Visited this church last year. We had not had the best of days and got a tip off it was open. So at the end of a long day we made our way across the city with not a lot of hope. I know this church is regularly sealed. So we were more than happy to find it open, it sort of saved the day. It's got a bit of graffiti in it and fairly trashed, but it was still nice to see and you can still fell the grandness in it.
The church was built not long after the asylum was built in 1872 and known as the South Yorkshire asylum on opening. The hospital was built as an extension to overcrowding at West Riding County Asylum. It changed names over the years and finally known as Middlewood hospital when the national health service took over. It was used over both world wars as a military hospital. The hospital closed in 1996 with care in the community being quite prominent and ended the life of the county asylums.
The church could hold up to seven hundred people. It suffered a large fire in 1988 but was restored after a large fund raising campaign. It looks to have had several planning applications to convert it, but nothing happening yet. I still find it strange that sat in what is quite a nice area with the lovingly restored remaining asylum buildings. That an old church lays derelict in the trees still.
The church was built not long after the asylum was built in 1872 and known as the South Yorkshire asylum on opening. The hospital was built as an extension to overcrowding at West Riding County Asylum. It changed names over the years and finally known as Middlewood hospital when the national health service took over. It was used over both world wars as a military hospital. The hospital closed in 1996 with care in the community being quite prominent and ended the life of the county asylums.
The church could hold up to seven hundred people. It suffered a large fire in 1988 but was restored after a large fund raising campaign. It looks to have had several planning applications to convert it, but nothing happening yet. I still find it strange that sat in what is quite a nice area with the lovingly restored remaining asylum buildings. That an old church lays derelict in the trees still.
