The Cane Hill Cricket Pitch

[Bryant]

As I've been plodding around Coulsdon and the Croydon borough in general (as part of my academic research into the Cane Hill redevelopment) a few gems on the site which don't seem to get much attention have emerged. The first is that of the Cane Hill cricket pitch which has proved something of an obstacle in past plans for the site's development.

This is primarily due to pretty concrete 'rumours' that a certain Dr William Gilbert Grace once played there - widely regarded as the greatest cricketer of all time and better known as 'W.G. Grace'! - though i'm sure the Aussies will plum for Bradman. Anyway are there any pictures of this cricket pitch? I have read reports of it being found complete with scoreboards and players' names etc. Also can anyone back up the Grace rumour?

Another bit of gossip doing the rounds on what's left of Coulsdon high street is a Cane Hill cemetery. Now we all know about Moody's memorial (though his body is not on site) around near the Admin block, but there are apparently a few more graves dotted about - something which has been confirmed by a former nurse (who used to use them as a deterrent for potential night escapees!) These are currently being excavated due to the ongoing redevelopment - however this is not on the scale of the Netherne cemetery - as it was my Grandfather who used to take the bodies off site from the mortuary when he worked for Truelove the Undertakers. Does anyone have any more info on these graves? Who were they??

 

[Winchester]

The houses built on Portnalls road are built on top of what used to be the Cane Hill Cemetary

The Cricket Pitch is on the field adjacant to the Female side of the hospital. The changing rooms are nothing but a few walls, and the 'pavilion' was an old airing court shelter, which has now been demolished.

No idea about WG Grace.

 

[lilli]

If you look at the old ariel shots of Cane Hill you can clearly see the old cemetry and chapel opposite the lodge to the rear of the site

 

[oldscrote]

Might be worth contacting Lansdown Cricket Club in Bath as the great W.G. played for them for a number of years.

 

[Bryant]

Thanks for all the contributions so far! I shall be visiting the archive studies library within Central Library in Croydon next Wednesday, so I'll see if that yields anything.

Is the Keith Boucher film still in production because I haven't heard anything on that for a while. I know that the Bourne Society in Coulsdon are keen on documenting the history of the hospital much like they have with their excellent book on Netherne. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what happens...

 

[blighty]

there seems to be a hell of a lot of info/pics etc of cane hill on most of these type forums. has anyone ever thought about making it into a book or anything? with the amount of threads about the place on various forums im sure it would make for a good read and also a good seller. i sadly have never been there, but it does look like an awesome place.

 

[Richard Davies]

there seems to be a hell of a lot of info/pics etc of cane hill on most of these type forums. has anyone ever thought about making it into a book or anything? with the amount of threads about the place on various forums im sure it would make for a good read and also a good seller. i sadly have never been there, but it does look like an awesome place.

Same here, Simon's site is one of the things which got me into urbex & architecture in general.

The quotes from former workers, even the one with just a summer job in the laundry, give a good insight into how things were at Cane Hill.

 

[Bryant]

There were some interesting materials in the Cane Hill box at Croydon Archive - however nothing on the W.G. Grace legend.

Yet I was delighted to see that Ernie Townsend and Barry Vines are still writing newsletters about Cane Hill - this one was as recent as 2004. Of note was the fact that Ernie was currently writing the 61st page of his Cane Hill History book: complete with photos, memories and comment, plus Barry offered his opinions on the arson attacks. Though no sign of Joe Calvert! http://www.simoncornwell.com/urbex/projects/ch/yellow/index.htm