Knowle Hospital and Church, Knowle, Fareham, Hampshire.

Malcolm Low

Knowle Hospital was opened in 1852 and was known for many years as an Asylum, it was reached from Wickham by Asylum Lane (now Mayles Lane) it was also called Lunatic Lane.

The hospital was completely walled in, and from the outside looked like a prison. The doors of all the wards were locked and some wards had double doors, each being locked. There were two halves to the hospital one half for males and the other for females. Some wards had padded cells, and straight jackets were often needed for some patients. In the 20s the block by the water tower was known as the ‘idiot block’ and housed young children. The hospital had its own laundry and ‘foul’ laundry, a needle room, a boot and shoe repair shop and upholstery staff. The patients were encouraged to work with the staff in these places.

If a patient died in the hospital and had no relatives he or she would be buried in the hospital cemetery. A gun carriage with a wooden handle was pulled by two of the staff to take the coffin to a miniature church which could hold about six people including the vicar.

In 1879, a chapel was built in the main building, but it became too small. A national competition was held to find a suitable design for a new hospital chapel, this failed to find a design good enough, and in 1901 a local builder said he would build a church using Funtley Red Bricks (This is the present church building at Knowle). On Sunday mornings Knowle Church was full of patients both male and female who were shepherded through separate doors by the nurses.

It is not generally known that the hospital once had its own public house named ‘County Arms’ It stood near the road, in the corner of a field as one entered the grounds from the waterworks – River lane direction.

Malcolm Low can be contacted on email: m.low1@ntlworld.com