Napsbury

Napsbury hospital was designed by architect Rowland Plumbe in 1900, who also rebuilt, to his designs, the Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel in 1897.

Designed for 1,205 residents, Napsbury opened, following the construction of the numerous buildings and extensive grounds on June 3, in 1905. According to Middlesex County Record, the initial cost, including land and equipment, was £545,000, or £473 per bed. In 1908 Plumbe designed an extension to accommodate a further 600 patients.

During the First World War, Napsbury was used for and known as the County of Middlesex War Hospital, which tended for soldiers wounded at the Front. Following this, in the late 1920s a nurses’ home was also added to the site, further adding to the variety of different buildings and facilities at the site.

Although Napsbury suffered some bomb damaged in the Blitz, it was in continuous use as a hospital until its closure in 2000. Due to its stunning, and largely untouched, parkland, Napsbury was listed by English Heritage as a Grade II Historic Park and Garden in 2001.

(Info courtesy of NapsburyPark.com)