Greenwood History 2

A new video about Herrison Hospital has just been put on YouTube. It has been released by Dom White who allowed Ryan Carpenter to put it on-line. It is called Herrison Hospital Tour – “Herrison in Decline” and was shot by Tom Caples in 1995/1996. It presents a two hour walk through the dilapidated and vandalised buildings after the NHS moved out of the site and before it was redeveloped into the housing we see today. I have so far watched about the first half hour of the amateur filming in which two of the former staff members investigate the abandoned buildings, starting in what we call Redwood House and moving on to Greenwood House. At the time, the two buildings were still connected via what we now know as the Village Hall.

I am particularly interested to identify that part of the hospital which my flat now occupies, but it is not easy to do because it looks so different. I think I live in what was Radipole Ward. The main clue is the location of the conservatory which was built onto the south-facing wall of the ward – which is in effect a sheltered area between two protruding parts of the building. I had already been told that the area just outside my French windows had been a glassed-in sun lounge. I can see why they chose to put it there. It is indeed a remarkable sunny spot, and the flat has the advantage of solar gain year-round.