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Playing with matches at the old lunatic asylum has, unfortunately, become a past-time for the nation's arsonists.
Many of the asylums I’ve visited have been targeted: Severalls, West Park,
Hellingly and, of course, Cane Hill. Destruction at the first three has been minimal, although Hellingly lost its administration block in the last fire. However, Cane Hill has suffered over and over again, with more of the hospital disappearing with each new onslaught. And, from my repeated little jaunts around its battered interiors, I’ve discovered that limited demolition has followed in many cases. Even though we've been avidly watching the hospital since the late 1990s - first with The One, and then several other sites, determining when fires occurred (and what was damaged) is becoming quite difficult. General exploration of the hospital wasn't occurring until my own grand tour which documented some of the fire damage - but some of this remains conjecture.
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 I remember when all this was prefab. |
Tuesday, 6th February 2001, 2:30pm
The Staff Social Club, a sprawling prefab building on the perimeter road
was destroyed by fire. The remnants of the damaged building was later cleared (see picture).
Four teenagers were spotted acting suspiciously in a nearby car park on CCTV cameras, but no-one was questioned.
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 The remains of the fire station along the service road at the back of the site. Part of the substation can be seen outside. |
Saturday, 22nd September 2001, 8:00am
A huge fire, which was later treated as arson, took 43 engines and six hours to extinguish. It caused chaos on the A23 with the road
being closed.
But what was destroyed? Perimeter walks showed little difference.
It is believed that this fire destoryed the main hall, the stores, part of the corridor network,
the old boiler house, the fireman's house and the substation. (But see the fire of April 1st 2002).
As the electrical substation was destroyed, the transmitters on the water tower had to be powered by newly installed diesel generators
in the tower courtyard.
Security was naturally increased, but they had lost power to the administration block.
Mausdley NHS Trust, who owned the secure unit, put together a business plan to take over the site. They argued a case that they could
consolidate the security, although they were also itching to expand onto the footprint of the old hospital.
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 Phutt, phutt, phutt... clang! And suddenly South Croydon loses BBC2. |
Wednesday: 30th January 2002
The local news reported that the transmitters at Cane Hill kept losing power with the September fire being the cause.
Therefore it's reasonable to believe that old boiler house, the fireman's house and the substation
were definitely destroyed in the September fire as they are all adjacent with each other along the service road. The stores
and part of the corridor network were also on his same path.
The destruction of the main hall still remained uncertain as there was a definite gap between the
fire damaged areas.
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 How nice - a new fence. |
Monday, 1st April 2002
South Mausdley NHS Trust, as part of the purchase of cane hill, provided funds to erect a brand new
perimeter fence. Security probably moved out of the administration block at this point, although
they could've moved out after the September fire.
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 Apparently the main hall was lovely. This picture still shows the arched stage area and the remains of the balcony. It's not lovely now. |
Monday, 1st April 2002
Yes - on the same day that the fence was finished, that the sale of the site was to commense
(from The Department Of Health to the Mausdley NHS Trust), there was another fire.
The main entrance room of the administration block was gutted in an arson attack. But this couldn't have been all since
100 fire fighers and 15 fire engines were called to the scene. This was another huge fire. Plus a district surveyor was called in
to declare the site safe after public concern. (I don't know where he went, but even without fire the place is definitely a little
wobbley).
The local papers, using their now tried and tested "Inferno At Cane Hill" headline, showed pictures of the stores on fire. Which is
odd since I believe they were destroyed in the September fire.
But given the size of the fire, and the fact that multiple fires were persumably started, I believe that this was when the
main hall was destroyed.
Arsonists left graffiti in the hospital proclaiming their guilt - with the
date of 1/3/20 which is bloody useless. |
 A very small pile of sticks - I don't think this was set on fire. |
Monday, 20th October 2003, 4:15pm
A stack of timber in the grounds was set alight. Firefighters attended, put it out, and went back to their station to make a nice
cup of tea. But things weren't over.
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 The end of vincent/vanbrugh as seen from the footpath. Note damaged guttering and general lack of roof. Picture by Laurence.  And things not looking good the other side. Picture by Rafal.  The fence took a bit of a battering. Note: anyone found inside the boundary fence will be arrested on suspicion of arson. You have been warned. Picture by Rafal.  Using a zoom lens, you can get some close-ups. Anyway, fire damage can be seen in the ground, first and second floor far bay windows - this looks like the likely source of the blaze. Picture by Laurence.  Turning to the right, the full extent of damage to the roof - OK, the total destruction of the roof, can be found. Picture by Rafal.  Even the toilets got a battering. Picture by Rafal.  One of the areas of cane hill that I really want to explore is this odd, unique hexagonal tower, located near to vincent/vanbrugh. So, I'm very grateful that Marlon took a picture to confirm that it survived. Hurrah!  Ghostly, ghastly and wispery - and that's just the tacky wallpaper. Nothing seems to destroy that 1970s stuff. But seriously, the blaze shot up through the central part of the ward, with these internal walls acting as a chimney. The fire broke out in the top floor and then took out the roof. © Richard Curley and Katrina Playford.
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Monday, 20th October 2003, 4:15pm
A fire was started on the second floor (I think) of vincent/vanbrugh ward (see the pictures). It quickly spread
up onto the third floor, and into the roof which was completely destroyed in the blaze.
Luckily due to the fire working upwards, it was only the upper floors of vincent/vanbrugh that were affected.
This had to be arson. There are no utilities in the hospital (no gas, electricity or, sadly, water). Furthermore
vincent/vanbrugh was one of the most inaccessible wards, perched high on an embankment, with thick undergrowth
around it - interesting that it should catch fire and not a more accessible one.
The fire fighters attempted to use water from the old underground tanks behind the water tower (they’re in the
courtyard where the new prefab kitchen is located) but found it stagnant. I guess the water tanks in the water
tower were empty as well. They ended up having to relay water up the hill.
Access was difficult and the firefighters had to demolish part of the perimeter fence. A firefighter was injured
putting out the blaze.
The new owners are, probably, not too happy about all this. Yes, on the eve of cane hill being sold, it caught fire
yet again. Apparently cane hill was part of a massive sale of redundant NHS properties to a developer.
A local spokesman demanded that the site be more secure than Fort Knox. Does this mean they’re going to
store the US gold reserve there? But, it’s not good news for those who are interested in the site. We’ll probably
get an even bigger fence, and yet more of the hospital has been destroyed.
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