Grove Park Hospital Grove Park Workhouse , 1896-1918

The Board of Guardians of Greenwich Union Workhouse applied for permission to expand the site towards the end of the 1890s but this was refused by the Local Government Board of Greenwich. Spicers Meadow was therefore bought in 1896 for five thousand and fifty pounds and plans were drawn up for Grove Park Workhouse to act as an overspill for the Greenwich Union Workhouse.

Thomas Dinwiddy was the architect, his plans were approved in 1897 (the plans were presented at the Paris International Exhibition in 1900 and won a Diploma of Merit). The foundation stone was laid in 1899.

The first Master of the Workhouse was Edward Tyler, working for an annual fee of one hundred and twenty pounds. The workhouse had room for 816 inmates whose work was to break up granite that was sold later to local councils. The workhouse, however, had been built in a remote site and the authorities found that they had difficulty recruiting inmates. The remaining story of the workhouse was an ever-changing one.

In 1914 the workhouse was used as a mobilisation / training centre by the Army Services Corps. In 1918 the workhouse was sold to the Metropolitan Asylums Board as a hospital for patients with tuberculosis (Grove Park Hospital). The Board soon decided that they did not want this facility and the buildings remained empty until 1926, at which time it once again became a hospital for patients with tuberculosis. A nurses' home was added in 1938. The hospital was bombed on 15th November 1940, two nurses were awarded the George Medal for rescuing patients from the debris. In 1945 the hospital became a centre for thoracic surgery. In 1977 Grove Park Hospital became a facility for patients with mental handicap.

Unfortunately, the buildings were not 'listed' by Greenwich or Lewisham authorities so that when the buildings were sold to a private contractor in 1992 much of the original construction was demolished. Only the frontage and main administration building remain (the road around the main administration building was named Thomas Dinwiddy Road, after the architect). The hospital site has now been redeveloped as a residential area.