Cornwall Hall Auxiliary Hospital

Kent is a county FULL of history; from the Roman Villa at Lullingstone, to Medieval christian pilgrimage routes to Rochester or Canterbury, to hop farming county-wide and brewing ale to the spitfires dogfighting the Luftwaffe in the skies above. 

Whilst volunteering remotely for the Imperial War Museum's War Memorial Register, I learnt about a hidden treasure in Sevenoaks that I had to go and see for myself. 

Cornwall Hall Auxiliary Hospital



Cornwall Hall was an VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) Hospital set up in September 1914, which were located anywhere, including local churches, schools and community settings. 

The ex-VAD hospital was located at The Drive Methodist Church in Sevenoaks; if you cross the car park to the left of the church building, there is the church hall, which is still named Cornwall Hall (pictured below). It was managed by nurse Kathleen Mansfield, Commandant of the VAD 76 Hospital. 



A brass tablet is mounted up on the wall on the right as you come in through the main doors of the hall, it is surrounded by green ceramic tiles which keeps its historic significance, kindly presented by the British Red Cross Society. 

If you would like to learn more about Cornwall Hall Hospital. check out the following links below:






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction

Image
Let me Introduce Myself Hi, my name is HB, I use they/them pronouns, I am autistic and ADHD and I have a huge passion for culture and heritage.  My love for history began at a very young age when visiting museums, historic houses, castles, heritage steam railways, National Trust or English Heritage sites on family days out or school trips and learning about my grandparent's wartime childhoods.  Popular culture (particularly film and celebrities), war history (particularly the First and Second World Wars), maritime history, fashion history, women's history and living history are some of my special interests. The picture of me was taken in 2018 (when I had long hair), the year of celebrating the centenary of the RAF and commemorating 100 years since the end of WW1 at the Imperial War Museum Duxford with a spitfire since RAF Duxford was a key location during the Battle of Britain.  I have been involved with museums, culture and heritage for over 8 years now, including the Im...
Read more

Volunteers Week 2025

Image
Happy Volunteers Week 2025! It is volunteers week this week and can only mean one thing... a huge celebration of volunteering in lots of different sectors and celebrating the work of volunteers themselves. It is not just charities, children's services, care homes and animal rescue centres where people volunteer, it also includes museums, arts and culture. I first started volunteering as a poppy collector with the Royal British Legion which was a heartwarming experience and considering going back when the time comes as I have done some individual fundraising for them since. I am proud to share I have been involved with museums for 8 years which has been such an incredible journey. I'll start by sharing where it all began: my autism group set up a work experience project with the Museum of London in their archives and collections. The title itself is self explanatory; the Museum of London explores the history of London from the Roman settlements in Britain (whereby London was kno...
Read more

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard Visit - January 2025

Image
I stepped out of Portsmouth Harbour train station one freezing cold Saturday afternoon in January this year. I was slowly making my way to my hotel and stopped to admire how beautiful HMS Warrior looked against the winter sunset over the harbour, so I sat down on a bench to bring myself out of anxiety about getting lost, shutting down or dissociating and losing awareness of my surroundings and into the present. After a moment, I noticed an obelisk with HMS Royal Oak inscribed on it; I quickly learnt it was a memorial commemorating the 85th anniversary of the sinking of HMS Royal Oak. I knew I had to take some photos for some volunteering. (This memorial will be discussed in a future post - watch this space!) 😀 The reason I was visiting Portsmouth was because I am a board member at the National Museum of the Royal Navy and our board was encouraged to visit for branding reasons. After spending a couple of hours chilling in my hotel room by video-calling family to let them know ...
Read more