What stories could this memorial tell? We are standing before the Horton Memorial. It stands as a solemn tribute to the patients who died and were buried in Horton Cemetery between 1899 and 1953. This memorial reminds us of the Horton Hospital, once a prominent psychiatric institution.
The hospital, formerly Horton Asylum, opened in 1902 as part of the Epsom Cluster. This cluster was a group of five mental hospitals built to alleviate overcrowding in London’s asylums. Horton Hospital, designed by George Thomas Hine, was a replica of Bexley Asylum in Kent. It could accommodate a staggering 2,000 patients. Sadly, much like the patients laid to rest in the cemetery, the hospital itself could not withstand the test of time.
Horton Hospital closed its doors in 1997. Today, the site has been redeveloped into housing and apartments. Only a few structures, like the chapel and the superintendent’s residence, still stand as echoes of the past. This memorial, however, ensures that the memory of those who lived and died at Horton Hospital lives on.