St Cadoc's Hospital, née Newport Borough Asylum - South Wales.
Visited with @Salmon.
Not much to say here really. After all the initial hype that surrounded Whitchurch, I've been a tad disappointed with what's come out of the place so far. No doubt there's epic waiting to be unearthed, but even the more dated wards that got dicked all over the Maily Dail look fairly bland and uninspiring. Secretly, I've been more interested in St Cadoc's, as I remembered a report from 2009 by the perpetually ill-informed @tumbles, and the dated lino and turd-brown NHS signs were much more to my taste.
A brief history:
St Cadoc’s was built in 1906, and was architect Alfred J. Wood’s second asylum project, following St Luke’s in Middlesbrough. Wood had worked with CH Howell on St Lukes, and St Cadoc’s was therefore his first complete asylum project. Opened as the Newport Borough Asylum, the hospital was later named after Saint Cadoc, with Saint Cadoc's church located in nearby Caerleon. The hospital was built to accommodate up to 350 patients, and extensive outbuildings were later added on the site. Since 2005, the number of residents has been very small with the growing emphasis on care in the community.
~
Today, the original compact-arrow building is occupied by 2 inpatient wards, a couple of clinics and the offices of the local health board. Fortunately for us, pretty much the entire upper floor is derelict, as well as a couple of the lower wards and, to all intents and purposes, the main hall. This report focuses on these upper wards, but a couple of years ago @huey and I had some luck with a ground floor ward which also showed a lot of promise. More to come from here no doubt..
This ward was a real blast from the past. I'd even go as far to say it's one of the most dated asylum wards I've ever seen, on par with Cane Hill and certainly more oldschool than the likes of Hellingly.
Loving the 30s fireplace and the heated window seat. Not a hint of modern!
Epic lurking beneath epic:
This bathroom looked like it had been lifted straight out of Cane Hill, right down to the curtains and coat hooks:
Groovy 50s lighting:
Wardage:
As seems to be a common feature of asylums these days, there was plenty of evidence of filming going on:
I think this was supposed to represent a bombed Syrian hospital. Not as convincing as the pathology lab at Goodmayes it has to be said.
More bathrooms:
Paperwork:
At first I thought this was a filming prop but an 'SCH' stamp confirms this is original.
The corridor below would have originally contained the padded cell, judging by the shrunken window in the furthest room. Alas, it is no more, however the downstairs ward (which we didn't explore) is also derelict and also has a small window in the exact same location. Wishful thinking certainly, but one can dream..
Cont.
Visited with @Salmon.
Not much to say here really. After all the initial hype that surrounded Whitchurch, I've been a tad disappointed with what's come out of the place so far. No doubt there's epic waiting to be unearthed, but even the more dated wards that got dicked all over the Maily Dail look fairly bland and uninspiring. Secretly, I've been more interested in St Cadoc's, as I remembered a report from 2009 by the perpetually ill-informed @tumbles, and the dated lino and turd-brown NHS signs were much more to my taste.
A brief history:
St Cadoc’s was built in 1906, and was architect Alfred J. Wood’s second asylum project, following St Luke’s in Middlesbrough. Wood had worked with CH Howell on St Lukes, and St Cadoc’s was therefore his first complete asylum project. Opened as the Newport Borough Asylum, the hospital was later named after Saint Cadoc, with Saint Cadoc's church located in nearby Caerleon. The hospital was built to accommodate up to 350 patients, and extensive outbuildings were later added on the site. Since 2005, the number of residents has been very small with the growing emphasis on care in the community.
~
Today, the original compact-arrow building is occupied by 2 inpatient wards, a couple of clinics and the offices of the local health board. Fortunately for us, pretty much the entire upper floor is derelict, as well as a couple of the lower wards and, to all intents and purposes, the main hall. This report focuses on these upper wards, but a couple of years ago @huey and I had some luck with a ground floor ward which also showed a lot of promise. More to come from here no doubt..
This ward was a real blast from the past. I'd even go as far to say it's one of the most dated asylum wards I've ever seen, on par with Cane Hill and certainly more oldschool than the likes of Hellingly.
Loving the 30s fireplace and the heated window seat. Not a hint of modern!
Epic lurking beneath epic:
This bathroom looked like it had been lifted straight out of Cane Hill, right down to the curtains and coat hooks:
Groovy 50s lighting:
Wardage:
As seems to be a common feature of asylums these days, there was plenty of evidence of filming going on:
I think this was supposed to represent a bombed Syrian hospital. Not as convincing as the pathology lab at Goodmayes it has to be said.
More bathrooms:
Paperwork:
At first I thought this was a filming prop but an 'SCH' stamp confirms this is original.
The corridor below would have originally contained the padded cell, judging by the shrunken window in the furthest room. Alas, it is no more, however the downstairs ward (which we didn't explore) is also derelict and also has a small window in the exact same location. Wishful thinking certainly, but one can dream..
Cont.
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