Langthorne Hospital Blue Plaque - Blue Plaques on Waymarking.com

The hospital derives its name from the Stratford-Langthorne Abbey, founded in 1135 and which owned 1500 acres of local farmland. It was on some of this land that the West Ham Union Workhouse was built in 1840 to provide "relief to the poor".
It housed up to 1000 inmates from the surrounding areas of Walthamstow, Leyton, Stratford and West Ham.

The Leyton workhouse opened in 1842.
The 3-storey,T-shaped main block had lower wings to the rear, thus creating two courtyards for the male and female inmates.
The ground floor of the building contained offices, a surgery and wards for infirm inmates.
On the first floor were quarters for the Master and the Matron, and dormitories for the inmates.
Lying-in wards were on the second floor.
The rear wing contained a dining-room and storerooms, with a kitchen in the basement.

In 1930 control of the workhouse passed to the West Ham Borough Council, which renamed it the Central Home Public Assistance Institution - a home for the chronically ill, aged and infirm.

The Home joined the NHS in 1948 under the control of the Leytonstone Hospital Group Hospital Management Committee, part of the
North East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board.

It was renamed the Langthorne Hospital, specialising in geriatric care.

Following a major reorganisation of the NHS in 1974, the Hospital came under the control of the West Roding District Health Authority,
part of the North East Thames Regional Health Authority.

In 1982, after another NHS reorganisation, it came under the jurisdiction of the Waltham Forest District Health Authority.
It finally closed in 1999.

By the late 1980s, the site was declared surplus to requirements.
The main original workhouse building was acquired by the Waltham Forest Housing Action Trust and has been converted into residential accommodation with the rest of the site acquired by Waltham Forest Council in 1996 for the Langthorne Park development.

Langthorne Park opened on 17th June 2000. The park features a pavilion base for local community use, linked to safe children's play areas; a multi-sports area; an outdoor gym and sports training area; an ecology area; a quiet garden area; and other landscaped areas suitable for picnics or general relaxation.

The park features a number of specially commissioned art features enhancing both the physical environment of the park as well as providing visual representations of the site's long history.

Look out for Robert Koenig's unusual oak totem figures.
Tom Norris's wooden seating area made of old railway sleepers to reflect the heritage of Leytonstone.
Dee Honeybun's wonderful carved clay panels and Stewart Hale's mosaic sign and mosaic trail.

Blue Plaque managing agency: Waltham Forest Heritage Physical Address: Union Close Leytonstone London, Ebgland E11 1NP Individual Recognized: Not listed Web Address: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   03/22/2021 OrientGeo visited it 04/06/2012 Master Mariner visited it

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