St. Ebba's, Epsom - October 2008

St. Ebba's was once part of the large Epsom cluster of hospitals (which included West Park) and specialised in the care of epileptics. Designed by William C Clifford Smith and opened in 1904; I would think closure would have been completed by 2004 by the looks of things. The largest building on the hospital grounds contain the administration block, records, engineering, main hall and water tower. We visited all of these area's and climbed the water tower although never have I had to wade through so much guano. The remainder of the hospital is based on separate dispersed buildings and, as demolition had just stared, we were really lucky to see some bits that had never previously been explored. Most of the buildings were pretty empty but we did find one that must have been some kind of children's ward as one cupboard was full of children's musical instruments and old artwork. One ward, still full of beds, had been badly burned which made for some really surreal photography. I understand that a new hospital will be built on site along side the housing redevelopment. Sadly, the wooden buttressed hammerbeam roof in the main hall failed to sell on e-bay and has subsequently been demolished, along with the rest of the site.