# Silverlands Orphanage - Chertsey - October 2014



## RichPDG (Oct 19, 2014)

*The History:*
The Actors' Orphanage was started in 1896 by Kittie Carson at Croydon and was established as the Actors' Orphanage Fund in 1912.

In 1915 the Orphanage moved to Langley Hall at Langley (was in Buckinghamshire - now in Berkshire). The orphanage was both a home and a school to approximately 60 children. At ages 15–17 pupils sat the School Leaving Certificate of Cambridge University and if 10 subjects were taken to Matriculation.

The home and school was moved to Silverlands at Chertsey, Surrey in 1938 where it remained until 1940. In September 1940 the Orphanage was evacuated to the USA where the children were housed in New York City at the Edwin Gould Foundation, and the children were sent to local schools.

After the war ended the Fund established a home (once again at Silverlands, Chertsey). This arrangement ended in 1958 and the Actors' Orphanage ceased to exist.

The 1912 fund was re-established as the Actors' Charitable Trust and financial and care help was offered to those in need.

Over the years many from the theatrical profession have given time and money to the running of the orphanage including some who became presidents of the orphanage among whom are Sir Gerald du Maurier, Noël Coward, Laurence Olivier and the last president Lord Attenborough.

*The Explore:*
Every so often, a site appears on your radar that grabs your interest and just doesn't let go. This was one of them. I had been wanting to see this place for months on end and the opportunity finally presented itself.

Explored with CatVstyle one sunny afternoon, we had more than plenty of time to look around the site and what can I say except WOW! That staircase! Anyway, enough of me waffling on, here come the pictures! 

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*Thanks for looking!​


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## mockingbird (Oct 19, 2014)

Decay in here is lovely, the stairs are a must see, but waiting on that one person who doesnt show the stairs lol, really like the dome shot


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## brickworx (Oct 19, 2014)

Nice set and yeah, great place.


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## HughieD (Oct 19, 2014)

Fantastic set and what a mind-blowing place. Tragic that places like this fall into abandonment.


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## UrbanX (Oct 20, 2014)

Brilliant, you managed to get a few new angles on a much documented place too. 
Fantastic photos, thanks for sharing


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## RichPDG (Oct 20, 2014)

Thanks for the feedback guys! Much appreciated


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## DirtyJigsaw (Oct 20, 2014)

Awesome mate. Great set. Nicely done


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## cunningplan (Oct 20, 2014)

Stunning set of photos, love this place 
(pity we (mocking and Naked) were so close not long ago and didn't know it was there  )


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## flyboys90 (Oct 20, 2014)

The woodwork is quite something and the floor in the last shot,thanks for shaing.


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## Urbexbandoned (Oct 21, 2014)

Love the stairs, great report


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## Indiana Jones (Oct 21, 2014)

Great photography. Loving the shot of the keys


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## foxtrot (Oct 25, 2014)

Wait so no one thought to check the basement by the lift? Guess the KABA keys show what this place would have ended up as had the locals not put a stop to that..


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## RichPDG (Oct 25, 2014)

We did infact check the basement but it turned out to be just a load empty rooms surprisingly! We had a nasty shock when we entered one of them as the smell that had been made by what we could only presume to be an extreme form of mould overwhelmed us as soon as the door was opened!


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