History of Birkwood Asylum

Birkwood Asylum dates from the 1860’s and closed in 2002. The most attractive of the buildings and the feature of this report is the old Birkwood House which was constructed in 1819 and was a stately home until the 1860’s when an additional wing was added and the Asylum established. Many additional buildings were added over the years within the grounds which are all now crumbling and falling apart while the old stone built stately home remains!

Supposedly haunted by some doctor who was killed by a patient in one of the pink coloured wards upstairs the site has become a frequently visited location for ‘ghost hunters’ in fact we saw some on our first trip here but thankfully this time we had the place to ourselves.

Update: On Tuesday 21st July 2015 the largest tower which also featured the spiral staircase suffered a significant collapse bringing a large portion of the rest of the building with it. It is thought to have been caused by long-term water damage which weakened the fabric of the building. Neighbours are reported to have heard a loud bang which sounded like an explosion as ton of stone came crashing down. The site has further been fenced off for safety reasons and it is unknown at this stage what impact this will have on the proposed development

Our Visit

As you will quickly notice that there are no internal shots for this one… sadly this one was one of those fails :(. We arrived at silly o’clock just to survey the place and with the intention of practising our night photography… We set up and literally as I was taking my first photo a dim red light appeared from one corner of the building… We were soon greeted by a group of explorers who had been investigating the place hunting for ghosts… they continued to tell us a few storeys about the place while we attempted to continue taking photos… Moments later… HEADLIGHTS!!! some of us bailed into the bushes while some of the other explorers waited it out and spoke with the bloke who told us we weren’t to go inside the building as there were PIR and alarms but we were given permission to finish up our shots for the evening :).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the externals for now and hopefully, I’ll be back for some internals at a later stage :).

** Want to see inside this place? Check out the revisit report from April: Birkwood Asylum**

If you’ve made it this far… thanks for reading / checking out the pictures. Leave me a comment below or hit the like button to let me know you’ve enjoyed the shots and to encourage me to keep posting more 🙂

Limited Edition prints and Canvases, as well as regular prints, are available for all of the images above on request and visit the store for more prints and products.

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Related posts:

Urbex: Birkwood Asylum, Somewhere, Scotland – April 2014 (revisit) Urbex: Denbigh Lunatic Asylum aka North Wales Hospital, Denbighshire, Wales – March 2014 (Revisit 3) Urbex: Glasgow District Asylum aka Gartloch Hospital aka Asylum G, Scotland – January 2014 Urbex: Loudoun Castle Theme Park, Ayrshire, Scotland – January 2014 Urbex: Glasgow District Asylum aka Gartloch Hospital aka Asylum G, Scotland – April 2014 (revisit) Urbex: Garthland aka a Scottish Chapel, Somewhere, Scotland – January 2014 Urbex: Sunnyside Hospital aka Sunnyside Lunatic Asylum, Montrose, Scotland – August 2016 Urbex: Pool Park Hospital / Asylum, Wales – January 2014 Urbex: Severalls Lunatic Asylum, Colchester – March 2014 (revisit 3) Part 1 of 3 Urbex: Severalls Lunatic Asylum, Colchester – March 2014 (revisit 3) Part 3 of 3