Medical dates:

Medical character:

During the 1930s Hainault Lodge, built in 1851 during the deforestation of Hainault Forest, became an annexe of Oldchurch County Hospital.  Both were managed by Essex County Council.

The annexe accommodated elderly female patients no longer in need of acute care.

At the outbreak of WW2 in 1939 the annexe joined the Emergency Medical Service, but in fact was used as accommodation for officers from nearby R.A.F. Fairlop.

In 1948, when it had 48 beds, the annexe joined the NHS, together with its parent hospital, under the control of the Romford Group Hospital Management Committee, part of the North East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board.

The annexe closed in 1966.

Present status (April 2009)

 In 1972 there was a proposal to use the Lodge for homeless families.  The G.L.C. expressed an interest in developing the site as a holiday caravan park, but the plan never materialised.   By this time the Lodge had become derelict and it was demolished in 1973.

In 1981 a plan was submitted to build a 56-bedded private hospital on the site, but this too came to naught.

In 1986 the completely overgrown 16-acre site was acquired by the London Borough of Redbridge.

It is now the Hainault Lodge Local Nature Reserve, which opened in 1995.