THE CANE HILL MEMORIAL

The Cane Hill graveyard was constructed on the north side of Portnalls Road opposite the location of the North Lodge. Between 1883 and 1950 over 5000 patients were buried there. The locations of the plots were marked by numbered grave markers.

The site was sold for housing in the early 1980s and the funds raised went towards the restoration of the Administration Block. The bodies were disinterred by hand, the remains cremated at Croydon Cemetery and their ashes scattered over Location 1000 in the cemetery gardens.

St James Moody was also buried in the cemetery and his plot was marked by a stone gravestone. This was moved to a spot near the front of the Administration Block.

A memorial stone was erected there in 2009. Pictures by Laurence.

The Cane Hill Memorial

UNKNOWN GRAVES NOW HAVE NEW MEMORIAL

For almost three decades, the ashes of former patients of Cane Hill Hospital have laid to rest in an unmarked plot within the grounds of Croydon Cemetery.

Now, the plot, which was known simply as Location 1000, has been marked with a dedicated memorial stone in their memory.

Built on a hilltop overlooking Coulsdon and Farthing Downs, the hospital was originally known as the 3rd Surrey County Pauper Lunatic Asylum.

When it opened in December 1883, it had space for 1,100 patients, but within five years had been extended to acoommodate 2,000.

All the patients who died there between 1884 and 1950 were buried within its grounds, and when it finally closed in the late 1980s, records showed that approximately 5,000 people were laid to rest there.

In 1981, Croydon Council, then called Croydon Corporation, was granted permission to remove the remains as long as "the moving or disposal of any remains buried on the land was handled with care, showing consideration for the deceased and their relatives."

Because the exact locations of all the graves on the site were unknown, they were exhumed by hand digging and transferred to Croydon Cemetery for cremation.

The ashes were then scattered in Location 1000 within the Garden of Remembrance.

Councillor Gavin Barwell, cabinet member for community safety and cohesion said: "For years, we've been approached by people wanting to see the final resting place of their relatives and we've only been able to point them towards and unmarked mound of earth in Croydon's Cemetery's Garden of Remembrance.

"We didn't feel it right that such an anonymous setting was all that people could reflect upon when they wanted to remember loved ones.

"We contacted one of our suppliers, who kindly manufacturerd a bronze memorial plate which we've mounted on a blue silk granite base.

"We feel sure that visitors will soon look upon it as a suitable memorial area for those who died at Cane Hill Hospital.

Croydon Guardian
1st April
2009



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