpose were erected on the site in 1907-8. However, on 1st September 1908, the MAB was given the additional responsibility of dealing with "sick or convalescent or debilitated children". It was therefore decided to adapt Carshalton as a general hospital for one thousand children under the name of the Children's Hospital. The former Gore Farm Hospital at Darenth, previously mainly used by convalescing smallpox patients, took on a more general convalescent role and also inherited the name of the Southern Hospital. In 1914, following the accession of King George the Fifth and Queen Mary to the throne, the Children's Hospital was renamed Queen Mary's Hospital for Children.