Connacht District Lunatic Asylum aka St Brigid's Psychiatric Hospital

Urbex: Connacht District Lunatic Asylum aka St Brigid’s Psychiatric Hospital, Ireland – April 2017 (Part 2)

Part 2 of our visit to Connacht District Lunatic Asylum aka St Brigid’s Psychiatric Hospital. After failing at a couple of other locations the next day, we decided to go Back to St Brigids to take another look inside. This time we managed to access the clock tower which still had the original bell in place despite attempts by thieves to cut the thing in half!

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Connacht District Lunatic Asylum aka St Brigid's Psychiatric Hospital

Urbex: Connacht District Lunatic Asylum aka St Brigid’s Psychiatric Hospital, Ireland – April 2017 (Part 1)

Connacht District Lunatic Asylum, which later became known as St Brigids Hospital, was one of the first Irish District Asylums to be completed and opened its doors in 1833. Originally created to cater for the ‘curable lunatics’ cases, the hospital struggled with securing funding and in rejecting patients which were not suitable for the intended purpose of the Asylum…

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Newsham Park Hospital

Urbex: Newsham Park Hospital, Liverpool – April 2017

Newsham Park Hospital is a Grade II listed building which is abandoned in Liverpool. The Building was originally The Liverpool Seamen’s Orphan Institution which was constructed to support and educate the children of British Seamen. The foundation stone of this building was laid on 11 September 1871 and the construction was completed at a cost of £25,000.00 in January 1874…

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Kingsley Green aka Harperbury Hospital

Urbex: Kingsley Green aka Harperbury Hospital, West Sussex – April 2017

Kingsley Green formerly known as Harperbury Hospital was a mental health hospital located in West Sussex. The Hospital was originally built in 1928 on a site shared with the Royal Flying Corps who used the surrounding area as an aerodrome. The hospital expanded with the addition of various buildings between 1929-1973 when things began to scale back…

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Maison Vinyl

Urbex: Maison Vinyl, Belgium – March 2017

The abandoned Maison Vinyl, is a small derelict house in a little village in Belgium. Scattered with children’s toys and a room in which vinyl records are attached to the walls, this house is pretty photogenic given its size. Downstairs the rooms are too cluttered with furniture and too dimly lit to photograph properly and there has been a partial collapse in on of the rooms giving way to a basement area. Far past being restorable, this little house will continue to crumble away…

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Back to the Drawing Boards

Urbex: Back to the Drawing Boards, Belgium – March 2017

I don’t know very much about the history of this place, clearly whatever this industrial complex used to be it involved a lot of schematics and drawings based on what was left behind. The site clearly had a much larger footprint but most of the other buildings had been demolished and only a couple of admin buildings remained. This one, being the better of the bunch, housed all the old drawing boards and plans along with various offices…

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Chateau Pink Panther

Urbex: Château Pink Panther, Belgium – March 2017

Château Pink Panther, as this place became known, was a fair-sized Château which had undergone some modernisation but also retained some of the original features. Located in an affluent area, this castle suffered a fire and was left abandoned for several years before being purchased and renovated by new owners…

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Villa Heil - Staircase

Urbex: Villa Heil, Belgium – March 2017

This might be the last report from the abandoned Villa Heil… This quite large attractive detached house in Belgium was demolished just days after these photos were taken. In fact, during our visit when shooting the basement rooms just before we were planning to leave someone came into the building walking around the ground floor…

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The Butchers House

Urbex: The Butchers House, Belgium – March 2017

The abandoned Butchers House in Belgium turned out to be one of the more interesting residential explores that I have done to date. I suppose not an uncommon occurrence, this house also functioned as a butchers shop with the customer-facing area being located next to the main road and the residential areas to the side and rear of the building…

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Pleasure Island Cleethorpes

Urbex: Pleasure Island, Cleethorpes – December 2016

Pleasure Island Family Theme Park originally opened on 27th May 1993 on the site of the former Cleethorpes Zoo. During its construction in the 1980’s the original owners of the site went into receivership and the theme park which was still under construction was purchased by Robert Gibb the managing director of Flamingo Land. In 2010 one of the daughters of Robert Gibb who had taken responsibility of managing Pleasure Island took control of the site under the name Dewarsavile Enterprises Ltd. The Theme Park closed permanently at the end of the 2016 season with the majority of the rides being put up for auction…

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Mid Wales Hospital Talgarth

Urbex: Mid Wales Hospital,Talgarth, Wales – December 2016 (Revisit 1)

This large Asylum was built in around 1903 and functioned as both a Lunatic Asylum and a general hospital as well as being appropriated for military use during the 2nd World War. The last ward at the hospital closed in 1999 and the property has deteriorated rapidly every since…

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St Cadoc's Mental Hospital - Main Hall

Urbex: St Cadocs Mental Hospital, Wales – December 2016

Saint Cadoc’s Hospital (Welsh: Ysbyty Sant Cadog) first opened in 1906 as the Newport Borough Asylum, and was built to accommodate up to 350 patients. Extensive outbuildings were later added on the site, but since 2005 the number of residents has been very small with the growing emphasis on care in the community…

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HM Prison Shrewsbury aka The Dana - Cell Block

Permission Visit: HM Prison Shrewsbury aka The Dana, Shewsbury, Shropeshire – November 2016

The History of HM Prison Shrewsbury aka The Dana
Constructed in 1793 by Thomas Telford, the original HM Prison Shrewsbury aka The Dana was famous for being a prison of executions. Prior to changes in the Law, the Catagory B/C prison saw numerous executions by hanging which drew large crowds from the location population. The site was rebuilt in 1877 in its current form.

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A Welsh Chapel

Urbex: A Welsh Chapel, Wales – November 2016

Lowri and I explored this abandoned chapel in Wales towards the end of 2016. Disused for a long time, the chapel itself was free from vandalism and graffiti and only natural decay could be found inside.  The turquoise painted plaster ceilings were a joy to shoot along with the stained wood of the pews and altar area. The organ was in great condition considering the weather damage to the building and the light was perfect when we visited.

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St Josephs RC Church

Urbex: St Josephs RC Church, Wigan – October 2016

History of St Joseph’s RC Church The Church was completed in April 1872. In 1874 the site saw the addition of a school building thanks to support from the parishioners. The building was soon replaced with the one which stands today in 1978 when the old construction was found to be too small to accommodate…

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Abbey Mills Pumping Station

Permission Visit: Abbey Mills Pumping Station, London – September 2016

Abbey Mills Pumping Station, in Stratford, East London, is a sewage pumping station, designed by engineer Joseph Bazalgette, Edmund Cooper, and architect Charles Driver. It was built between 1865 and 1868, housing eight beam engines by Rothwell & Co. of Bolton. Two engines on each arm of a cruciform plan, with an elaborate Byzantine style, described as The Cathedral of Sewage…

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London Rooftops

Urbex: A London rooftop at night, London – September 2016

Another night in London and another rooftop explored. This construction site was the development of a new skyscraper which will likely accommodate businesses or expensive apartments. The views as always were stunning allowing for a few shots of the London Eye and the Shard among the rest of the busy city…

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