History
St Joseph's Orphanage originally opened on September 19th, 1872. It was as an orphanage for Roman Catholic girls after an endowment from Mrs Maria Holland who later died in 1878. The building was designed by Mr R W Hughes. The nuns that ran the orphanage were originally Dutch and called the sisters of charity of our lady mother of mercy. Since the opening of the site, it was used for many things. In world war 1 it housed wounded British and Belgian soldiers. In world war 2 it was used to care for Dutch and Belgian sailors. The orphanage closed in 1954 and was taken over by a hospital. In the late 1980's the hospital was officially closed and was then used as a nursing home that operated for another 17 years before the closure around 2003.
Our Visit
We decided to take a visit to the orphanage as noticed as few reports about the site. The only issue about the explore was how we managed to gain access to the site, it took us around 40 minutes to find a entrance point. Inside of the building was sketchy as a lot of the hall ways where blocked off and some of the floors were caved in. Other than that, the explore was well worth it.
St Joseph's Orphanage originally opened on September 19th, 1872. It was as an orphanage for Roman Catholic girls after an endowment from Mrs Maria Holland who later died in 1878. The building was designed by Mr R W Hughes. The nuns that ran the orphanage were originally Dutch and called the sisters of charity of our lady mother of mercy. Since the opening of the site, it was used for many things. In world war 1 it housed wounded British and Belgian soldiers. In world war 2 it was used to care for Dutch and Belgian sailors. The orphanage closed in 1954 and was taken over by a hospital. In the late 1980's the hospital was officially closed and was then used as a nursing home that operated for another 17 years before the closure around 2003.
Our Visit
We decided to take a visit to the orphanage as noticed as few reports about the site. The only issue about the explore was how we managed to gain access to the site, it took us around 40 minutes to find a entrance point. Inside of the building was sketchy as a lot of the hall ways where blocked off and some of the floors were caved in. Other than that, the explore was well worth it.
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