Medical dates:

Medical character:

Stanmore Cottage Hospital opened in 1891 on the west side of Old Church Lane, near the railway station.  Two local residents, Misses Emily and Katharine Wickens of The Pinnacles, had donated the cost of the land and the building - some £2,000.  They also set up an endowment fund for the Hospital, which was run by four Trustees who decided on admission and charges for treatment.

Originally it had been intended to have three wards, one each for men, women and children, but the plan was not realised.  The two-storey building contained a 3-bedded male ward  and a 4-bedded female ward with one cot.  The Hospital also had an operating theatre and a dispensary.

During WW2 the Hospital became part of the Emergency Hospital Scheme.  In 1948 it joined the NHS and was converted into a home for the elderly.

In 1971 it became a geriatric subunit of Edgware General Hospital, with accommodation for 14 patients, under the administration of the Hendon Group Hospital Management Committee, part of the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board.  In December 1979 the Board approved its closure.

The Hospital closed in 1980.

Present status (May 2008)

The building is now the Norwood Children and Families First residential care home for 8 children with learning difficulties, which opened in 1997.