Leavesden Hospital History Association

The Leavesden Hospital History Association has a collection of over 400 pieces of artifacts, memorabilia, oral histories, and documents relating to the people, places and events that made up the history and heritage of the Leavesden Asylum/Hospital (1868 to 1995) and the St Pancras Workhouse/School (1868 to 1930).

Both of these were located along College Road (formally known as Asylum Road, 1868 to 1948) in Abbots Langley/Leavesden, Hertfordshire.

These items, and many more, where collected by the associations’ founder, Martin T Brooks, who has been researching the Leavesden Asylum/Hospital’s history and connection to the local communities since 2008. Some of the artifacts held in this collection are: Leavesden Asylum Payment Ledger Book (8th of October 1870 to 30th of September 1871, the first year the asylum was open), Stewards Report Book (31st of July 1895 to 14th of June 1899), a film of the hospital’s summer fete and sports day (1937), a collection of Insight Magazines from the 1970s, items made by the patients of the hospital as part of their therapy, badges, original room keys, pictures of staff, 1926 and 1947, drawings from the students of the St Pancras Workhouse/School (1927), and the only written record of 575 staff and patients of the hospital who are at rest in the East Lane Cemetery located near the original site of the hospital.

Some of this collection is on display at the HIVE Heritage Centre, Leavesden Country Park, College Road Abbots Langley, WD5 0NX and online at www.leavesdenhospital.org with more being added as they are preserved and catalogued.