Healthcare bosses were amazed to find huge pencil drawings plastered over a bedroom wall in a former mental health unit.

The Arundel Unit, at the William Harvey Hospital, was taken over by Spencer Private Hospitals in 2014 and transformed into a private consultancy suite.

But the new owners were shocked to discover one former bedroom was covered in metre-high drawings of famous characters, including Winston Churchill and Marilyn Monroe.

A spokesman for the private firm, said: “We were amazed when we found them, they are fantastic.

"They were obviously done by one of the previous occupants and I thought I would take pictures because they were so interesting.

“The walls have been painted over now but the pictures retain their memory.

“I imagine whoever drew them was fairly old because the pictures are of the Second World War. I would imagine they were done from memory rather than by a photo.

“I don’t suppose we’ll ever know for sure who actually did them, there are no initials or anything, but it’s a nice bit of history.”

The Arundel Unit offered inpatient care to mental health patients but closed down in 2012.

The loss left patients with a round trip of at least an hour to access key hospital services.