Epsom Cluster, The: Voices from Europe's Largest Psychiatric Hospital Complex

- Blurb -

Following the creation of the London County Council in 1899 and the 1890 Lunacy Act which obliged local authorities to maintain institutions for the mentally ill, the LCC bought the Horton Estate in Epsom and built a cluster of five psychiatric hospitals on the estate, believed to be the largest such cluster in the world. Each hospital stood in its own grounds, with its own facilities such as theatres, chapels, workshops, dentists, hairdressers and laundries. A light railway served the estate and there was also a central cemetery.In this book local historian Kirstie Arnould tells the story of the Epsom Cluster of hospitals using material from local archives in Surrey as well as oral histories from both patients in the hospital and those who worked there. At their height, the hospitals were home to thousands of patients with new housing being built in Epsom to accommodate the staff, many drawn from around the world. From the early 1990s under the government's Care in the Community policy, the hospitals closed down. Since then the sites have been redeveloped for housing but interest remains in this important part of Epsom's heritage and a new arts centre is planned for the Horton hospital chapel.