Medical dates:

Medical character:

A wealthy Brentwood solicitor, Mr WR Preston, built Harold Court in the 1860s on farmland which had once been part of Upminster Common in the early 18th century.

Mr Preston became bankrupt in 1882 and the mansion house was taken over by Brentwood School District (which covered the Hackney and Shoreditch Unions)

The School District was dissolved in 1885 but the Shoreditch Union continued to use the house as a children's home for a few years.

In 1891 Harold Court was bought for £3,100 and converted into an annexe for the Essex County Lunatic Asylum.

In 1919 it became Harold Court Sanatorium, for the treatment of tuberculosis patients.

In 1950 it was renamed Harold Court Hospital.  It closed in 1958.

Present status (May 2008)

In 1960 the house became a Teachers Training College for Brentwood College of Education.  It has since been converted into flats, with mixed housing on the south of the site.  It is surrounded by woods and a public open space - Harold Court Woods.