I've wanted to explore here for a while, hospitals are by far my favourite explore I think mainly as I've worked in theatres and know how sterile they have to be it fascinates me seeing them so decayed imagining how they once were. We had visited before at night when we first started exploring but were looking for obvious entry points, and were unable to find any access but went back again and took a fresh look and got a bit more creative. Once we found a way in it was pretty easy, apart from the amount of sensors and alarms that went off, which resulted in a stand off between us and secca, we hid in a bush for over an hour while they shone the headlights from their truck into where we were hiding, but I believe they thought we were still inside waiting for us to come out. It was a battle of wills and eventually they gave up. We decided to leave and went back again later in the week, managed to spend just over 4 hours exploring the main building then also the maternity block. Probably one of my favourite explores to date, loved it there.
Bit of history...
Cambridge Military Hospital, or CMH was built to serve the various British Army camps based around Aldershot. The hospital which was built by Messrs Martin Wells and Co. of Aldershot opened in 1879.
The hospital does not have any associations with the town of Cambridge, as its name would suggest. Cambridge Military Hospital was actually named after Prince George, Duke of Cambridge who was the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army at the time.
The plan was to have a number of self-contained wards, each for a different regiment, connected to the corridor, but the plans were changed and the hospital opened with each area specialising in a different type of treatment instead.
CMH was the first place in the UK where plastic surgery was performed. Captain Gillies had been on leave in France where he met with the surgeon Hippolyte Morestin and learnt from him while he reconstructed the faces of people who suffered with cancer. Upon his return, Captain Gillies put these skills into practice on people injured in battle.
The British army saw a decline in demand after the second world war, and as a result civilian patients began being admitted to the hospital. The hospital closed in 1996 due to the high cost of running the old buildings.
New development plans...
A planning application to convert the two listed former hospitals in Hampshire, which together nursed the injured war heroes of almost all Britain's 20th century conflicts back to health, has been approved, paving the way for the landmark buildings to be transformed into housing.
Housebuilder Grainger has been given the green light by Rushmoor Borough Council to redevelop the Cambridge Military and Louise Margaret hospitals in Aldershot, which form part of its wider Wellesley scheme.
The hospitals will be converted into 115 private rental family houses, ranging from one-bedroom apartments to four-bedroom houses with gardens.
The properties will be taken back to their original layout by retaining the principal Victorian buildings and removing any later additions that are considered to be "out of keeping".
The central core of the Cambridge Military Hospital will be developed into flexible commercial community space encouraging the wider public to interact with the building.
Bit of history...
Cambridge Military Hospital, or CMH was built to serve the various British Army camps based around Aldershot. The hospital which was built by Messrs Martin Wells and Co. of Aldershot opened in 1879.
The hospital does not have any associations with the town of Cambridge, as its name would suggest. Cambridge Military Hospital was actually named after Prince George, Duke of Cambridge who was the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army at the time.
The plan was to have a number of self-contained wards, each for a different regiment, connected to the corridor, but the plans were changed and the hospital opened with each area specialising in a different type of treatment instead.
CMH was the first place in the UK where plastic surgery was performed. Captain Gillies had been on leave in France where he met with the surgeon Hippolyte Morestin and learnt from him while he reconstructed the faces of people who suffered with cancer. Upon his return, Captain Gillies put these skills into practice on people injured in battle.
The British army saw a decline in demand after the second world war, and as a result civilian patients began being admitted to the hospital. The hospital closed in 1996 due to the high cost of running the old buildings.
New development plans...
A planning application to convert the two listed former hospitals in Hampshire, which together nursed the injured war heroes of almost all Britain's 20th century conflicts back to health, has been approved, paving the way for the landmark buildings to be transformed into housing.
Housebuilder Grainger has been given the green light by Rushmoor Borough Council to redevelop the Cambridge Military and Louise Margaret hospitals in Aldershot, which form part of its wider Wellesley scheme.
The hospitals will be converted into 115 private rental family houses, ranging from one-bedroom apartments to four-bedroom houses with gardens.
The properties will be taken back to their original layout by retaining the principal Victorian buildings and removing any later additions that are considered to be "out of keeping".
The central core of the Cambridge Military Hospital will be developed into flexible commercial community space encouraging the wider public to interact with the building.