LOST HOSPITALS OF LONDON

Harold Court Hospital
Harold Court Road, Harold Wood, Essex RM3 0BE
Medical dates:

Medical character:
1919 - 1958

Mental.  Later, tuberculosis
A wealthy Brentwood solicitor, Mr WR Preston, built Harold Court in the 1860s on farmland which had once been part of Upminster Common in the early 18th century.

Mr Preston became bankrupt in 1882 and the mansion house was taken over by Brentwood School District (which covered the Hackney and Shoreditch Unions)

The School District was dissolved in 1885 but the Shoreditch Union continued to use the house as a children's home for a few years.

In 1891 Harold Court was bought for £3,100 and converted into an annexe for the Essex County Lunatic Asylum.

In 1919 it became Harold Court Sanatorium, for the treatment of tuberculosis patients.

In 1950 it was renamed Harold Court Hospital.  It closed in 1958.


Present status (May 2008)

In 1960 the house became a Teachers Training College for Brentwood College of Education.  It has since been converted into flats, with mixed housing on the south of the site.  It is surrounded by woods and a public open space - Harold Court Woods.

north side
The front elevation to the east

seat in park
south side
South side of the building






Nothing to do directly with the Hospital, but an ingeniously sculpted wooden seat in the parkland
References
www.forestry.gov.uk
www.haroldcourt.net
www.simoncornwell.com
www.workhouses.org.uk
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