Sandhill Park in Bishops Lydeard

Bishops Lydeard

Bishops Lydeard is a village and civil parish located in Somerset, England, bypassed, since 1967, by the A358 road and West Somerset Railway north-west of Taunton in the district of Taunton Deane...

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 was built as a country house around 1720. It was later used as a prisoner of war camp, home for handicapped children and later as a military and civilian hospital.

It was built in 1720 by John Periam, the Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Minehead

Minehead (UK Parliament constituency)

Minehead was a parliamentary borough in Somerset, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1563 until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.- MPs 1563–1629 :...

, as Hill House and lived in by the Lethbridge family

Lethbridge Baronets

The Lethbridge Baronetcy, of Westaway House and Winkley Court in the County of Somerset, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 15 June 1804 for John Lethbridge. The second Baronet sat as Member of Parliament for Somerset between 1806 and 1812 and 1826 and 1830...

 from 1767 to 1913.

During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 it was used as a prisoner of war camp for German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and Austrian

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 Officers. In 1919 it was converted by Somerset County Council

Somerset County Council

Somerset County Council is the county council of Somerset in the South West of England, an elected local government authority responsible for the most significant local government services in most of the county.-Area covered:...

 into a home for handicapped children.

It was requisitioned by the military in August 1940 and became the 41st General Military Hospital, providing accommodation in tents and huts. From 1941 the hospital was leased to the Americans as a neurological hospital for over 1,000 patients in 32 new wards which were completed in 1942. The hospital remained in military use until 1944. The psychiatric hospital reopened under the National Health Service

National Health Service

The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...

 in 1948 and further buildings were constructed.

The hospital was sold in 1991 and housing built on part of the area. It is included in the Buildings at Risk Register produced by English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

.

The derelict building was badly damaged by fire on November 22 2011, with the east wing gutted along with more modern additions to the rear. The main house suffered extensive damage, the roof and top floor being lost and significant secondary damage caused by fire water. The west wing and orangery appear to have been untouched by the fire.

Main Building

The "Main Building" is where the children stayed as where they were sleeping, eating, basically where lived.

There are currently four floors.

Morgue: Where corpses, are waited to be carried out for identification, and surgery.

Floor 1: Reception and personal records.

Floor 2: Offices, and headquarters.

Floor 3: The third floor was where the children were sleeping and doing activities.