I'm sure a few of you old timers will be familiar with this one. It did the rounds back in 2009 but they've made it a tricky one to get into since then. I've been looking at it since 2014 but various recce missions proved pretty useless. The most memorable of these involved a bridge collapsing under @extreme_ironing, and us listening to a screaming patient being restrained in the building opposite. It's that kind of place really, a bit screamy! Anyway, it had me pretty stumped until about a year ago, when a different approach with @Maniac proved fruitful, and hey presto, we'd found our way in! Unfortunately it was night time, and we didn't want to be flashing our torches around in such close proximity of the live wards, so we went home with firm plans to return in the daytime asap. Well, that never happened, and it's taken us a year to finally get back down there. Lazy bastards being one of many reasons, but anyway, it turned out to be well worth the effort in the end. Everything is pretty much how it was in 2009 but with nine years of decay added on. Really glad to have finally seen this one after such a long time. I think it's a bit of a gem!
Springfield Hospital opened on 15 June 1841 as the Surrey County Pauper Lunatic Asylum. It had 350 beds and was built to the 'corridor' plan, a state-of-the-art design at the time. In 1889 the Middlesex County Council renamed it the Wandsworth Asylum. During WW1 the asylum became the Springfield War Hospital. After the war the Wandsworth Asylum was renamed Springfield Mental Hospital. In 1939, it dropped the word 'Mental' from its title.
During WW2, with no bomb shelters available, the patients were crowded into the basements in an attempt to shelter them from high explosive bombs. Dysentery broke out, with hundreds of patients affected. Although the buildings received no direct hits during the war, they suffered blast damage from flying bombs nearby. At the end of the war in 1945, the Hospital had 2,040 patients.
The Hospital joined the NHS in 1948 with 1,856 beds. It was by now providing the usual treatments for mental illness - Cardiazol convulsion therapy, electroplexy (ECT) and deep insulin treatment, as well as neurosurgery. During the 1960s the number of in-patients began to fall, mainly due to the introduction of drug treatments which enabled patients to be treated as out-patients. Throughout the 1990s fewer patients were admitted to the Hospital and wards were closed.
Springfield Hospital has been criticised for lax security in the past, with at least five absconding patients going on to kill. In 2004 John Barrett, a paranoid schizophrenic, walked out of the hospital and stabbed Dennis Finnegan, a cyclist, to death. In 2009 it was revealed that 30 patients had fled secure wards at the hospital in the previous four years. The site is still currently the headquarters of South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust
Many of the original Hospital buildings are now disused. The main building is Grade II listed and is currently shown on English Heritage's 'At Risk' register.
You can read more extensive history of the place here https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/springfield.html
The exterior shares similarities with Hampton Court in its style
Lots of decay in here now
Bizarrely there are still lights working in a couple of places
One of several wards named after flowers
Through the door you can see where supports have been placed to prop the ceiling up
Many random pictures like this remain on the walls
Wooden boards have been placed to make the dodgy floor of this corridor slightly more bearable
Beds line the corridor
This male dormitory was the most intact room of all
A bit of a mess but all the beds are still in their places just about
This red cover with straps hanging down turned out to be nothing other than a sheet for evacuating patients in the event of a fire. It looked like something more sinister
An unexpected contraception message on the window of the male dormitory. Seemed a strange place to put it.
Bathrooms
More beds
Religious educational material
An old poster from 1988, when Wandsworth Health Authority was still a thing.
History
Springfield Hospital opened on 15 June 1841 as the Surrey County Pauper Lunatic Asylum. It had 350 beds and was built to the 'corridor' plan, a state-of-the-art design at the time. In 1889 the Middlesex County Council renamed it the Wandsworth Asylum. During WW1 the asylum became the Springfield War Hospital. After the war the Wandsworth Asylum was renamed Springfield Mental Hospital. In 1939, it dropped the word 'Mental' from its title.
During WW2, with no bomb shelters available, the patients were crowded into the basements in an attempt to shelter them from high explosive bombs. Dysentery broke out, with hundreds of patients affected. Although the buildings received no direct hits during the war, they suffered blast damage from flying bombs nearby. At the end of the war in 1945, the Hospital had 2,040 patients.
The Hospital joined the NHS in 1948 with 1,856 beds. It was by now providing the usual treatments for mental illness - Cardiazol convulsion therapy, electroplexy (ECT) and deep insulin treatment, as well as neurosurgery. During the 1960s the number of in-patients began to fall, mainly due to the introduction of drug treatments which enabled patients to be treated as out-patients. Throughout the 1990s fewer patients were admitted to the Hospital and wards were closed.
Springfield Hospital has been criticised for lax security in the past, with at least five absconding patients going on to kill. In 2004 John Barrett, a paranoid schizophrenic, walked out of the hospital and stabbed Dennis Finnegan, a cyclist, to death. In 2009 it was revealed that 30 patients had fled secure wards at the hospital in the previous four years. The site is still currently the headquarters of South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust
Many of the original Hospital buildings are now disused. The main building is Grade II listed and is currently shown on English Heritage's 'At Risk' register.
You can read more extensive history of the place here https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/springfield.html
The exterior shares similarities with Hampton Court in its style
Lots of decay in here now
Bizarrely there are still lights working in a couple of places
One of several wards named after flowers
Through the door you can see where supports have been placed to prop the ceiling up
Many random pictures like this remain on the walls
Wooden boards have been placed to make the dodgy floor of this corridor slightly more bearable
Beds line the corridor
This male dormitory was the most intact room of all
A bit of a mess but all the beds are still in their places just about
This red cover with straps hanging down turned out to be nothing other than a sheet for evacuating patients in the event of a fire. It looked like something more sinister
An unexpected contraception message on the window of the male dormitory. Seemed a strange place to put it.
Bathrooms
More beds
Religious educational material
An old poster from 1988, when Wandsworth Health Authority was still a thing.
Last edited:
