# St Clements Hospital - Mile End - Feb 2012



## pumice (Feb 22, 2012)

Saw these beautiful former workhouses whilst on Christmas duty picking up an aunt from Bow in East London. I was immediately fascinated by there appearance and the foreboding and seemingly easy scaled iron fences. Easily identified as St Clements hospital, I asked my 83 year old aunt if she knew anything about the hospital as she used to work in childrens services. Turns out she knew the hospital very well and argued with many social workers about referring some of her clients there......

Originally built in 1848/49 by the City Of London Union for the Board Of Guardians it became an infirmary in 1874 and in 1912, The Bow Institute For The Long Term Sick. It became a psychiatric unit in 1936 using the St Clements name once again. In 1968 it became part of the London Hospital and went through various organisational changes until closure in 2005 when mental health services were transferred to Mile End in October 2005.The site is now owned by the Homes & Communities Agency, who intend to create 275 new dwellings on the site. Local campaigners are advocating that it become the site of the UK's first urban Community Land Trust.

The site is massive, considering its proximity to the main road just outside and became a little mission for myself, LonDan and Wednesday86. We visited late one evening and after 3 hours attempting to gain entry and gashed finger in my case, decided it was gonna be very difficult to gain entry as the site was well sealed and Secca pretty hot. However, Wednesday and LonDans determination led to dirty access being found and a plan put in place to explore this historic and externally handsome hospital. We visited on bright and sunny morning in Feb, unfortunately, due to injury, Wednesday could not come and we had a further non-member with us. It was a fantastic explore and the access, tricky but much fun. Thanks to all in involved and to LonDan for his ninja skills in finding access and leading us in! :Not Worthy

Now on with the pictures..............







The adolescent unit we didn't crack; Yet.






The best staircase I have seen so far.........































The hospital is littered with paintings like this and others and I ponder whether it was the same artist/patient










































































































So, sorry about the number of pictures, a pic heavy place, but I haven't seen it up here so thought I'd give you a taste. If you want to see them with a soundtrack, check this youtube link [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcw_OHcb56s[/ame].
Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoyed it...........


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## TeeJF (Feb 22, 2012)

That's superb! Well done...


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## strokesboy21 (Feb 22, 2012)

nice pics bud


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## flyboys90 (Feb 22, 2012)

Great buildiing nice to see something that aint been striped and trashed,the art work is worthy of saving,great
photos


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## Ratters (Feb 22, 2012)

Great report on this place mate  Nice one


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## flyboys90 (Feb 22, 2012)

Just watched your DVD very well done with the perfect music,and to repeat myself the art work should be saved,working for a museum service as I do it would be sad to see art of this quality get trashed!


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## flyboys90 (Feb 22, 2012)

Just watched your DVD very well done with the perfect music,and to repeat myself the art work should be saved,working for a museum service as I do it would be sad to see art of this quality get trashed!


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## pumice (Feb 22, 2012)

flyboys90 said:


> Just watched your DVD very well done with the perfect music,and to repeat myself the art work should be saved,working for a museum service as I do it would be sad to see art of this quality get trashed!



I agree with you entirely. It needs to be saved. There are of a good standard and it's shameful to let them wither and deteriorate. I'd love to know who painted them and thanks for the positive comments. I may pm you as I am interested about you working in a museum!


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## TeeJF (Feb 23, 2012)

flyboys90 said:


> the art work should be saved



Agreed totally there. But then I think too that any art, good, bad or indifferent, should not end up under the bulldozer. We found a jack of patient's paintings in Cherry Knowle Asylum just sitting rotting. They may not have had the talent of some artists (though "Some" artists don't have talent and it doesn't stop them, witness the Turner Prize every year) but it is still an inescapable fact that those paintings reflect some part of their souls and should be aforded some degree of respect.


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## vdubber67 (Feb 23, 2012)

Superb shots - well done. Love the paintings too!


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## Pincheck (Feb 23, 2012)

very nice looking building and shots


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## lyl7897 (Feb 24, 2012)

great photo's a real sense of the people involved with this institution ,photographs maybe to classic and lack abstract perception ,the photo,s are very strong 9 out of ten ..


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## John_D (Feb 25, 2012)

Superb post  Echo all the previous comments about the artwork still on display, can't believe it has just been abandoned  
Loved the You Tube offering with the extremely suitable sound track.


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## nelly (Feb 25, 2012)

Nice stuff, this place hasn't been done and reported for ages, we scaled the back wall last year and had a mooch around the site, set a few PIR's off and made a hasty retreat  

Great photos, whats the pub sign about?


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## KingRat (Feb 25, 2012)

Lovin it thanks.


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## Flexible (Feb 25, 2012)

Amazing stuff, great pics and an interesting write up. As has been said, I hope something can be done to save those excellent paintings.
Thanks for posting.


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## pumice (Feb 25, 2012)

Thanks for all the positive comments! It's a superb site and I recommend a visit when any of you have an opportunity! The pub sign was odd, but I reckon there is a fair few surprises to be had in the uncracked adolescent unit!


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