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<\/a><\/p>\nEpsom has had a chequered history with preserving and looking after their hospitals, it was only with West Park did a decent amount of the original buildings be preserved. \u00a0Long Grove and Horton were gutted and only a small part of each was preserved (The Long Grove admin is fantastic, but the same cannot be said for Horton’s), and due to the ramshackle nature of Manor only a small part was kept. \u00a0The biggest shame is that no a single main recreation hall has been preserved, just one of these would have made for a fantastic community centre. The only one that survived any vandalism was at St Ebba’s hospital, and even that was ripped down heartlessly. \u00a0As TheTimeChamber understands it, The halls at West Park, Horton and Long Grove all suffered arson attacks.<\/p>\n
The other great shame is the water towers, until recently three of them still stood proudly over the old estate (originally\u00a0four towered over). \u00a0That was until a local\u00a0councilmen (Cllr Taylor and Cllr Buxton<\/a>)\u00a0backed a residential campaign to have to tower removed as it was an eye sore, apparently they were\u00a0delighted\u00a0when the demolition was announced. Surely the people who\u00a0purchased\u00a0the houses within the Horton\u00a0Redevelopment\u00a0would have known this? You cannot buy somewhere, and then declare that the pre-existing landscape is shit and something needs to be done – the only people who really can do that are the 1 percenters. \u00a0Other Hospital redevelopments have\u00a0successfully\u00a0converted theirs, such as Netherne and Claybury. \u00a0Even the Towers at West Park and St Ebba’s are being looked after and turned into flats. \u00a0Why\u00a0wasn’t Horton’s treated in the same manor? \u00a0The need for \u00a3400k worth of under pinning may have been the principle cause that put off any developer tackling the project. \u00a0So it stood empty, derelict until the hammer fell.<\/p>\n Anyway, this is a small ode to all the\u00a0buildings\u00a0throughout the UK that could have been something, but were in turn demolished due to the lack of care by their current owners. \u00a0The Victorians must be spinning in their graves, if we hadn’t paved over them. \u00a0Somehow this is progress and sustainable?<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n