Medical dates:

Medical character:

In 1897 work began to build a new workhouse for the St Olave's (Bermondsey) Union Board of Guardians.  It was not to be a workhouse as such, but an infirmary intended solely to accommodate the elderly poor and infirm - an innovative concept at the time.

The Ladywell workhouse, built on a large site which had once been the Slagrave farm, was officially opened in 1900 by the Prince and Princess of Wales.  It had 812 beds.  The workhouse was  located at the south of the site, with the ancillary buildings to the north.  The central administration block and dining hall were flanked either side by three double pavilion ward blocks.  Four of the ward blocks were for the infirm, while six were for the healthy infirm and two for the healthy aged.  The buildings were designed to provide the maximum light and space. The sexes were strictly segregated, with the men in the northern buildings and the women in the southern.  A separate block had been built to accommodate six married couples. The site had its own water tower and also contained an isolation hospital, a laundry and two chapels - a Church of England one at the north and a Roman Catholic one at the south.

In 1904 St Olave's Union joined with St Margaret's to become the Bermondsey Union.  The workhouse then became known as the Bermondsey Institution.  By 1909 it have 1,000 beds.

During WW1 the Institution became the Bermondsey Military Hospital.  It had 796 beds, of which 103 were for tuberculosis patients, 25 for isolation and 6 for dysentery cases.

In 1929, when the Boards of Guardians were abolished, the Institution came under the control of the L.C.C., who renamed it the Ladywell Institution.

During WW2 a parachute mine landed in the grounds at 02.40 in the morning of 20th September, 1940.  It did not explode, but some 900 people had to be evacuated.

After 1940 the L.C.C. opened a nursery at 82 Ladywell Road, a detached block which had been built that year.  The Ladywell Residential Nursery had cots for 150 infants.  The Welfare Committee of the Institution ran it until 1952, when control of the Nursery passed to the L.C.C.'s Children's Committee.

The Institution did not join the NHS but continued in use as Ladywell Lodge, a residential home for the elderly managed by the L.C.C.  It had the street address of 82 Ladywell Road.

It closed sometime around 1975.


Present status (May 2009)

Most of the buildings have been demolished.  Ladywell Lodge, the water tower, the stables and the gatehouse remain.  Most have been converted to residential use.

Most of the long narrow site has been progressively redeveloped for housing, divided into three estates - one small one at the southern corner, a larger one to the north by the former main entrance, and the largest in the centre occupying the main hospital site, now Dressington Avenue.