D
Dannyboyb
Guest
Guest
Well, its everybodys favourite, suppose the mecca of urban exploration and one hell of a place to start.
Here's the pictures and a quick run through from the last time i went.
A quick jog from our entry point and a climb up the shaft to the highest point we could, to take some pictures of the old girl in fading light.
Really shows the scale of the place and made me realise how little i had seen but the sun was dropping fast and had to get in while we could still see where we were going.
First stop into the laundry, the size of everything in here always blows me away, it must of been a buzzing place when the hospital was in use, you get the sense it was the real hub of the place.
Then quick foot into the wards, past whats left of the kitchens and the main hall
And in to the chapel. Real shame some of the vandels had got into here, from what i understand it use to be an impressive site with its alter and large organ in the corner, and late 19th century architechture. Mainly large brick columns, huge vaulting ceiling and stain glass windows.
Would of stayed longer and got more pictures but camera memory was scarce and the main objective of this vist was the clock tower and explosion damage to the admin block so we moved on.
Tricky route to where we wanted to get to, across the inner roofs across some very suspect beams over some even more suspect corridors.
Almost there, and we decide on a quick detour in to what i must say has to be one of the most un-accessable parts of the hospital, the old pharmacy. The determination needed to get in shows by the amount of stuff still left untouched like the day they locked the place up and the last nurse walked out.
Back out and I get the first close view of the clock tower.
Then across a few more dodgy roofs, across a a couple of flat roofs, and I see the main reason I wanted to go and get a real good look at before the light fades even more.
The blast damage to the admin block.
This must of been a hell of a bang and whoever did it must of shit themselves! The place really could not of stood up to it well, especially as must of it looks like direct damage and not a drop in the floors over time!
And finally the picture that explains it all, you can see the residual blast damage on the back of the safe door. Obviously someone using the good old using a sledge hammer to crack a walnut.
Shame really as its very unlikely there would of been anything left in there and to cause soo much structual damage for no reward.
Well, can't dwell here for too long as the floors really didn't like having the weight of their own dust on them let alone that of a person!
Onwards and upwards to the clock tower.
Unfortunatly the combination of fading light and my crap camera meant i couldn't get any decent pics out of the clock tower, but believe me when i say 'What a view!!' better than of the shaft earlier on in the trip. Looking right out across the urban sprawl of Coulsdon and verging on South London you sudden realise how close to the outside world you really are.
Then the 'well we've been where we wanted to get to, now where?' hit us and decided to don the spiderman act again to get across to the admin offices. Once we'd scaled across the front of the building and drop in through a window we reach some very well preserved offices, unfortunatly no furniture but access down to the front door, that had been closed off a few years ago after an arson attack.
And that really finished that visit, had a good walk around a few of the wards I hadn't visited before but by this point it was dark and i had run out of space on the camera.
Cheers for reading and hopefully I'll have some more to share once i get off my arse and get back out there.
Here's the pictures and a quick run through from the last time i went.
A quick jog from our entry point and a climb up the shaft to the highest point we could, to take some pictures of the old girl in fading light.
Really shows the scale of the place and made me realise how little i had seen but the sun was dropping fast and had to get in while we could still see where we were going.
First stop into the laundry, the size of everything in here always blows me away, it must of been a buzzing place when the hospital was in use, you get the sense it was the real hub of the place.
Then quick foot into the wards, past whats left of the kitchens and the main hall
And in to the chapel. Real shame some of the vandels had got into here, from what i understand it use to be an impressive site with its alter and large organ in the corner, and late 19th century architechture. Mainly large brick columns, huge vaulting ceiling and stain glass windows.
Would of stayed longer and got more pictures but camera memory was scarce and the main objective of this vist was the clock tower and explosion damage to the admin block so we moved on.
Tricky route to where we wanted to get to, across the inner roofs across some very suspect beams over some even more suspect corridors.
Almost there, and we decide on a quick detour in to what i must say has to be one of the most un-accessable parts of the hospital, the old pharmacy. The determination needed to get in shows by the amount of stuff still left untouched like the day they locked the place up and the last nurse walked out.
Back out and I get the first close view of the clock tower.
Then across a few more dodgy roofs, across a a couple of flat roofs, and I see the main reason I wanted to go and get a real good look at before the light fades even more.
The blast damage to the admin block.
This must of been a hell of a bang and whoever did it must of shit themselves! The place really could not of stood up to it well, especially as must of it looks like direct damage and not a drop in the floors over time!
And finally the picture that explains it all, you can see the residual blast damage on the back of the safe door. Obviously someone using the good old using a sledge hammer to crack a walnut.
Shame really as its very unlikely there would of been anything left in there and to cause soo much structual damage for no reward.
Well, can't dwell here for too long as the floors really didn't like having the weight of their own dust on them let alone that of a person!
Onwards and upwards to the clock tower.
Unfortunatly the combination of fading light and my crap camera meant i couldn't get any decent pics out of the clock tower, but believe me when i say 'What a view!!' better than of the shaft earlier on in the trip. Looking right out across the urban sprawl of Coulsdon and verging on South London you sudden realise how close to the outside world you really are.
Then the 'well we've been where we wanted to get to, now where?' hit us and decided to don the spiderman act again to get across to the admin offices. Once we'd scaled across the front of the building and drop in through a window we reach some very well preserved offices, unfortunatly no furniture but access down to the front door, that had been closed off a few years ago after an arson attack.
And that really finished that visit, had a good walk around a few of the wards I hadn't visited before but by this point it was dark and i had run out of space on the camera.
Cheers for reading and hopefully I'll have some more to share once i get off my arse and get back out there.
