Hi Guys,
First post here as a relatively new member!
First the History copied shamelessly from another site....
In a report to the government in 1844 by the Metropolitan Commissioners in Lunacy the appalling conditions that Welsh inmates were being subjected to in the English asylums was brought to light. Following an earlier meeting in 1842 the need for an asylum in North Wales had already been recognised and soon after Joseph Ablett, of Llanber Hall, donated some 20 acres of land. But even with the land sorted out there were still further problems - the law as laid down in the Lunatic Act would not permit adjacent counties to cooperate in the building of an asylum, rather it insisted that each county should still have it's own irrespective of such logical considerations as cost, convenience and practicality. Furthermore the other counties in North Wales did not wish to contribute to the cost of building the new asylum. In the end however the money was raised, some £4,600, which included a hefty donation from none other than Queen Victoria herself.
Building work commenced and was completed some four years later with the formal opening ceremony on the 14th of November, 1848. Constructed from locally made limestone bricks the building was praised for the grace and beauty of it's architecture. The magnificent clock tower was later built with money donated by the wife of the late Mr. Ablett, in memory of her husband who had donated the land upon which the asylum was built.
Originally constructed to house and treat 200 patients there were soon problems with over-crowding and the asylum came under increasing pressure to expand. As a result several extensions were built over the years, the most extensive of which was in 1899. At it's peak the hospital could treat 1500 patients. following Enoch Powell's radical ideas and the beginnings of "Care In The Community" the hospital slowly wound down and it finally closed it's doors in 1995.
Anyway... the pictures
After a good hour or two exploring, we decided to sit in the middle and get my toy out - You lose the scale of this place until you see it from above
on route back to the car we searched around this place - anyone have a clue what it was? we guessed some form of children wing due to the cartoon-like pictures on the wall.
Do have to say this is an amazing place to explore - I couldn't stop repeating "you can imagine what this was like back in the day".
Thanks for looking xoxo
First post here as a relatively new member!
First the History copied shamelessly from another site....
In a report to the government in 1844 by the Metropolitan Commissioners in Lunacy the appalling conditions that Welsh inmates were being subjected to in the English asylums was brought to light. Following an earlier meeting in 1842 the need for an asylum in North Wales had already been recognised and soon after Joseph Ablett, of Llanber Hall, donated some 20 acres of land. But even with the land sorted out there were still further problems - the law as laid down in the Lunatic Act would not permit adjacent counties to cooperate in the building of an asylum, rather it insisted that each county should still have it's own irrespective of such logical considerations as cost, convenience and practicality. Furthermore the other counties in North Wales did not wish to contribute to the cost of building the new asylum. In the end however the money was raised, some £4,600, which included a hefty donation from none other than Queen Victoria herself.
Building work commenced and was completed some four years later with the formal opening ceremony on the 14th of November, 1848. Constructed from locally made limestone bricks the building was praised for the grace and beauty of it's architecture. The magnificent clock tower was later built with money donated by the wife of the late Mr. Ablett, in memory of her husband who had donated the land upon which the asylum was built.
Originally constructed to house and treat 200 patients there were soon problems with over-crowding and the asylum came under increasing pressure to expand. As a result several extensions were built over the years, the most extensive of which was in 1899. At it's peak the hospital could treat 1500 patients. following Enoch Powell's radical ideas and the beginnings of "Care In The Community" the hospital slowly wound down and it finally closed it's doors in 1995.
Anyway... the pictures
After a good hour or two exploring, we decided to sit in the middle and get my toy out - You lose the scale of this place until you see it from above
on route back to the car we searched around this place - anyone have a clue what it was? we guessed some form of children wing due to the cartoon-like pictures on the wall.
Do have to say this is an amazing place to explore - I couldn't stop repeating "you can imagine what this was like back in the day".
Thanks for looking xoxo