Walnut tree
About time I wrote something up. About time this was done as well. Was to be honest a bit of a disappointment but sorting access was a hell of a lot of fun so it was worth it for that. Won't go into details for obvious reasons but because of the alarms it took a few goes to get enough seen to make it report worthy. Obviously there's more to see and hopefully when it opens up, if it does, it'll be a cool little thing to wander around. St Leonards was cool but the pics on @Mps6's report covers that a lot better than mine would. Plus he was first in.
Enjoy!
History
Cool little story about an ex-nurse and her story collecting the history of this building into a book:
http://www.suffolkfreepress.co.uk/n...-the-story-of-walnuttree-by-ex-nurse-1-553362
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AGEJFLA/?tag=networkmechan-21
The land on which Walnut tree stands on has a lot of history, but for the sake of saving me type the whole thing up because for some reason my computer won't let me cheat and copy and paste I'll just be focusing on the buildings I have explored. Do, however, have a read here and learn about the history of the workhouse! http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Sudbury/
Walnut tree begin life as an idea in he 1830's £500 got them the land that the hospital stands on and for around £7,000 the contract was given to architect John Brown of Norwich, and contractors, Messers Warner Lidiard and Robert Kitton Of Cornhill London to build. Eventually after delays due to structural instability and the Clerk being fired, 1836 saw the first construction of the hospital. Also a fire damaged tools and materials which also delayed the construction.
June the next year (1837) saw the first Master, Matron, Schoolmaster and Schoolmistress and inmates begin life in the building. Eventually the buildings and grounds were converted into a hospital which also saw a new receiving block be constructed. It was first named Walnut Tree House and then Walnut Tree Hospital in the 1930s.
2014 saw the closure of the hospital after 90 years of hospitality. The passed 2 years have seen an interest in buyrs and contractors to convert the buildings into flats.
Pictures
Boiler room! I took these pics ages ago back when I first got in.
Then I first got in the main building
2 pics and then an alarm rang and like the noob I was I ran away. Eventually I would return to find my original entrance blocked and it would be over a year and about 3 different visits until I got back in. A few months ago we hit it hard and with a lot of effort and taking advantage of a rooky mistake on the security's half I managed to get in the place. Then the alarms went off and we played it safe, back again a few months later with different people, same way in and we got to see a little more whilst this one was relaxed, we could see the place wasn't as good as we originally expected. Enjoy!
Proper work house style upstairs, obvious was just storage and wasn't changed at all from it's original days as a workhouse. If I had the time I'd hunt around for details and would have tried to get under the floors boards. Who knows what's under there. Maybe soon!
The final visit
Alright cheers,
About time I wrote something up. About time this was done as well. Was to be honest a bit of a disappointment but sorting access was a hell of a lot of fun so it was worth it for that. Won't go into details for obvious reasons but because of the alarms it took a few goes to get enough seen to make it report worthy. Obviously there's more to see and hopefully when it opens up, if it does, it'll be a cool little thing to wander around. St Leonards was cool but the pics on @Mps6's report covers that a lot better than mine would. Plus he was first in.
Enjoy!
History
Cool little story about an ex-nurse and her story collecting the history of this building into a book:
http://www.suffolkfreepress.co.uk/n...-the-story-of-walnuttree-by-ex-nurse-1-553362
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AGEJFLA/?tag=networkmechan-21
The land on which Walnut tree stands on has a lot of history, but for the sake of saving me type the whole thing up because for some reason my computer won't let me cheat and copy and paste I'll just be focusing on the buildings I have explored. Do, however, have a read here and learn about the history of the workhouse! http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Sudbury/
Walnut tree begin life as an idea in he 1830's £500 got them the land that the hospital stands on and for around £7,000 the contract was given to architect John Brown of Norwich, and contractors, Messers Warner Lidiard and Robert Kitton Of Cornhill London to build. Eventually after delays due to structural instability and the Clerk being fired, 1836 saw the first construction of the hospital. Also a fire damaged tools and materials which also delayed the construction.
June the next year (1837) saw the first Master, Matron, Schoolmaster and Schoolmistress and inmates begin life in the building. Eventually the buildings and grounds were converted into a hospital which also saw a new receiving block be constructed. It was first named Walnut Tree House and then Walnut Tree Hospital in the 1930s.
2014 saw the closure of the hospital after 90 years of hospitality. The passed 2 years have seen an interest in buyrs and contractors to convert the buildings into flats.
Pictures
Boiler room! I took these pics ages ago back when I first got in.
Then I first got in the main building
2 pics and then an alarm rang and like the noob I was I ran away. Eventually I would return to find my original entrance blocked and it would be over a year and about 3 different visits until I got back in. A few months ago we hit it hard and with a lot of effort and taking advantage of a rooky mistake on the security's half I managed to get in the place. Then the alarms went off and we played it safe, back again a few months later with different people, same way in and we got to see a little more whilst this one was relaxed, we could see the place wasn't as good as we originally expected. Enjoy!
Proper work house style upstairs, obvious was just storage and wasn't changed at all from it's original days as a workhouse. If I had the time I'd hunt around for details and would have tried to get under the floors boards. Who knows what's under there. Maybe soon!
The final visit
Alright cheers,
we missed loads.
