IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Woodcroft Road, THORNTON HEATH, CR7 7HB

Croydon University Hospital (previously the Mayday Hospital) was founded as Croydon Union Infirmary, a Poor Law institution. This foundation plaque is on the ground floor corridor of the original nineteenth-century building, now the Woodcroft Wing. In the list of ex-officio Guardians, one can see where a name has been cut out above Edmund Byron and replaced by a blank strip of marble. This marks the name of Jabez Balfour, who was a Justice of the Peace and ex-officio Guardian in 1883. He was a non-conformist Liberal politician (for a while, member of Parliament for Tamworth), temperance advocate and founder of a chain of interlocking banks and building societies. In 1892 it was revealed that his Liberator Building Society managed to pay high rates of interest only by paying out capital deposited by more recent customers - in other words, that it was a pyramid or Ponzi scheme - and Balfour fled to Argentina, later returning to serve a period of imprisonment. Clearly after this it was felt that he should be expunged from the historical record and his name cut out of the foundation plaque.

Croydon University Hospital (previously the Mayday Hospital) was founded as Croydon Union Infirmary, a Poor Law institution. This foundation plaque is on the ground floor corridor of the original nineteenth-century building, now the Woodcroft Wing. In the list of ex-officio Guardians, one can see where a name has been cut out above Edmund Byron and replaced by a blank strip of marble. This marks the name of Jabez Balfour, who was a Justice of the Peace and ex-officio Guardian in 1883. He was a non-conformist Liberal politician (for a while, member of Parliament for Tamworth), temperance advocate and founder of a chain of interlocking banks and building societies. In 1892 it was revealed that his Liberator Building Society managed to pay high rates of interest only by paying out capital deposited by more recent customers - in other words, that it was a pyramid or Ponzi scheme - and Balfour fled to Argentina, later returning to serve a period of imprisonment. Clearly after this it was felt that he should be expunged from the historical record and his name cut out of the foundation plaque.

Formerly the Mayday Hospital, Croydon University Hospital was originally the infirmary of the Croydon Workhouse, opened in 1885 in Mayday Road. The Croydon Union Infirmary was renamed Mayday Road Hospital in 1923, and was taken over by Croydon Corporation in 1930, and the National Health Service in 1948. It was renamed Croydon University Hospital in August 2010. This view looks across Mayday Road to one of the original buildings.

Formerly the Mayday Hospital, Croydon University Hospital was originally the infirmary of the Croydon Workhouse, opened in 1885 in Mayday Road. The Croydon Union Infirmary was renamed Mayday Road Hospital in 1923, and was taken over by Croydon Corporation in 1930, and the National Health Service in 1948. It was renamed Croydon University Hospital in August 2010. The small building to the left here says 'Mortuary'. I have never seen the mortuary of a hospital right next to A & E! It is usually more hidden away.

Lodge Road is a residential road in Thornton Heath, in the suburbs of south London.

Bensham Lane is a suburban road in Thornton Heath, south London.

Sunset over the junction of Bensham Lane with Frant Road and Queen's Road.

For more information about Ancient Lights signs, see the information on another image showing such a sign, Image Bensham Lane cuts across the regular street pattern of nineteenth-century developments (it clearly marks a much older route), resulting in various points like this where houses are staggered rather than forming neat terraces. The area where the car is parked is one such, and would be an attractive space for further development which would block the light to the further house were this right to light not asserted.