IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Charlotte Way, WEST MALLING, ME19 5FA

Leybourne Grange is the site of a large Manor house (Leybourne Grange), in whose grounds was built a mental hospital (opened 1936 closed 1996) and a special needs school (also closed). The site is presently being redeveloped as a large housing estate (Birling Grange).

This is a Kent County Council Community Special School for children of secondary age with a diagnosis of Autism. The building was built in the 1970s and stands within the grounds of the Leybourne Grange mental hospital (which opened 1936, closed 1996). At the time, it was called Grange Park College, and was a provision for young people aged 16 to 21 who were profoundly and multiply handicapped. With the closure of the mental hospital and reorganisation of provision for young people with special educational needs, the college was re designated as a school in about 1998, and began taking autistic pupils aged from 11. The old hospital site is currently being re-developed and will become a large housing estate. The Grange Park School building and site, which was never well suited for use as a school for autistic teenagers, will also be sold for development, and the school is being relocated to a new purpose-built building in the grounds of Wrotham School in grid square Image

The mental hospital opened in 1936 and closed in 1996. The many villas (like this one) were home to 1200 patients. Demolition of the entire site has just begun, with 700 new homes due to be built here.