Cawston Park Hospital

Image: © Evelyn Simak Taken: 27 Sep 2007

Cawston Park Hospital, originally built as a manor house by an American stockbroker called George Cawston in 1897 (apparently because he liked the fact that part of Norfolk already bore his name). He also built the nearby water tower > https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/457626 which was converted to a private residence in 2003. During WW1, the manor was used as a convalescent home for soldiers and in the following years hosted annual gymkhana games days. The building then changed hands several times over the following decades, and in 1927 a small lake > https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/637651 named Stourton Water after the then owner of the manor was made by the damming of the Mermaid stream > https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1012401. During WW2 the manor housed disabled children from homes near the coast, and in 1964 it became Cawston College, which was initially for boys but later also admitted girls. Notable pupils included the heavyweight boxer Herbie Hide and Jacyn Heavens. After the school's closure in 2003 the main buildings were used by the International Foundation of Inspiration, Spirituality and Healing (IFISH) as a centre for psychic science and spiritual healing. After the centre's closure the site became Cawston Park psychiatric hospital. In 2006 its non-executive chairman, the former Tory MP David Prior, was among a number of people arrested over fraud allegations and the hospital closed in the aftermath of the trial in 2009 (after the owners went into administration). In 2010 the site was purchased by The Jessal Group and reopened as a hospital for people with autism and learning disabilities. In mid-April 2021 it was in the process of once again closing down.

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