Southborough isolation hospitals story begins in 1878 when there was a serious outbreak of smallpox in Tonbridge, this lasted about 4 months. There were difficulties of looking after the sick patients here as they had to be quarantined and this led to the creation of Southborough Isolation Hospital down Vauxhall Lane. This hospital could cater for 14 patients which now days isn't considered a lot but back in 1878 this would have been very good and helpful in curing the patients. This formed the mainframe for what is now known as Tonbridge Cottage Hospital.
For a long time, people hoped that the patients from Southborough hospital could be taken to the other hospital but unfortunately this did not happen and the arrangements could not be made. Any plans to make more hospitals to cater for more patients fell through and in the end a piece of land was purchased by Sir Julian Goldsmid.
Eventually there was an agreement and some new buildings opened in the summer of 1895 along with many other facilities. With more facilities there were more staff required but their needs were not met by the hospital and simple things like a telephone were not installed as this was seen as not being a necessity.
One of the nurses was given a bonus of €5 during an outbreak of scarlet fever and one of the workers was given €5 for extra services which included cleaning rooms of patients, these were patients who had not recovered.
Overall, the work here was not the best and in 1902 one of Goldsmid's family agreed to sell the rights for the isolation hospital, as well as this there was another bad outbreak of small pox, with a lot of money already having been spent on the hospital and it being deemed unsatisfactory it was left abandoned from this moment onwards.
Left standing to this day on the site of the hospital is the actual hospital itself which is unfortunately boarded up, the staff accommodation which is an actual house now, the morgue along with some of the other wards. All of these buildings are falling apart but in my opinion that's the beauty of exploring abandoned buildings.
Pictures can be found below, unfortunately the whole site has been demolished and built into new homes, no surprise there!
For a long time, people hoped that the patients from Southborough hospital could be taken to the other hospital but unfortunately this did not happen and the arrangements could not be made. Any plans to make more hospitals to cater for more patients fell through and in the end a piece of land was purchased by Sir Julian Goldsmid.
Eventually there was an agreement and some new buildings opened in the summer of 1895 along with many other facilities. With more facilities there were more staff required but their needs were not met by the hospital and simple things like a telephone were not installed as this was seen as not being a necessity.
One of the nurses was given a bonus of €5 during an outbreak of scarlet fever and one of the workers was given €5 for extra services which included cleaning rooms of patients, these were patients who had not recovered.
Overall, the work here was not the best and in 1902 one of Goldsmid's family agreed to sell the rights for the isolation hospital, as well as this there was another bad outbreak of small pox, with a lot of money already having been spent on the hospital and it being deemed unsatisfactory it was left abandoned from this moment onwards.
Left standing to this day on the site of the hospital is the actual hospital itself which is unfortunately boarded up, the staff accommodation which is an actual house now, the morgue along with some of the other wards. All of these buildings are falling apart but in my opinion that's the beauty of exploring abandoned buildings.
Pictures can be found below, unfortunately the whole site has been demolished and built into new homes, no surprise there!
