St. Augustines Hospital
| St. Augustines Hospital | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Established | 1872 |
| Opened | 1875 |
| Closed | 1992 |
| Current Status | Closed |
| Building Style | Corridor Plan |
| Architect(s) | Giles And Gough |
| Location | Chartham |
| Alternate Names |
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History
The first publicly-run lunatic asylum in Kent was situated at Barming Heath, near Maidstone. By June 1872 it was clear to the County Quarter Sessions that one asylum was insufficient for the needs of the county. As a result, the Kent New Asylum Committee was constituted. After a short period, the Committee purchased 120 acres on Chartham Downs near Canterbury, with the intention of building an asylum to serve the whole of East Kent. The site was described by the Commissioners in Lunacy as being in 'so bleak and elevated a position, exposed on all sides'. The site was approved by the Commissioners only after intervention by the Secretary of State.
The first asylum buildings were designed by John Giles and Gough and built between 1872 and 1875. On 5 April 1875, the first patients (East Kent patients housed at Barming Heath) arrived at the Kent County Lunatic Asylum, Chartham Downs. Staff in the first year consisted of a medical superintendent, sixty nurses, a chaplain, a clerk/steward and ten tradesmen. These were overseen by a Committee of Visitors formed by the County Lunatic Asylum Committee of Quarter Sessions. On the removal of many of the administrative powers of Quarter Sessions in 1889, responsibility for managing the asylum passed to Kent County Council. From 1920, the managing committee of the county council was the Kent County Mental Hospitals Committee.
With the formation of the National Health Service in 1948, Kent County Council was absolved of responsibility for the hospital. Renamed St. Augustine's, the hospital, along with St. Martin's Hospital (formerly Canterbury City Mental Hospital) was run by the St. Augustine's Hospital Management Committee (later Hospitals Executive Committee). This committee was responsible to the Canterbury and Thanet Health District, later Authority.
The hospital closed in 1993 and redevelopment of the site was started in 1997.
