Medical dates:

Medical character:

The Harlington, Harmondsworth and Cranford Cottage Hospital was built on a site surrounded by fields (even today) as a joint venture by three parishes.  Opening in 1884, it had 7 beds.

The building was later extended.  The Hospital then had 14 beds.

In 1948 the Hospital joined the NHS under the control of the Uxbridge Group Hospital Management Committee, part of the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board.  It became a GP maternity unit.

In 1950 nursery accommodation was provided, so that all 14 beds could be used.

During the 1950s the Hospital had been under threat of demolition for some time because of a scheme to extend London Airport north of the Bath Road.  Although by 1957 the threat no longer applied, the future of the Hospital remained uncertain as a new larger maternity department was being planned at Hillingdon Hospital.

In 1957 the weekly cost of an in-patient was £21 1s 5d (£21.07).

In 1959 the kitchen was upgraded.

By the 1960s the Hospital needed a considerable sum of money to be spent on it.  To the south a new passenger terminal was being built for the Airport, while to the north work was being carried out on the new M4 motorway.  The Hospital's needs were more modest - a second Labour Room.

In 1963 the Hospital was finally connected to the main drainage system instead of using a cesspool.  A small brick hut was built for the storage and preparation of vegetables.

The Hospital closed in 1977, a time when maternity beds within the NHS were being transferred to general hospitals.

Present status (June 2008)

The building is now occupied by the Sant Nirankari Mission, a Sikh group.  It lies, along with the doomed village of Sipson,  within the area for the projected third runway for Heathrow Airport.