Archived Report - ST Marys - The Full Monty Tour Part 1

[emotive69]

St Marys was our first Asylum shoot and all in all took us 10 hours on two trips to cover the major aspects , the place is vast and in very good condition thanks to it being fairly remote and secure.

I am posting the pictures in two seperate parts so as not to be too long winded and have steered clear of HDR in an effort to present it as is .. the second trip took in the church hall and morgue which we missed but thanks to some help from you guys found on the return journey...

so here goes ...

the history of St Marys in Stannington is well known , in brief built in 1913 has been a pauper asylum , mental hospital and was taken over during the war by the military , closed in 1995 and looking at some of the leftovers was left in a hurry , still in good condition and listed status.

One of our first stops after finding a way in was snips the barbers , somewhat of a state but on of my favourite shots of all


they didnt beleive in shelves ?


the seating arrangement i found to be exemplary.


this room led to many intersting things through its window , but the shot from inside was fascinating , this is now my desktop wallpaper


on our travels we came across a whole building dedicated to making and fixing locks , keys and locks everywhere , a lot of locked doors in its day


The boilers and equipment were astonishing in size and looked as if they could be fired back up and work no problem , the sound of running water and the smell of gas in the air were not such a good sign.




this happy chap was one of the painter decorators , they had their own room too , and on the desks were their final notices and transfer papers , as well as the cups of mouldy coffee left in disgust ..


We happened across the dental surgery by accident and had a sit in the chair , for the first time ever I was happy to see a dentists chair.


corridors and stairs ... mmmmmm heaven ( waits to be locked up )


whilst wandering between building i got a few external shots in


another gorgeous corridor ...


this room had a real sinister feel about it , the lighting only added to the feeling of loneliness, one of the day rooms i think ?


and the autumn colours inside a building the likes i have never seen b4


here we found a sitting room , so we did , had a nice cigarette and comtemplated my sanity for a while ...


the bathrooms brought us down to earth , so many of them .. everywhere toilets ...... and mostly engaged !


the rickety metal stairs leading to the projection room in the hall were not worth the hassle , found another way in later


loved the green door , shakin stevens however was not about ..



we found a door leading to a tunnel section , underground subways full of asbestos and rather smelly , difficult to get a decent photo in here , this was a 30 sec exposure using a torch too ...


and the Green Room , environmental friendliness gone mad !


and last but not least a quick game of snooker , oh no tables



hope you like these and will post the second and final installment soon


emotive69

[emotive69]

So on to the second part , those eagle eyed amongst you may notice a difference in these shots - reason being i picked up my new camera a few days previous canon 5dmk2 and a 50mm 1.4 lens , so the tripod was pretty much redundant on this shoot and oh what a joy to use f1.4 and iso3200 without much noise ! shooting in dark rooms a peice of cake .... canon 5d , my partner explorer was using a nikon d700 which is again the same - a stellar low light performer


the laundry rooms were our first stop



followed by some corridors and cell like rooms in the womens block with some nice messages



on our travels through the grounds headed out to see what this little out-building was turned out to be a football hut , with a home and away team changing rooms , the mind boggles !


we also happened on a couple of old houses looks like they may have belonged to groundkeepers or the like , in a terrible state so not many shots of them


Some workers sheds with broom cupboards and shovel cupboards etc etc


and this is the only real sign of St Marys I saw on all my trips apart from the signs on the roads all the way in !


In one of the sheds we came across this , seemed to be some sort of castle structure !


and then back round towards the grail we were searching for we found another building , class rooms , looked a later addition , here we left the tripods , no use in them !




then we found what we had been looking for – the mortuary , the way in was easy once we knew which building it was , the frame of the window was covered in blood where a previous explorer had had an accident !




the adjoining room housed the tables for more bodies presumably ?





the mortuary also had its own chapel , the thought of peoples relatives being brought here to pray right next to the room with the slab is a little sobering





then it was on to the church , access was easty thanks to a pointer from someone , and we were in … we tried to get a note out of the old organ but alas no




during our excursion we were periodically scared out of our skins by the huge bang made by suicidal pigeons head butting windows !


a seriously spooky ward room with rotten floor and two isolation cells


more beautiful corridors this one in a shade of red , nice peaceful colour RED




the phone was out of order , no taxi for us then