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

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...

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Edward VI statue at St Thomas's - Scheemaker

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

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Florence Nightingale Garden

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

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Keats and Stephens

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

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Robert Clayton statue

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

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Show all 7

Other Subjects

Hugh Arnold Bryant

Hugh Arnold Bryant

A "Guy's man" who died in the South African War, 1899-1902. An obituary for this man can be found on the Kings College London war memorial website. Hugh Arnold Bryant was born on 27 March 1867, on...

Person, Armed Forces, Medicine, South Africa

War dead, Other war
1 memorial
Dr Mark Patterson

Dr Mark Patterson

Chairman of the GLC Covent Garden Committee. Also Chairman of the GLC Viewing Subcommittee, which recommended films for censorship. The Guardian of 7 July 1984 reported that "Dr Mark Patterson, th...

Person, Cinema, Medicine, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Redesign and re-opening of Memorial Park at Guy's Hospital

Redesign and re-opening of Memorial Park at Guy's Hospital

Re-designed in 1992. The arch was moved in 1994.

Event, History, Medicine

2 memorials
Dr William Henry Walter

Dr William Henry Walter

Medical doctor and member of Brentford Council in 1909.

Person, Medicine, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Johann Peter Frank

Johann Peter Frank

Born Rotalben, Bavaria to a French father. Worked as a doctor in France and Germany. He wrote on preventative medicine and toured Europe promoting his ideas. Died in Vienna where, despite his re...

Person, Medicine, Austria, France, Germany

1 memorial