Muckamore Abbey is a mental institution in Antrim, Northern Ireland. This wasn’t an asylum but a ‘mental deficiency’ institution of the sort built in England from the early 20th century. In summary, these were an early 20th-century idea to create new institutions, similar to asylums but often in a colony plan and for people with mental disabilities, separating them out from the mentally ill in the asylums. Muckamore Abbey has been under heavy scrutiny in recent years for cases of neglect and abuse. Like the asylums, the ‘deficiency colonies’ have often declined in their later years, with stories of mistreatment being comparable if not generally worse. The hospital consists of several different sites built in different stages.
A 1960s map of the site, showing the main 1949 colony (centre), with the later addition in the north-east that we explored. Opposite this, in the east of the site, is one long building resembling a TB ward, with others behind it. These looked to be disused but we didn't check those.
The main site contains conventional admin and ward block buildings. This was the main hospital opened in 1949. Some of the ward blocks appeared somewhat disused, but the site was active with a mixture of original and modern buildings. The hospital was said to be set to shut in June 2024, but it didn’t seem like there was much sign of this on our visit.
The original admin building
One of the original villas
Another section of the site on the periphery; the focus of this report, has been abandoned for some time and comprises a separate annexe of several blocks connected with outdoor walkways. These buildings may have been slightly later in construction and were very plain. I believe this may have been what was the 1958 ‘special care colony’, with capacity for up to 1,000 patients, although I’m not sure because that seems like an awful lot of people for the size of it, although the date seems about right going by the look of the buildings.
This site's villas were connected by a covered walkway.
Bike racks along the covered walkway
@KismetJ and I explored the abandoned site with ease and got into what I thought was a nurses block judging by its repetitive layout. However, it may have been extended patient accomodation, as it was one of four accomodation blocks connected to a central block by the covered walkways. This would match up with the 1958 'special care colony' date but I could be wrong. Largely uninteresting inside architecturally but made for a few nice shots.
Whilst mostly bare, some rooms still contained some furniture.
The downstairs was largely boarded and unlit.
Much of the building was small single rooms, except for these slightly larger ones at the ends I assume were living rooms if it was a nurses' block.
We also explored a mortuary with an attached chapel, to find the porcelain slab sadly smashed. Overall, nothing too exciting but got us nicely warmed up as this was our first explore of my Ireland roadtrip.
Small chapel in the mortuary
The bastard slab-smasher strikes again!
That's all folks
A 1960s map of the site, showing the main 1949 colony (centre), with the later addition in the north-east that we explored. Opposite this, in the east of the site, is one long building resembling a TB ward, with others behind it. These looked to be disused but we didn't check those.
The main site contains conventional admin and ward block buildings. This was the main hospital opened in 1949. Some of the ward blocks appeared somewhat disused, but the site was active with a mixture of original and modern buildings. The hospital was said to be set to shut in June 2024, but it didn’t seem like there was much sign of this on our visit.
The original admin building
One of the original villas
Another section of the site on the periphery; the focus of this report, has been abandoned for some time and comprises a separate annexe of several blocks connected with outdoor walkways. These buildings may have been slightly later in construction and were very plain. I believe this may have been what was the 1958 ‘special care colony’, with capacity for up to 1,000 patients, although I’m not sure because that seems like an awful lot of people for the size of it, although the date seems about right going by the look of the buildings.
This site's villas were connected by a covered walkway.
Bike racks along the covered walkway
@KismetJ and I explored the abandoned site with ease and got into what I thought was a nurses block judging by its repetitive layout. However, it may have been extended patient accomodation, as it was one of four accomodation blocks connected to a central block by the covered walkways. This would match up with the 1958 'special care colony' date but I could be wrong. Largely uninteresting inside architecturally but made for a few nice shots.
Whilst mostly bare, some rooms still contained some furniture.
The downstairs was largely boarded and unlit.
Much of the building was small single rooms, except for these slightly larger ones at the ends I assume were living rooms if it was a nurses' block.
We also explored a mortuary with an attached chapel, to find the porcelain slab sadly smashed. Overall, nothing too exciting but got us nicely warmed up as this was our first explore of my Ireland roadtrip.
Small chapel in the mortuary
The bastard slab-smasher strikes again!
That's all folks
