My second time to West Park in as many weeks. Here's my pics from the first time; http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=35014
As I already gave the history I will say no more, except...
...some sad news about the padded cell. The internal door that had the viewing pane in it has been ripped from the doorway, and there is no sign of the door anywhere.
There are now even less intact padded cells in this country, and none as fine as West Parks was. But oh well, at least I got to see it, and it was still impressive!
Anyway, still a great day out with Concentration F, wifebeater, liamCH and randomnut.
The asylum was set in acres of beautiful parkland, and we saw several deer running through the trees.
We found the projector room, and the rumours were true; it had been stripped. As we had seen the main hall in the previous visit, we only stopped briefly.
The dentist...
Me as a lunatic... (Bed was suprisingly comfortable!)
In a small, ordinary looking cell there was an enormous map of the Surrey area. It had detailed outlines of all the great asylums and hospitals in the area, including all of the Epsom Cluster, Cane Hill and Netherne.
Bath time can't have been particuarly private, or clean for that matter...
Although the hospital has suffered minimal vandalism, water infiltration and time has not been kind to this place...
Scattered throughout the hospital were shops, boutiques and canteens for both patients and staff; it really was a small town in its own right. This till still had 1/2p and 6d buttons...
LiamCH discovered a ward with a treasure trove of junk in it. However, this was on the 1st floor of the ward, which meant it had a concrete floor. To get to it, you had to cross the ground floor, which was held up almost entirely by flimsy laminate; the wooden beams had turned to powder.
Liam CH discovered this the hard way; he stood on a piece of floor that looked just as sturdy (or dangerous) as the rest, and CRASH! He managed to end up flailing for a couple of seconds before completely disappearing, head first, into the enormous hole that had opened up from nowhere. His hair contained pieces of floor for the rest of the day.
We never made it to the upstairs, but the downstairs offered us some laughs, and it has to be said the sunlight streaming in was very soothing.
One of the wards had a very similar and equally terrifying downstairs, but when you managed to get upstairs it was entirely worth it.
For one, it contained the famous room stuffed full of patients clothes, diaries, games, books and a groovy little 1960's thermos flask.
The unfortunate patients had their diaries locked away...
Each ward had a pharamacy, and in each pharmacy was a disturbing feature. The drugs cabinets were alarmed, stopping any out-of-their-minds patients killing themselves by overdosing.
In this same corridor was the part of the hospital that makes the entire trip worth it; the padded cell. Even without the inner door it was still an impressive sight, but it was distinctly uncomfortable to imagine what must have gone in this room. Especially as we discovered a straitjacket nearby.
Me posing as one of the unfortunate individuals deemed fit to be incarcerated in the padded cell. In my opinion, no one should have been put in here; it can't have helped their mental state.
A typical patients view...
We made it up the water tower, but only because some guy in hi vis chased us to it. Irony is we had been looking for it for hours, and we were chased to it. We hid at the top for a while, and then left with no further problems; however, when we were near the entrance, two police cars shot out of the entrance road. A bit too close!
Thanks to everbody for a great day out, but as there is still more to see I shall have to make yet another visit.
As I already gave the history I will say no more, except...
...some sad news about the padded cell. The internal door that had the viewing pane in it has been ripped from the doorway, and there is no sign of the door anywhere.
There are now even less intact padded cells in this country, and none as fine as West Parks was. But oh well, at least I got to see it, and it was still impressive!Anyway, still a great day out with Concentration F, wifebeater, liamCH and randomnut.
The asylum was set in acres of beautiful parkland, and we saw several deer running through the trees.
We found the projector room, and the rumours were true; it had been stripped. As we had seen the main hall in the previous visit, we only stopped briefly.
The dentist...
Me as a lunatic... (Bed was suprisingly comfortable!)
In a small, ordinary looking cell there was an enormous map of the Surrey area. It had detailed outlines of all the great asylums and hospitals in the area, including all of the Epsom Cluster, Cane Hill and Netherne.
Bath time can't have been particuarly private, or clean for that matter...
Although the hospital has suffered minimal vandalism, water infiltration and time has not been kind to this place...
Scattered throughout the hospital were shops, boutiques and canteens for both patients and staff; it really was a small town in its own right. This till still had 1/2p and 6d buttons...
LiamCH discovered a ward with a treasure trove of junk in it. However, this was on the 1st floor of the ward, which meant it had a concrete floor. To get to it, you had to cross the ground floor, which was held up almost entirely by flimsy laminate; the wooden beams had turned to powder.
Liam CH discovered this the hard way; he stood on a piece of floor that looked just as sturdy (or dangerous) as the rest, and CRASH! He managed to end up flailing for a couple of seconds before completely disappearing, head first, into the enormous hole that had opened up from nowhere. His hair contained pieces of floor for the rest of the day.
We never made it to the upstairs, but the downstairs offered us some laughs, and it has to be said the sunlight streaming in was very soothing.
One of the wards had a very similar and equally terrifying downstairs, but when you managed to get upstairs it was entirely worth it.
For one, it contained the famous room stuffed full of patients clothes, diaries, games, books and a groovy little 1960's thermos flask.
The unfortunate patients had their diaries locked away...
Each ward had a pharamacy, and in each pharmacy was a disturbing feature. The drugs cabinets were alarmed, stopping any out-of-their-minds patients killing themselves by overdosing.
In this same corridor was the part of the hospital that makes the entire trip worth it; the padded cell. Even without the inner door it was still an impressive sight, but it was distinctly uncomfortable to imagine what must have gone in this room. Especially as we discovered a straitjacket nearby.
Me posing as one of the unfortunate individuals deemed fit to be incarcerated in the padded cell. In my opinion, no one should have been put in here; it can't have helped their mental state.
A typical patients view...
We made it up the water tower, but only because some guy in hi vis chased us to it. Irony is we had been looking for it for hours, and we were chased to it. We hid at the top for a while, and then left with no further problems; however, when we were near the entrance, two police cars shot out of the entrance road. A bit too close!
Thanks to everbody for a great day out, but as there is still more to see I shall have to make yet another visit.
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