Another view of the maximum-security wards, as the building moves outwards to greet us again.
Over its history, Cane Hill grew and sprawled. New wards were added, aping the Victorian architecture,
and blending in with the original building. Here a dilapidated greenhouse has been haphazardly added
to the end of this ward. I guess the maximum-security patients were encouraged to keep pot-plants.
Again our seasoned explorer has the low-down on these buildings:
"The greenhouse things attached to the hospital are called "Solariums" - if you
get up close, then you see there are bed consoles (light, radio, nurse call
things) on the walls. I think they wheeled beds out to get some sun on the
patients.".
The patients were definitely encouraged to farm the fields around the hospital. Some barns on
the north side of the hospital were obviously used for keeping agricultural machinery,
and a boarded up farmhouse can be seen when walking up Brighton Road.
Interestingly my guess that this was a later addition appears to be wrong. This odd greenhouse
also appears on the plans as part of the Browning/Blake ward and is the only
ward to have such a structure. There are lots of individual rooms to the back of this glass
corridor which are begging to be explored.
To see the interior of this ward, click
here.