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.

Asylum HR (UK)

This is the famous former psychiatric hospital HR in England. A very large complex of buildings on a 1,2 km2 site which opened in 1888 and closed 2003 as one of the last hospitals of this kind. The administration building, showed in the first picture, is Grade II listed which means it is of “nationally importance and of special interest” and can not be demolished. The place is now slowly converted into a village for housing. This is my first visit to abandoned buildings which are converted into something useful and the place is a mix of old buildings, new buildings and construction site.

The evening was coming pretty fast when we entered the place and we had to move quick to get at least some shots before dark. Getting into the buildings was difficult with an entry point from hell. We managed to set of a PIR sensor (on purpose so we could be escorted out the easy way), but miraculously we found another exit point while security was running to get us. So we managed to get out of there, shooting the exterior of the admin building, while watching the guards running about inside with flashlights looking for us.

Definitely my toughest mission so far but an incredible experience. Again thanks to our local UK hosts.

Welcome to the fantastic asylum H.R.

The main hall in almost complete darkness. (Long exposure shot)

There were lots of dark corridors. The Italian mosaic on the floor must have been quite amazing back in the days.

Where three corridors meet.

The glass window and details are fantastic. Hope they preserve it.

Corridor with a dead end.

No passing through here. (Except climbing, but we didn’t. )

In the huge clocktower.

Exterior shot from another angle. Do you see the ghost rabbits?

Morgue SP (UK)

I recently came back from an incredible urbex trip around United Kingdom. Four days and five people, two from Norway and the rest from England. We drove over 1000 miles (175 mil) and visited 10 fantastic locations. Great many thanks to our hosts who showed us the spots and were able to get us in when it looked impossible.

This is the first location, a quick stop at an abandoned morgue next to a large hospital. The morgue was closed in 2009 and the services moved to a larger, newer facility. There was a large CCTV camera pointing straight at the entry point so we had to be quick.

It was a strange place to be. My first real abandoned morgue. In the autopsy room there were room for three slabs, but one of them is gone now. The tools were still working, there where water in the cranes. In the other end there was a small empty chapel, and in the middle the body fridges in a row. I got an eerie feeling just by being here.

A fly killing apparatus with blue light was still turned on. Why were the power still on I wondered. Okey, time to leave. My first morgue, swift and easy.

The autopsy room with two of three slabs intact .

The whole room.

Tools where still working. Notice the rusty cutting blade on the corner…

The row of open body fridges.

Kind of creepy message on the door… No wonder they moved to a bigger location.

Another angle of the fridges.

The nice window in the small silent chapel.

Yet another shot of the corridor. Notice the fly killing thing on the wall.

Beelitz-Heilstätten sanatorium (DE)

This amazing hospital complex just outside Berlin is considered to be one of the absolute top locations by many European photographers and urban explorers. The huge buildings and the size of the area is quite overwhelming. This was my first trip outside Norway with sheer urbex photography in mind. I traveled with two other great guys and we did saw some cool places around Berlin.

Now back to the location. Beelitz-Heilstätten was built in 1898 as a tuberculosis sanatorium but turned into a military hospital in the beginning of World War 1 by the Imperial German Army. In October 1916 a young corporal called Adolph Hitler was sent here to be treated for an injury he got in the Battle of Somme. He even wrote about this stay in Mein Kampf.

After the end of World War 2, Beelitz-Heilstätten was occupied by Soviet forces. They left in 1995. There have been several attempts so continue the activity here, but in 2000 most of the buildings was abandoned.

The area looks quite like a ghost town with its 60 buildings. The area is huge, and we spent a whole day there photographing, but didn’t cover all the buildings. Some of the buildings are open to public and it’s quite vandalized. Other buildings are closed for public, but they were easy to enter as well. They were in a somewhat better shape.

I’m glad I have seen this place before it’s completely destroyed by all the people who want to see this fantastic place. I have uploaded some more artistic pictures from this trip on my flickr account.

The Mens Sanatorium

Terrace at the Mens Sanatorium

The famous stairs, angle 1

The famous stairs, angle 2

Wide angle corridor

There were a lot of corridors

Mens Gymnasium

Entrance to the Mens Sanatorium

A Beelitz-Heilstätten building

The morgue

The vandalized auditorium

The Bath building – main room with bath in the middle

The enatrance are to the bath with columns

Sideroom with bath tub and showers

Amazing entrance hall to the bath

Some sort of dancing halls on the top floor

Pipes in a maintenance room

Surgery building – an operation theater with lamp

Long corridor through the huge surgery building

The ruind – notice how trees grow on the roof

Corridor in the ruin

I have a lot of pictures, but I think this is enough. One last shot – Photographers at work: