The whole asylum is there for all to see, and it’s very similar to the building we see today. Only some small extensions to the front wards were made, some more buildings were added around the Chapel and the bathing blocks were removed and replaced.

Also, if you download the full sized plan (and it’s well worth it), have fun trying to spot the Billiard Room, Smoking Room and the main water tanks. Impressive.

The date on the plan is confusing. Cane Hill was largely complete in 1882, but was missing the huge triple storey wards at the back of the hospital. Howell’s original plans (not on this site yet) showed a complete corridor network as found today, so building additional wards was always an option.

In 1888, the newly formed London County Council inherited Cane Hill and immediately started work extending the asylum. It’s believed that the three storey wards - unlike the others already built, and all extremely uniform, were built at this time.

That’s why I believe the ‘1883‘ date on the plans is incorrect for two reasons. Firstly the London County County Council didn’t exist then, and the plans show the post-1888 extensions. Therefore I believe this shows the asylum in 1888.

It’s also obvious that the (now) tatty plan I originally had of the hospital was an updated version of this one - even the embellished ‘north’ arrow is reproduced. Overlaying both sets produces some interesting results - which I’ll get around to highlighting one day.

Incidentally none of the lines are straight on this - the plans were obviously scanned from a book with the spine causing distortion of the scan. I was sorting it out in Photoshop - but even better plans are about to show up!

Anyway, here’s some bigger scans, before you ruin your eyesight on the one above:

• 800x541, 237K: Double the size, double the fun. But do consider downloading the big one!
• 4720x3192, 3.16MB: Amazing detail and will print out to A0 if you have a printer big enough.