Location: Talgarth, South Wales
Date: July 2012
Site Class: Healthcare
Site Hazards: Asbestos, rotten floors, deadfalls, fungal spores, glass
Team: Gangster359, +1
Gear: Headlamps, LED Lenser torch, 3M particle masks, Hatch knee/elbow protection, Camelbak backpack, and multi-tool.
Talgarth is a small town to the north west of the black mountains. The Asylum, or ‘Mid Wales Hospital’ as it was properly known, is a large site comprising of many buildings, arranged in what is known as a ‘compact arrow’ formation, a common layout in hospitals to facilitate quick movement between any two areas. Built in 1903 to cater for 352 patients, the asylum was original called the ‘Brecon and Radnor joint asylum’. During and after the first world war a number of the inmates there were soldiers, suffering from shell shock. It closed in 2000, and since then has stood derelict, whilst proposed redevelopments of the site have been considered but more recently the so called “owner” has taken to selling the roof slates for a large sum of dirty money. This has increased the decay of the site and turned a historically beautiful (yet frightening) building into a demolition yard for pikeys.
We drove over an hour to visit this much talked about location and after a few reconnaissance sweeps in the car via the private road into the asylum we found the best parking is available in the nearby village (5 minutes’ walk). Best time of day for a visit “photo-shoot” seems to be the evening when locals and farmers are in their homes and not plodding through the asylums access road which links to a B road and is often used as a shortcut by locals. I have managed to procure the land registry documents and survey for the site and will upload these at a later date. In the meantime the asylum has a typical ward layout with adjoining wings linking into one another. The main entrance is the largest of these structures and also houses the clock tower.
Entrance next to a house
Someone had already opened a window for us and evan layed the carpet out
The boiler room - floor is covered in slippery shit so be careful
Following my site safety induction I put the appropriate PPE on……
Inner courtyard
Puppy wants to play.....
Stunning rooms (back in the day)
Full view of the chapel from the main entrance
1st floor main entrance - not many tiles left now
West Wing - Half the floor was falling through
West Wing main stairwell - Clearly not cleaned
The theatre – The golden find, I was very very pleased to see this
The theatre - On stage
The theatre - View from the stage
East Wing - Secure unit
East Wing - Damage left from the local legend “Joseph Jesus Dodd” who was housed in this facility for a short period.
East Wing - Mushroom?
Internal Compound
A friend of ours who has spent a some time in a real asylum came along for the journey and gave us some fantastic history and background to Talgarth. Strangely enough he seemed to know the place like the back of his hand which was great as it was a pain to keep checking the map for our current location.
Hope you have enjoyed this report. We have only seen about 70% of the asylum and will be returning at another point in time to complete it. A great site for those interested In the mentally insane / psychopaths.
I do NOT recommend the local Chinese, not very nice at all and over-priced.
Never leave a man behind.........
Date: July 2012
Site Class: Healthcare
Site Hazards: Asbestos, rotten floors, deadfalls, fungal spores, glass
Team: Gangster359, +1
Gear: Headlamps, LED Lenser torch, 3M particle masks, Hatch knee/elbow protection, Camelbak backpack, and multi-tool.
Talgarth is a small town to the north west of the black mountains. The Asylum, or ‘Mid Wales Hospital’ as it was properly known, is a large site comprising of many buildings, arranged in what is known as a ‘compact arrow’ formation, a common layout in hospitals to facilitate quick movement between any two areas. Built in 1903 to cater for 352 patients, the asylum was original called the ‘Brecon and Radnor joint asylum’. During and after the first world war a number of the inmates there were soldiers, suffering from shell shock. It closed in 2000, and since then has stood derelict, whilst proposed redevelopments of the site have been considered but more recently the so called “owner” has taken to selling the roof slates for a large sum of dirty money. This has increased the decay of the site and turned a historically beautiful (yet frightening) building into a demolition yard for pikeys.
We drove over an hour to visit this much talked about location and after a few reconnaissance sweeps in the car via the private road into the asylum we found the best parking is available in the nearby village (5 minutes’ walk). Best time of day for a visit “photo-shoot” seems to be the evening when locals and farmers are in their homes and not plodding through the asylums access road which links to a B road and is often used as a shortcut by locals. I have managed to procure the land registry documents and survey for the site and will upload these at a later date. In the meantime the asylum has a typical ward layout with adjoining wings linking into one another. The main entrance is the largest of these structures and also houses the clock tower.
Entrance next to a house
Someone had already opened a window for us and evan layed the carpet out
The boiler room - floor is covered in slippery shit so be careful
Following my site safety induction I put the appropriate PPE on……
Inner courtyard
Puppy wants to play.....
Stunning rooms (back in the day)
Full view of the chapel from the main entrance
1st floor main entrance - not many tiles left now
West Wing - Half the floor was falling through
West Wing main stairwell - Clearly not cleaned
The theatre – The golden find, I was very very pleased to see this
The theatre - On stage
The theatre - View from the stage
East Wing - Secure unit
East Wing - Damage left from the local legend “Joseph Jesus Dodd” who was housed in this facility for a short period.
East Wing - Mushroom?
Internal Compound
A friend of ours who has spent a some time in a real asylum came along for the journey and gave us some fantastic history and background to Talgarth. Strangely enough he seemed to know the place like the back of his hand which was great as it was a pain to keep checking the map for our current location.
Hope you have enjoyed this report. We have only seen about 70% of the asylum and will be returning at another point in time to complete it. A great site for those interested In the mentally insane / psychopaths.
I do NOT recommend the local Chinese, not very nice at all and over-priced.
Never leave a man behind.........
