Place   

St Thomas' Hospital

Categories: Medicine

St Thomas' Hospital

Named after Thomas a Becket, so possibly founded after 1173 when Becket was canonised. As part of an Augustinian monastery, St Thomas’ (at the London Bridge site) was closed during the Reformation. Re-opened during Edward VI’s reign. In 1862 the railways need the hospital land so St Thomas' moved, temporarily to Royal Surrey Gardens, Walworth and then moved into its new permanent site in Lambeth in 1871. Several extensions to the buildings have been added over the years.

Our photo shows the stainless steel Revolving Torsion Fountain by Naum Gabo, 1972, in St Thomas's Hospital Garden. The water jets form part of the sculpture as they meet and shatter apart. The title suggests that perhaps the whole structure was intended to revolve but some early footage shows it operating roughly as it does now. We also like the water spilling out from the lower basin but this only happens at the left side and it's not clear whether this should be happening at all.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
St Thomas' Hospital

Commemorated ati

Edward VI statue at St Thomas's - Cartwright

This 1682 statue by Cartwright was commissioned by Clayton and was originally...

Read More

Edward VI statue at St Thomas's - Scheemaker

First erected in the second of St Thomas’s three courts, shown in a drawing h...

Read More

Florence Nightingale Garden

{Left hand plaque:} The Nightingale badge awarded between 1925 - 1996. {Cent...

Read More

Keats and Stephens

On this site, poet & apothecary John Keats, & his friend, the poet, a...

Read More

Robert Clayton statue

The inscription is quite badly damaged but we found a transcription in a 1776...

Read More

Show all 7

Other Subjects

F. Donald MacKenzie

F. Donald MacKenzie

Assistant Commissioner in the St John Ambulance Brigade, Metropolitan Corps, 1887-1910. Knight Grace in the Order of St John.

Person, Emergency Services, Medicine, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Mrs E. McCaffrey

Mrs E. McCaffrey

Lady District Officer in the St John Ambulance Brigade, No. 1 District, 1918-1942. Serving Sister in the Order of St John.

Person, Emergency Services, Medicine, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Dr John Waggett

Dr John Waggett

At Elsevier Ruth Richardson writes:"That year {1882}, Dr John Waggett MD FRCS (1818–1909) decided to donate funds sufficient to erect a drinking fountain on the crest of London’s Notting Hill. Dr W...

Person, Benefactor, Medicine

1 memorial
G. M. Stoker, MRCS

G. M. Stoker, MRCS

Assistant Commissioner in the St John Ambulance Brigade, No. 1 (Prince of Wales's) District, 1928-1949. Serving Brother in the Order of St John.

Person, Emergency Services, Medicine, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Hippocrates

Hippocrates

Greek physician, known as the father of medicine. Born in 460 BC on the island of Cos, Greece. Died in 377 BC

Person, Medicine, Greece

2 memorials