Report - Severalls Mental Hospital, Colchester

[Luke Takes Pictures]

Severalls Mental Hopsital has already been well reported on this site but I thought I would throw mine into the mix as well. These where taken over a couple of visits spread over two months. Ventured in solo on all the occasions featured here as I had brought my tripod and wanted to spend a little bit of time working on the composition and exposure to get the best set of images possible.
For a little bit of background information for those who don't already know, Severalls was a psychiatric hospital built in early 1900s and at one time housed some 2000 patients. Its design was based on the "Echelon" floor plan with a roughly symmetrical layout of wards, offices and services within easy access of each other by a network of elegant interconnecting corridors. Unlike modern British hospitals, patients in Severalls were separated according to their gender, with the female wards occupying the east side of the property and male wards the west.
Running through the centre could be found the beating heart of the hospital, made up of the main hall, kitchens, laundry, cold storage, workshops and administrational offices.

I was always been fascinated by the place when I was young boy living in the nearby area. I had a couple of family members work in there over the years, had couple more family members committed there. Over the years I grew up and moved away from the neighbourhood and the place just slipped from my mind but one day over the summer while back in town I found myself passing and suddenly knew I had to go in. The rest is history. These are my pictures.






A couple of shots taken while on the Western 'Male' Ward.


This was the only bathroom that seemed to have twin bathtubs.


These can found dotted around some of the the Hospital's small Ward Kitchens but I still have no idea what they are...


One of the small shelters dotted around the grounds. They are very picturesque and in very good condition considering.


As far as I know the only remaining bed in the hospital. To be found in what I think was the Maids Quarters just off the 'Squirrel Boutique' hospital shop.


A shot taken in the Industrial Unit found at the end of the Western 'Male' Wards. A couple of old tires and car batteries could be found on the floor.


This was the staff canteen. It felt like the proper place to stop and eat the sandwich I had packed before I left.


Most of the Hopsital has now been stripped bare of anything not nailed down, but there still remains the odd little treasure to find, like this rusted typewriter, if you look hard enough.




The Wentworth Ward, at the southern end of the Hospital, has been completely destroyed by fire. Only one small bathroom and a couple of rooms remain accessible before the floor completely vanishes.




A couple of the many long interconnecting corridors that enabled staff, patients and visitors to move around the main Hospital buildings without having to go outside.


The blue room.






A couple of shots taken on the Eastern 'Female' Wards. Was working solo so sadly no traditional shots of someone sitting on the bath chair this time around.




The Hospital's giant Main Kitchens. They, at one time, would have had to cater to over 2000 patients as well as all the staff so these would have been pretty damn busy at times. Hard to imagine it now.


A smashed up old fashioned vending machine. Everything looked a hell of a lot cheaper back in those days.




The infamous Mortuary. The front door appeared to be nailed shut as wasn't going to open for me any time soon. Thankfully I found a little, now long overgrown road, which was barely visible through the tree line, that conveniently led to an accessible service entrance round the back of the building.


This is the fire damaged hallway leads to the Main Administration Building at the front of the Hospital. Sadly it has been boarded up so I couldn't get inside this time.




A couple of shots taken in the main Loading Bay of the Cold Storage area. It seems a couple of skaters have started building a small skateboard park inside, including a couple of pretty cool looking ramps. How they managed to build all that without getting caught I will never know.




Finally a couple of shots from the Boilerhouse and Engineering block.


Hope you enjoyed the shots. I haven't been able to show all the areas I went into but if you are interested you can check out the rest of the 300 photo set from the visit on my flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/4304323...7622550738425/.
Severalls has received a lot of press coverage recently, mainly reporting on the bad condition the buildings have been allowed to get into and how 'easy' it is to get inside. As a result I believe security has been ramped up considerably and it is going to be a lot harder to ever go back.
Despite that I am hoping to return sometime in the near future, would love to try in the late evening or at night. The place has a fantastic vibe and I would love to experience it at sundown so if anyone is interested then let me know!

[Raddog]

Nice set of photos, it's stripped but not destroyed

[clebby]

Very nice photos there, some of the best I've seen. Hopefully after the BBC's report it will, like you say, be more secure but hopefully not too secure.

[Sir Digby Chickenlegs]

Fab pics, looks good.. I love the burnt are door shot...

[klempner69]

Excellant set of pics Luke,I love the corridor ones particularly.

[BillAnd]

Originally Posted by Luke Takes Pictures

As far as I know the only remaining bed in the hospital. To be found in what I think was the Maids Quarters just off the 'Squirrel Boutique' hospital shop.

How disappointing - no naked urbexer!!!

nice report LTP

[Luke Takes Pictures]

Originally Posted by BillAnd

How disappointing - no naked urbexer!!!

nice report LTP

Haha, I thought I recognised the bed in that photo, though since there was only me in there this time I think you should all be sincerely grateful of the lack of nudity in this picture!

[Luke Takes Pictures]

Thinking about trying Severalls again soon, possibly a stealthy evening/night mission, first time back since the BBC report, see what the new security is like, send me a PM if anyone is interested in coming!

[Scott Cadman]

If you get down before December, let me know as a plan is beginning to be formed about a trip down there soon. I know nothing of the place and have no idea about the security situation. Would HUGELY appreciate a PM from anyone who knows anything.
Great report BTW.

[zippyprorider]

security is tight (at nighht i wondering near the live bit near the stadium and a van with two guys with spotlights arrived in about 10minutes lol. Im up for a night mission although both the last two times I have failed to get into the main bit