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Archiver > EOLFHS-MEMBERS > 2003-06 > 1054839916


From: Ian Munro <>
Subject: Re: [EoLFHS] Kensington &Chelsea School.
Date: Thu, 05 Jun 2003 20:05:16 +0100
References: <002101c32a89$08f13ee0$f5b27ad5@athlon><5.1.1.6.2.20030604182910.009e7280@mail.onetel.net.uk><5.1.1.6.2.20030605110354.009eb970@mail.onetel.net.uk>
In-Reply-To: <000001c32b92$bccee0c0$ceb78351@oemcomputer>


At 13:54 05/06/03, Brian Cave wrote:
>Am I understanding you correctly - are you saying that Banstead Asylum was
>the Kensington & Chelsea School?


Sorry if I did not make myself clear. Banstead Asylum was originally
established by the K & C Parish authorities. (NHS from 1948). Similarly the
industrial school in nearby Belmont. Scrub downs land was very cheap round
here in Victorian times and I believe the West Croydon railway line from
London opened as early as 1845. The stone cart tracks are still visible in
some places on the Downs leading from "California" Station up to the asylum
site. Building materials, of course, took their final journey by horse and
cart. Why was Belmont Station originally called California
Station? Another story.

I think Ewell may have been an industrial school established by the same
London Parish authorities. What was known as Beecholme in Banstead (closed
in 70s) was another London Parish residential school. That was opened in
1880 and known as K & C Residential School. Quote : "was home and school to
children who would otherwise find themselves in barrack like institutions,
if not the workhouse" - Banstead History Research Group publication in
1998. In final years the home was managed by Wandsworth Borough Council and
only children resident in that borough were placed there.

HTH

Ian

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