Visited with Darkzac
We were staying the night near Leeds so we thought we'd pop along to High Royds before we got our heads down as it was far.
We got to the site and drove into the new housing estate that is well underway and already have people moved in. You could really sense the vast size high royds was in its day.
Main Objective was the Mortuary and anything else was a bonus. We wasn't disappointed. We heard about it being breezed blocked. Once inside i was in awe i had always wanted to see the High Royds Slab and i was now standing in front of it. Was abit worried about the crate that i had seen in pictures but it had been removed and stuffed in the corner.
Spent ages inside i really have a weird thing with mortuarys and feel really comfortable around them and didnt wanna say goodbye lol.
History
High Royds hospital is a now-closed psychiatric hospital south of the village of Menston, West Yorkshire, England. The hospital is located in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough as the border with the City of Bradford metropolitan borough passes between the hospital and the village. It was first opened on 8 October 1888, as the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, and was closed on 25 February 2003. Although this date is given in the High Royds book the final two wards, office, canteen etc did not close until June 2003.
A truly magnificent example of Vickers Edwards architecture, it is arguably the finest example of the broad arrow layout.
The administration building, which is Grade II listed, is now considered something of a show piece at the former hospital, which is situated on a 300-acre (1.2 km2) site at the foot of Rombalds Moor.
It hosts an Italian mosaic floor in the main corridor which is intricately decorated with the Yorkshire Rose and some black daisies - the latter of which provided inspiration for the title of a television screen play, filmed at High Royds, as a tribute to sufferers of Alzheimers.
The hospital once contained a library, a surgery, a dispensary, butchers, dairies, bakers, a sweetshop, an upholster's, a cobbler's, spacious grounds, a ballroom and even a railway. The patients lived in Nightingale wards (named after Florence Nightingale), rather than the individual accommodation found in the more recent mental health units. The hospital was for much of its life connected to the Wharfedale railway line by a dedicated spur connection.
More recently however it had been considered outdated, and as part of Leeds Mental Health's £47 million reprovision process it was closed, with the wards being relocated to various community mental health units in the City of Leeds, in the three years leading up to its closure. These include The Becklin Centre in St James' Hospital and The Mount (hospital) in the city centre.
Developers are well underway in converting the site into a new village, also called High Royds, retaining some features of the hospital, such as the ballroom and the clock tower. Parts are already lived in.
Pictures
We got out of the Mortuary at about 1am and thought we'd have a quick look around the Hospital we were very tired at this point. So we looked for a way in and found loads only to be greeted by a breezed blocked or nailed shut doors when inside, it was really frustrating finally we found a way in which led through kitchings, main hall and to Admin. It was really dark inside even for the flashgun but i still got afew shots that were worthy of posting.
All my pics will be on my Flickr shortly.
Matt
We were staying the night near Leeds so we thought we'd pop along to High Royds before we got our heads down as it was far.
We got to the site and drove into the new housing estate that is well underway and already have people moved in. You could really sense the vast size high royds was in its day.
Main Objective was the Mortuary and anything else was a bonus. We wasn't disappointed. We heard about it being breezed blocked. Once inside i was in awe i had always wanted to see the High Royds Slab and i was now standing in front of it. Was abit worried about the crate that i had seen in pictures but it had been removed and stuffed in the corner.
Spent ages inside i really have a weird thing with mortuarys and feel really comfortable around them and didnt wanna say goodbye lol.
History
High Royds hospital is a now-closed psychiatric hospital south of the village of Menston, West Yorkshire, England. The hospital is located in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough as the border with the City of Bradford metropolitan borough passes between the hospital and the village. It was first opened on 8 October 1888, as the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, and was closed on 25 February 2003. Although this date is given in the High Royds book the final two wards, office, canteen etc did not close until June 2003.
A truly magnificent example of Vickers Edwards architecture, it is arguably the finest example of the broad arrow layout.
The administration building, which is Grade II listed, is now considered something of a show piece at the former hospital, which is situated on a 300-acre (1.2 km2) site at the foot of Rombalds Moor.
It hosts an Italian mosaic floor in the main corridor which is intricately decorated with the Yorkshire Rose and some black daisies - the latter of which provided inspiration for the title of a television screen play, filmed at High Royds, as a tribute to sufferers of Alzheimers.
The hospital once contained a library, a surgery, a dispensary, butchers, dairies, bakers, a sweetshop, an upholster's, a cobbler's, spacious grounds, a ballroom and even a railway. The patients lived in Nightingale wards (named after Florence Nightingale), rather than the individual accommodation found in the more recent mental health units. The hospital was for much of its life connected to the Wharfedale railway line by a dedicated spur connection.
More recently however it had been considered outdated, and as part of Leeds Mental Health's £47 million reprovision process it was closed, with the wards being relocated to various community mental health units in the City of Leeds, in the three years leading up to its closure. These include The Becklin Centre in St James' Hospital and The Mount (hospital) in the city centre.
Developers are well underway in converting the site into a new village, also called High Royds, retaining some features of the hospital, such as the ballroom and the clock tower. Parts are already lived in.
Pictures
We got out of the Mortuary at about 1am and thought we'd have a quick look around the Hospital we were very tired at this point. So we looked for a way in and found loads only to be greeted by a breezed blocked or nailed shut doors when inside, it was really frustrating finally we found a way in which led through kitchings, main hall and to Admin. It was really dark inside even for the flashgun but i still got afew shots that were worthy of posting.
All my pics will be on my Flickr shortly.
Matt
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