The History
Blatantly stolen from various experts websites….
Located in Swansea, Wales, the hospital is run by Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board. As well as general adult and old age psychiatric care, it also supports substance abusers. The hospital library is open to students of nursing and medicine at Swansea University.
It was also the Central & West Regional Headquarters of the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust. The trust has a regional headquarters in the south-east at Vantage Point House Clinical Contact Centre and the trust headquarters is at HM Stanley Hospital in St Asaph, which is also the regional headquarters for the north.
The original building was completed in 1929 and is now under decommission. Changes to mental health services with more care being provided in the community have made the 1929 building unsuitable for modern day health care. On site care has been transferred to newer premises built nearby. However two wards on the end of the building are still currently in use
The first Welsh asylum for the mentally ill was opened in Swansea at May Hill in 1815, followed in 1844 by Vernon House in Briton Ferry. The Glamorgan County Asylum in Bridgend opened twenty years later to serve the whole of the county of Glamorgan. But with the 1891 Public Health Act required each County Borough to build its own asylum. This took a long time to implement, for initially Townhill was thought to be the place to build an asylum, until in 1908 the Céfn Coed site was considered. Nearly 250 mentally ill persons from the Swansea area were being treated elsewhere. Eventually land was purchased, and the foundations were nearly complete when during the First World War shortage of labour and materials caused a halt. Building work began in 1928, utilising Unemployment Relief schemes, as with the erection of the Guildhall and Tir John Power Station. The Swansea Mental Hospital was opened in December 1932 by the Princess Royal (the daughter of King George V).
The first patients were transferred from Talgarth Hospital, where mentally ill persons from the Swansea area had previously been treated. Besides the mentally ill, at first Céfn Coed also accommodated mentally handicapped persons who required permanent care. Some in the local community thought that whenever the hospital’s chapel bell was rung that it signified that ‘someone had escaped’
During the Second World War, Céfn Coed was used as a casualty Hospital, and at that time the first ECT machine was installed.
The Explore
Having had this one under my watchful eye for a while and discussed it with @clebby a few times I decided to finally see what was what.
A couple of experts who had done permission visits assured me it was closed, locked up, impenetrable was one word used. You will never get in…..
So I find myself in Wales with a few mates and decide to complete my Hat trick of Welsh hospitals
Cadoc’s was easy, Whitchurch a little more difficult so I prepared myself for an epic fail at Céfn.
I did this on my own as my mates decided they wanted to go and see Talgarth (yawn) and that whatever it was I was going to do wouldn’t be as good lol
So at 1 am on the Saturday morning I find myself bored with listening to stories of ghost, orbz and spooky things and end up wandering around the grounds of Céfn in the dark doing a reccy.
Hmmmm all lower windows are boarded from the inside and the far right hand side of the hospital, the heddfan is still very active. Oh dear!
So I head off to bed a little disheartened but adamant I would be going back in the morning and she would be mine.
Up bright and early the next day and I’m heading towards Swansea.
So parking up I spy a few nurses wandering around with a group of patients, so I bide my time and wait. Eventually they disappear and off I go. I find myself walking around the ground with various dog walkers and pushbike riders, chatting with a few of them about the weather, blah blah blah. After a full lap and a quick piss I spot a potential way in and off I go.
Well I find myself inside the “impenetrable fortress “and with no forced entry (shocker) and no Trojan horse…..
So let’s just go through a few things I had been told by my so called “experts” / “friends”
“You can’t get inside” <<<<< Erm yeah you can
“Once you get inside every single door is locked” <<<<< Erm no they aren’t
“It is shit!” <<<<< I’ll let you decide
“It’s patrolled” <<<<<< Only by me it seems lol
“Not really worth bothering with” <<<<< Again I’ll let you decide
So once inside I ventured straight upstairs and worked my way methodically around the place. Luckily going in the correct orientation that any locked doors had the key pad on the opposite side to me. Yes and for you lucky people who may want to visit, I locked them all in the open position, or placed something in the door. See I’m good like that ……
The main wards are a little too modern really and have mostly been emptied, however every now and then you come across something decent
Well worth the trip
Now onto the pictures
Externals.
It’s a typical asylum looking building and still in lovely condition, the lower windows have all been boarded from the inside and oddly some upper windows have been removed and boarded again from the inside
Blatantly stolen from various experts websites….
Located in Swansea, Wales, the hospital is run by Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board. As well as general adult and old age psychiatric care, it also supports substance abusers. The hospital library is open to students of nursing and medicine at Swansea University.
It was also the Central & West Regional Headquarters of the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust. The trust has a regional headquarters in the south-east at Vantage Point House Clinical Contact Centre and the trust headquarters is at HM Stanley Hospital in St Asaph, which is also the regional headquarters for the north.
The original building was completed in 1929 and is now under decommission. Changes to mental health services with more care being provided in the community have made the 1929 building unsuitable for modern day health care. On site care has been transferred to newer premises built nearby. However two wards on the end of the building are still currently in use
The first Welsh asylum for the mentally ill was opened in Swansea at May Hill in 1815, followed in 1844 by Vernon House in Briton Ferry. The Glamorgan County Asylum in Bridgend opened twenty years later to serve the whole of the county of Glamorgan. But with the 1891 Public Health Act required each County Borough to build its own asylum. This took a long time to implement, for initially Townhill was thought to be the place to build an asylum, until in 1908 the Céfn Coed site was considered. Nearly 250 mentally ill persons from the Swansea area were being treated elsewhere. Eventually land was purchased, and the foundations were nearly complete when during the First World War shortage of labour and materials caused a halt. Building work began in 1928, utilising Unemployment Relief schemes, as with the erection of the Guildhall and Tir John Power Station. The Swansea Mental Hospital was opened in December 1932 by the Princess Royal (the daughter of King George V).
The first patients were transferred from Talgarth Hospital, where mentally ill persons from the Swansea area had previously been treated. Besides the mentally ill, at first Céfn Coed also accommodated mentally handicapped persons who required permanent care. Some in the local community thought that whenever the hospital’s chapel bell was rung that it signified that ‘someone had escaped’
During the Second World War, Céfn Coed was used as a casualty Hospital, and at that time the first ECT machine was installed.
The Explore
Having had this one under my watchful eye for a while and discussed it with @clebby a few times I decided to finally see what was what.
A couple of experts who had done permission visits assured me it was closed, locked up, impenetrable was one word used. You will never get in…..
So I find myself in Wales with a few mates and decide to complete my Hat trick of Welsh hospitals
Cadoc’s was easy, Whitchurch a little more difficult so I prepared myself for an epic fail at Céfn.
I did this on my own as my mates decided they wanted to go and see Talgarth (yawn) and that whatever it was I was going to do wouldn’t be as good lol
So at 1 am on the Saturday morning I find myself bored with listening to stories of ghost, orbz and spooky things and end up wandering around the grounds of Céfn in the dark doing a reccy.
Hmmmm all lower windows are boarded from the inside and the far right hand side of the hospital, the heddfan is still very active. Oh dear!
So I head off to bed a little disheartened but adamant I would be going back in the morning and she would be mine.
Up bright and early the next day and I’m heading towards Swansea.
So parking up I spy a few nurses wandering around with a group of patients, so I bide my time and wait. Eventually they disappear and off I go. I find myself walking around the ground with various dog walkers and pushbike riders, chatting with a few of them about the weather, blah blah blah. After a full lap and a quick piss I spot a potential way in and off I go.
Well I find myself inside the “impenetrable fortress “and with no forced entry (shocker) and no Trojan horse…..
So let’s just go through a few things I had been told by my so called “experts” / “friends”
“You can’t get inside” <<<<< Erm yeah you can
“Once you get inside every single door is locked” <<<<< Erm no they aren’t
“It is shit!” <<<<< I’ll let you decide
“It’s patrolled” <<<<<< Only by me it seems lol
“Not really worth bothering with” <<<<< Again I’ll let you decide
So once inside I ventured straight upstairs and worked my way methodically around the place. Luckily going in the correct orientation that any locked doors had the key pad on the opposite side to me. Yes and for you lucky people who may want to visit, I locked them all in the open position, or placed something in the door. See I’m good like that ……
The main wards are a little too modern really and have mostly been emptied, however every now and then you come across something decent
Well worth the trip
Now onto the pictures
Externals.
It’s a typical asylum looking building and still in lovely condition, the lower windows have all been boarded from the inside and oddly some upper windows have been removed and boarded again from the inside
