Asylum D (UK)

This huge mental asylum was the first one built in Wales. Construction started in 1844 and four years later it opened. There were rumors about mistreated Welsh patients in English hospitals and asylums, and therefore this asylum was built to treat the Welsh people without language barriers etc. After several extensions from 1867 until 1956 the capacity was 1500 patients and 1000 staff members. Due to a new health reform the asylum closed in the late 1990s being 150 years old.

The place is listed and not possible to demolish. I read somewhere that plans for converting it into apartments are underway, but it is a serious and expensive job to fix this place. The inside is massively destroyed by vandals and water damage. The main hall was burned to the ground. The owners claim that kids did it, but others believe the owners set fire to it themselves to get rid of it. It must be difficult to own a place like this knowing that you have to preserve it.

On our way in we met a group of other explores just caught by the man guarding the place, driving around in a white van with his dogs. That didn’t stop us and we found our way in. We new we had to be quick and the main goal was the exterior shot of the administration building. The inside was really, really decayed and we were only able to walk around on the first floor. We saw a lot of corridors, and took some pictures and of an old wheelchair and ran outside the front to shoot the facade. When everybody was happy we left in a hurry hearing the dogs barking at us in the distance.

The fantastic exterior of the admin building with the tower.

Administration building facade.

Corridor.

Hospital doors in decay.

Long corridors in all directions.

The old wheelchair.

Wheelchair closeup.

What used to be a main hall before it was burned down.

Danger ahead, collapsed ceiling.

Wheelchair in the corridor. Like those circular lights.

Another corridor.

Room on the first floor.

Behind the main entrance.

The door behind the main entrance of the building.

Asylum W (UK)

This psychiatric hospital in UK was built in 1869 but officially opened on 1st April 1873 capable of housing over 2000 patients. The large site included an Anglican church, a Catholic chapel, a brewery, a recreation hall (also used as a ballroom) and several farms. At one point the hospital had its own railway which provided free transport for staff and passengers but it closed down in 1957. During the World War 1 parts of the hospital was used as a military hospital. After the war the hospital grew to be the largest mental hospital in the country 3533 patients and 548 staff members.

In the late 1960s this mental asylum was referred to as “Horror Hospital” in the papers due to mistreatment of patients. Allegations of cruelty to patients led to a public inquiry. It was revealed that patients were locked into small rooms and outside in airing courts in all weather. Nurses dragged patients by their hair, beat them and set fire to their clothes and slippers.

During the 1970s and 1980s, new drugs and therapies were introduced. Long-stay patients were returned to the community or dispersed to smaller hospitals.

This location is by far the most decayed place I have been too and I really felt unsafe at some points. When large sharp pieces of broken glass was dangling from the ceiling in thin metal strings I felt an urgent need for a hard hat. Maybe that’s why the had secured the place so good with lots of high fences and guards?

Even if I kind of reveal the name of the location with this link, there are lots of historic pictures here worth a look. The main hall and some corridor shots are from back in the days are quite interesting too see and compariosn with my decay shots from present time.

And another blog update… I have decided to turn on the comment option on posts again. But I might consider removing comments about names and locations of places.

The main hall, still with Christmas decorations. A large snowflake is hanging from the ceiling.

A very decayed corridor.

Lots of long corridors stretching in all directions.

We had to be really careful here. Never seen a place in such decay before.

I found an object that weren’t crushed.

Through all the decay and vegetation you can see an old hospital.

Vegetation coming through…

Nice door.

The blue doors.

Sign on a door.

The dangerous stairs to the second floor with library and lounge.

Different angle of the stairs toward the Lawn shop.

Chair standing in decay.

The pink corridor.

One of two exterior shots of one of the many buildings.

On our way out.

Cinema (DE)

One of many cool places I visited together with a bunch of awesome photographers from Flickr on a new great urbex tour i Germany. This is an abandoned cinema somewhere around Berlin. The rest of the building was quite empty and dark, but this room had a secret: A large movie projector along with lots of film on the floor. The last movie this machine ever projected was “Free Willy 2″.

By the way – I have removed the commenting option on the posts, but you will still be able to post comments in the Guestbook. All old comments, are still available for reading.

The projector room.

The projector.

“Free Willy 2″ film.

car cemetery (SE)

Deep in the forest of Sweden, close to the Norwegian border, is a place with hundreds of old, derelict, abandoned cars. It is quite an amazing place, frequently visited by photographers and car enthusiasts.

The place is called Båstnäs and/or Vestre Fågelvik Car Cemetery. In the 50thies this place was run by two brothers from Töcksfors.

It’s interesting to see trees grow inside, over, under and through cars and tires. And it is interesting to come over a large green rock-like object with moss, leaves, plants and other growing things that really is the body of a VW Beetle for instance. With imagination many of the cars have faces. The contrast between nature and decayed rusty cars are extraordinary here.

It was a little bit to much sun an good weather on my trip to the car cemetery. I would rather prefer clouds and overcast weather – natures own soft box. Hope you like the shots. Larger and some HDR edited pictures are here. Please do not use my pictures without my permission.

“The road ends here”

Back to nature

Rusty Volvo

Lots of vehicles hidden in the forest

Row of decayed VW Beetles

This car looks so dead, poor thing

Last stop for this bus

Car face

The elephant car

The three Volvos

‘Fillmore’ from Cars some years later

Inside a bus

A white Volkswagen Beetle. There were a lot of Beetles here and there.

Not a fantastic photo, but I like the tree that grows through this vehicle. Notice how the stem pass the door frame.

Another “Tree grown through something” picture. This time a tire.

Car very close to a tree. With a small tree under the hood.

Ghost cars. Type: Austin A35.

Office building (NO)

Pictures from a small abandoned office building in Oslo. The building is now demolished and no longer accessible.

Green room with sinks

Broken sink

Sink in green room

A piece of unknown thing

Detail shot of left-over object

A kitchen

Another kitchen

A phone from one of the offices

Destroyed office

Snow in the room

Changing room with shoes

A lamp on the floor

Sign on the door, “Keep the door closed”

A couple of reinforced cabinets and a safe

Broken glass

Leave nothing but footprints …

The exit

Bye, bye building

House in Skee (SE)

This small house was located along the railway line in Skee south of Strömstad in Sweden. 0,6 km south of here lies Skee station.  Right next to the house the traffic on E6 thunders. Beside the house there is a shed or garage. A small underground cellar with a door into a mound is also on site. The house is empty, all the windows broken and otherwise I do not know much about the place and why it was abandoned. Generally there are quite a lot of these houses along the roads of Sweden, many more than in Norway.

Nice looking garden

Railroad track and the E6 road is next to the house

The place is quite small with no windows left

The fireplace is gone and so are the furnitures

The kitchen

Front of the house with entrance

Toilet shot

Peeling paint on the disused flagpole

Cellar door