Napper Cottage at Cranleigh Village Hospital

Napper Cottage at Cranleigh Village Hospital

Cranleigh Society’s feasibility project to save the 15th Century cottage at the front of Cranleigh Village Hospital is looking good! 

Thank you for joining our community!  Cranleigh Society supports numerous projects in the village, and interacts with many who provide services, with a view to shining a light on what is happening and holding those to account who represent us all.

Cranleigh Society open meeting and AGM will take place on 7th December, 7pm Band Room, Cranleigh, all welcome.  We would also like new people to join the team – is that you?

Some of you are particularly interested in keeping up to date, and possibly supporting – taking part – in the Napper Cottage project.  We can agree that the cottage and its story are fascinating!

Update so far

December 2020 – the cottage – at the front of Cranleigh Village Hospital – was in a very poor state of repair and has been unused since around 2010.  Cranleigh Society formally complained to NHS Property Services who then made some essential repairs with our team’s input.  No other group wants to help save this cottage. It is not fit for medical uses.

Your Support – Many people in and around Cranleigh have responded to our team and our questionnaires – if the cottage could be saved what would they like to see taking place there – and we enjoyed meeting folk at the monthly Artisan Markets.

The Cranleigh Society Team – has worked on the feasibility of saving and using the cottage, separately from the functioning hospital, and NHS Property Services have offered a lease to a charity.

Highlights –

Established the two most important aspects of the cottage

  • the building is very old, grade II listed and has not been altered much over the centuries
  • the building became the first cottage hospital in England which led to a cottage hospital movement and the ethos of the NHS in terms of funding health care for those in need

A new charity – The team has been joined by others and formed a Charity named Cranleigh Heritage Trust.  Trustees and a committee are in place.

Public engagement seeking ideas for its future, through conversations and questionnaires, including at the monthly Artisan Markets in Cranleigh.

Agreed a vision for the cottage which, at this stage, includes

  • The first Cottage Hospital in England open to the public to view, where heritage items can be displayed, being changed regularly, exploring the life and times of the cottage since 1446.
  • Meetings for health and wellbeing in this cosy, charming, historic cottage, and spaces for rent that are different from others in the area.
  • Tourist information and welcome for newcomers, including website links.
  • Education for all, especially schools and colleges.

Feasibility study – Applied for and received grants to carry out feasibility study – this involved structural and various other surveys which showed the building can be saved.

Business planning – this has begun and the case made to the National Lottery Heritage Fund to see if they agree this building can and should be saved and used.

Open meeting – if you can attend please do go and hear more about the 2 years’ work and be part of this exciting High Street challenge!  After the meeting further details will be published here so do check in often.   A new questionnaire will be added to the website too.

Plea – we are keen to welcome more talented people to both Cranleigh Society team and Cranleigh Heritage Trust charity.  Please get in touch – you can comment in the box below or email membership@cranleighsociety.org

We very much hope you will continue to welcome our updates, but you are always able to

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Thank you.
Cranleigh Society

Is Spring really in the air?

Is Spring really in the air?

Cranleigh Civic Society News

We have been working away, watching our housing and streets, flood areas and drains, and deteriorating ancient buildings.  We contact the authorities, make our voices heard, and talk to members and the public.  Your comments are welcome – please see bottom of this page.  Here are the issues that we are working on at the moment:

High Street

We are seeking people’s views about mending and improving Cranleigh High Street.  The paving varies: there’s tarmac, old York Stone, brick paving, grey slabs, beige concrete slabs,  grey setts.  We like the looks in Fountain Square and outside the Onslow pub but some people think tarmac is best.  What do you think?  Any other important points?   You might be interested to note that Surrey County Council is responsible for the pavements up to a centre line, from the road towards the shops.  The pavements from that centre line to the shops are the responsibility of the building owners, and are their land.  The owners/landlords are very difficult to contact or to persuade to work with others.  They are not the same people as the shop owners in many cases.

Drains

We are trying to find out how and when the flooding along our pavements and drains can be fixed as we all paddle across the roads. We believe it’s Surrey CC  and we have alerted our Councillor especially the flood outside Boots/Village Hall. 

Cranleigh Cottage Hospital

It is based on a 15th century cottage at the front and this part is no longer used.  It was used as a staff room and occasionally for patients and their families to be comforted until about 20 years ago.  Now it’s empty and damp, and falling into disrepair both inside and out.  We are actively working with NHS Property Services (and others) and they have pledged to carry out repairs and are undertaking a survey of needs for its future. This is all with the full knowledge and agreement of the League of Friends and Parish & Borough Councils.  It is a special building – a typical  Hall House when built – and preserves many very old features of historic interest. It has been modified over the centuries.  It was, as we are sure you know, the very first of over 200 Community and Cottage Hospitals in England. see here  

“Cottage and community hospitals have been part of the rural landscape for health care in England for over 150 years. The first cottage hospital was opened by Napper in 1859 in Cranleigh, Surrey. This was a simple converted cottage with space for beds and for operations. The service was established to save patients from long journeys to general hospitals in towns and cities, and to give local doctor surgeons a clean space in which to work with the support of a paid nurse.  The model was swiftly copied leading to the creation of 240 cottage hospitals within the next 30 years, all funded through donations and benefactors.”

Present day Cranleigh Village Hospital

As you know the NHS withdrew funding for beds many years ago. It’s fantastic that many parts of the buildings are in use and the number of services is growing. To find out which services are offered see here. The maternity hub is open all the time and a delightful midwife will greet those who enter.  There are, however, several rooms that are not in use to the rear of the old cottage.  We hope the NHS will make agreements with our local GPs to bring them back into use soon.  The original League of Friends of 1860s helped to fund raise for the Victorian extensions. The current League of Friends still gathers local donations and provides the NHS with equipment when they can – for which we are all very grateful. There is a garden and outdoor space too, which are in need of attention and updating.  We hope Cranleigh In Bloom volunteers will be able to help renovate the garden. 

Buildings and plans 

We watch out for building planning permissions and scoping applications every week. 

We note that the A2 Dominion development (on the land that used to grow lettuces) does not have permission to build the industrial looking properties they want to. 

Cranleigh Primary School Infants site has a notice up – Surrey County Council have some funds and want to take down the reception block and put up a new one.  SO/2021/0001 – on Waverley’s planning portal. 

We note that The Bull in Ewhurst is destined to become a working pub again – good news – you’ve probably seen the houses going up in their old grounds.   

We have seen that the land behind Park Hatch could be built on – 6 dwellings – it looks crammed just like the 55 Berkeley homes in Knowle Lane.  Where are the opportunities for nature to continue?  

The Paddock – the triangular field behind the M&S car park – still doesn’t have planning permission for anything and always was designated as a site of visual interest as it stands.  An exception was permitted and planning permission granted when a whole new GP practice and hospital with beds was planned on the field, but this ambition long since disappeared for a variety of reasons.  Cranleigh is not getting a new hospital.  The funds raised by the villagers are not able to be used for such a  project.

We have the rebuilt Cranleigh Medical Practice funded by the NHS and the current hospital services  – thanks to the NHS and League of friends.  There is no intention by the NHS to fund for hospital (step down) beds in Cranleigh even if a building was erected. This has been the case for many years.  They do part fund places in care homes when required, all over the area. Most Care homes have beds attended by nurses and visited by GPs.  

Trees, Hedgerows, Badgers

The work at Run Common continues – the reason Badgers are protected by law is that people killed them is such numbers in the past that they were nearly extinct.  Now no-one is permitted to upset their ability to make a family!  Including Surrey County Council.  There are several trees nearby with white crosses on them, not sure what this means.  We will try to find out if these large, old trees will be felled and if it’s essential.  

There is a new row of Leylandii trees beside the Legion – replacing the row taken down in order to make an entrance for a new Primary School…..  sad the old ones went! 

Health and Well-being

The volunteers helping the NHS roll out the vaccinations are a credit to Cranleigh and villages – we thank them with all our hearts.  Those of us who are now vaccinated are  truly grateful. We have not heard of any serious side effects – bit of a ache on the arm and a need to rest the next day – tired – is all.  So we truly hope no-one is afraid to get the jab – and hope our summer will be better for socialising and feeling much less frightened every day. 

The NHS has many new initiatives, and it is being reconfigured again.  This is to reduce the multiple layers of bureaucracy that stops the funding getting to where is it’s needed. We hope it works well and soon.  We hope too that the individuals find it easier to keep our records straight and up to date, wherever we are treated.  Most people have been praising our practice recently, with just a few exceptions, usually around records not being up to date. 

The NHS have access to Social Prescribing groups and help – where people’s illnesses can be helped by something other than drugs, operations and physiotherapy.  It is exciting to see these initiatives.  You could call it a Good Neighbour scheme but it is so much more as professionals are involved.  The Kings Fund is a non-political body that carries out reports for all to read and use – see here for an explainer about Social Prescribing and see here for their take on community health services.  Link staff are crucial to putting excellent programs into practice.  Cranleigh already has some excellent examples with more expected.  

Gate House, Knowle Lane, Cranleigh

Gate House, Knowle Lane, Cranleigh

UPDATE: Appeal Dismissed 8 December 2016

UPDATE 11 August 2016: An appeal has been made to the Secretary of State in respect of this application WA/2015/2006

UPDATE 17/12/15: This application was refused on 14 December 2015

A planning application is currently being considered for the Railway Gate House Cottage, Knowle Lane (Ref WA/2015/2006 – Erection of 8 x 2 bed apartments with  only 4 parking spaces, following the demolition of the existing cottage)

knowle lane gatehouse new flats 2knowle lane gatehouse new flats

Gate House History

On 2 October 1865, the railway through Cranleigh opened, initially operating a service of four trains each way per day; the West Sussex Gazette noting that the line, ‘…is likely to prove a more picturesque than profitable part of the system of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway.’

The railway was the result of moves by promoters, including the board of the Wey & Arun Canal Company, to profit from what amounted to the “railway mania” of the mid 1860s.

By 1860, an act was before Parliament and, in August 1860 the Horsham and Guildford Direct Railway Act was passed, granting a line through Shalford, Bramley, Cranleigh, Rudgwick and Slinfold. As time went by The London, Brighton & South Coast Railway (L.B.S.C.R.) slowly absorbed (Horsham & Guildford Direct Railway Company) H.G.D.R., the two companies funding the £123,000 cost between them.

Both the canal and the railway had been advanced as offering ease of communication between the lands north and south of the Weald and an expectation of good profits from trade between London and the coast, and both had seen the error of this assumption reflected in mediocre returns.

Be that as it may the railway did pick up the local trade and slowly wend its way into the life of the villages along its route, a number of sidings serving local business were built along the route. At Cranleigh a substantial goods yard in the middle of the village became home to three coal merchants, while at Baynards extensive sidings served Lawns brickworks.

While the line was in use for 100 years, latterly, reduced returns and lack of investment saw it being mooted for closure as part of Lord Beeching’s “The Reshaping of British Railways” of 1963. The last regular trains ran through Cranleigh on 12th June 1965.

Where the railway route met the local roads, most were bridged to avoid disruption to traffic but at Cranleigh and Bramley, adjacent to the stations, level crossings were installed instead.

The level crossing at Cranleigh was situated in Knowle Lane, just behind the High Street and east of the station. It was controlled by gates which swung either to block the road (when a train approached) or to block the railway when the road was open for normal use.

The operation of the gate was controlled from a hut by the side of the level crossing and the Gate House cottage was built for the gate-keeper. The Charman family carried out the gate duty until 1960 when it was taken over by May Koster and her husband Harry who was the signalman. When the railway closed they were able to purchase the house from the British Railways and lived in it until 1973.

This cottage is now the only historical remnant of the railway (other than the trackway/Downslink) in Cranleigh, and despite being listed as a building of local merit, is now threatened with demolition.

The Cranleigh Society believes that this unique piece of railway architecture is an important part of Cranleigh’s history, a heritage asset that should be preserved, not demolished.

(Reproduced by kind permission of Chris Budgen)