Photo ©Jean Janssen. I spotted the seemingly out of place, General Lying-In Hospital near the London County Hall. Note the names of the patrons on the building. “The General Lying-In Hospital was one of the first maternity hospitals in Great Britain. It opened in 1767 and closed in 1971. Lying-in is an archaic term for childbirth, and “general” here refers not to a hospital handling all sorts of cases, but to one accepting all patients, i.e. not linked to one religion, as hospitals often were.”