I've waited a long while to experience the thrill of wandering the vast decaying halls of an abandoned asylum in the UK again. The last time I explored a classic compact arrow/echelon plan asylum was a revisit to Hellingly Hospital all the way back at the tail end of 2009. Nearly nine long years without a major asylum here under my belt other than little bits of Aston Hall, Harperbury and a 2015 return to Hellingly, through a combination of bad luck on my part, laziness on my part - case in point Severalls, Whittingham, St. Mary's, etc etc all doable but for some reason I never made it to them before they were demolished - and bad timing with access/security stuff.
Construction of Whitchurch Hospital began in 1898 and it was officially opened in 1908. Like most Victorian asylums it was designed to be fully self-sufficient with it's own farm, water and power supplies. During the Second World War part of the hospital was put under control of the military and it became the largest emergency hospital in South Wales. In 1948 it was taken over by the Ministry of Health as the NHS came into being and was fully utilised until care in the community systems beginning in the 1980s saw patient numbers begin to decrease. Phasing down of the hospital began in the mid 2000s with services beginning to move to new buildings elsewhere, and the hospital officially closed in April 2016.
This is probably the best all-round derelict asylum the UK has produced since West Park. It's got a bit of everything from fresh as the day it was abandoned wards to extremely derpy bits, modernised and unmodernised areas, a dentist surgery, amazing hall and loads of stuff left to root through. Finding the old records room was an added bonus too.
It was absolutely pouring down with rain for the duration of the visit so I didn't get any proper external shots however I took a number through windows as I absolutely love the look of this place from the outside with it's unusual two tone brickwork.
I apologise in advance for the length of this thread, after spending eight hours inside naturally I came away with quite a number of shots and want to give it a thorough showing. Visited with @Grom @Brewtal @Zotez and two non members, it was a fantastic morning/afternoon full of laughs and great company. Myself, Zotez and one of the non members left before Grom and Brewtal, and on the way out Brewtal was collared by a police dog unit who were also on site yesterday so keep that in mind if you fancy a look.
The wards here didn't have names, they were simply numbered 1-5 on each side East and West. East & West 1 were closest to the centre of the hospital, with East & West 5 at the furthest points away along the giant U-shaped corridor that runs around the site.
Ward West 5 was an anomaly in that, for unclear reasons, it was shuttered way back in the 1980s. It may have had something to do with the rampant dry rot that has invaded the building, but who knows. It couldn't have been more of a contrast to it's sister ward on the other side, Ward East 5, which was the most intact out of all the wards.
The floors in West 5 were so badly rotted out that we were unable to venture far, but it provided a window into what the asylum would have looked like before modernisation happened in the 1990s.
After that we headed back into the main body of the asylum to the hall via the dentist surgery. At some point some mocked up modernised 'new' rooms were constructed in the middle of the hall which is both intriguing but also annoying as it ruins it somewhat.
We then decided to make the climb up the water tower that dominates the middle of the site. Sadly by this time the rain had started coming down even harder so opportunities for photos were limited in the exposed top portion.
As I mentioned before, Ward East 5 is the exact opposite to the long-closed West 5. East 5 was the Crisis Assessment Ward and thanks to it's out of the way location it looks as if everyone has just stepped out for a minute and will return any second.
Continued....
Construction of Whitchurch Hospital began in 1898 and it was officially opened in 1908. Like most Victorian asylums it was designed to be fully self-sufficient with it's own farm, water and power supplies. During the Second World War part of the hospital was put under control of the military and it became the largest emergency hospital in South Wales. In 1948 it was taken over by the Ministry of Health as the NHS came into being and was fully utilised until care in the community systems beginning in the 1980s saw patient numbers begin to decrease. Phasing down of the hospital began in the mid 2000s with services beginning to move to new buildings elsewhere, and the hospital officially closed in April 2016.
This is probably the best all-round derelict asylum the UK has produced since West Park. It's got a bit of everything from fresh as the day it was abandoned wards to extremely derpy bits, modernised and unmodernised areas, a dentist surgery, amazing hall and loads of stuff left to root through. Finding the old records room was an added bonus too.
It was absolutely pouring down with rain for the duration of the visit so I didn't get any proper external shots however I took a number through windows as I absolutely love the look of this place from the outside with it's unusual two tone brickwork.
I apologise in advance for the length of this thread, after spending eight hours inside naturally I came away with quite a number of shots and want to give it a thorough showing. Visited with @Grom @Brewtal @Zotez and two non members, it was a fantastic morning/afternoon full of laughs and great company. Myself, Zotez and one of the non members left before Grom and Brewtal, and on the way out Brewtal was collared by a police dog unit who were also on site yesterday so keep that in mind if you fancy a look.
The wards here didn't have names, they were simply numbered 1-5 on each side East and West. East & West 1 were closest to the centre of the hospital, with East & West 5 at the furthest points away along the giant U-shaped corridor that runs around the site.
Ward West 5 was an anomaly in that, for unclear reasons, it was shuttered way back in the 1980s. It may have had something to do with the rampant dry rot that has invaded the building, but who knows. It couldn't have been more of a contrast to it's sister ward on the other side, Ward East 5, which was the most intact out of all the wards.
The floors in West 5 were so badly rotted out that we were unable to venture far, but it provided a window into what the asylum would have looked like before modernisation happened in the 1990s.
After that we headed back into the main body of the asylum to the hall via the dentist surgery. At some point some mocked up modernised 'new' rooms were constructed in the middle of the hall which is both intriguing but also annoying as it ruins it somewhat.
We then decided to make the climb up the water tower that dominates the middle of the site. Sadly by this time the rain had started coming down even harder so opportunities for photos were limited in the exposed top portion.
As I mentioned before, Ward East 5 is the exact opposite to the long-closed West 5. East 5 was the Crisis Assessment Ward and thanks to it's out of the way location it looks as if everyone has just stepped out for a minute and will return any second.
Continued....
