2015, work sends me on a two day course to Bristol. I booked a later flight home so I has a weekend of free exploring in the area.
Day 3 of my trip, I visited Whitchurch Asylum. At the time, it was still 'active'. Well one and a bit wards were, along with a few parts of the facilities. So, I walk around the grounds being very obvious and not attracting any unwarranted attention. Seeing no obvious ways in, I walked up to the entrance and asked security if I may walk around the corridors and wards that were empty 'for a few photos before it shut'. I was welcomed with a pleasant 'no problem, as long as you leave if a doc/nurse asks you to'. The guy was superb, chatting away about the place and what was happening with it when it closed. Showed me tonnes of old maps, and a few rooms that he didn't want me to take pics of as they were still in use at the time. A great time chatting away then he left me to myself to go for a walk.
Anyway, wandering off down the connecting spine into the heart of the asylum, I got my first taste of what Whitchurch was like. A proper grand Victorian Asylum with corridor porn aplenty. Admin was beautiful, the corridors were a sight to behold and everything else you could hope for in what (at the time) was a very well preserved Asylum. Granted a lot of the wards and rooms were modernised, but the layout and corridor network still felt very original. Admin still full of wood panelling and a hall that despite the mockups of hospital rooms lying around, was still a grand old Asylum hall. A few of my pics below are from this trip.
Later that year, Whitchurch closed. It slowly became a new haunt for the hordes of Facebook UK explorers. I remember hearing stories about hordes of youths being escorted out daily by the local constabulary.
Moving on to late 2018, I got the chance to visit it again, this time with full exploring mode enabled. Oh boy, what a trip. Still beautiful, but decaying rapidly. The rest of my pics are from this time. Enjoy.
Admin back in 2015
More wood panelled lovliness
Looking down the connecting Spine Corridor
The Boardroom
The Grand Staircase
Into the labyrinth
Corridor Porn EVERYWHERE
Central Stores
Kitchens
Main Hall
Pharmacy
Pathology Labs
Dentist
Beds & Baths
Bathhouse
Top of the Tower
The View
Very old derelict ward
Welllllll, I have a tonne more on my flickr, have a look if you like. However I will leave it with this one. One of my fav pics from my time here. Whitchurch, without the Fence.
