Banstead Village

Banstead Asylum, 1905

This is a postcard, postmarked 15th March 1905, of Banstead Asylum. It’s addressed to Mr J Cherry, Jubilee Cottages, Bulbourne, Nr Tring, Herts – and a quick internet search reveals the property, in Bulbourne Road, Tring, is still standing.

The Asylum, of course, is long gone. It was opened in 1877 with accommodation for 1,700 patients with mental conditions, and was pretty much self-sufficient, with its own farm, workshops and even gasworks. At one time, it covered some 200 acres of land, more than half of which were used for farming.

After a number of name changes, the final one being simply ‘Banstead Hospital’, it finally closed in 1986; much of the place was demolished and the land is now occupied by two prisons – HMP High Down and HMP Downview.