Visit on 27/12/05
We decided to go and check this place out, being quite close to where we are. We took a drive around the site first, finding a mixture of used and disused in close proximity. The whole place looks disused, but power and people suggest that it is used (for example, look round by the water tower and services section - bits of Cane Hill look in better condition).
The most interesting looking parts are a large ward block to the east of the site, and the fenced off section to the west. We decided to go with the fenced off section.
The fence doesn't extend very far at all - in fact, only along the side of the road closest to the in use parts of the hospital. I have no idea why they did this, it seems pointless. So, we walked around it.
There is a large single story block labelled "Neurophysiology", pretty well boarded up. It looks boring from the outside, so we push on. The rest of the blocks are smaller and even better boarded up.
Our normal method of getting round these places tends to be the tunnels. It allows movement from building to building without being seen, and without having to find a way in each time. A small plant room has been broken open, and has an entrance to the tunnels. Down we go...
To cut a long story short, the tunnels go on from a fair distance, with crawl height spurs leading off to several ward blocks. There is no access from tunnel to the wards unless you are the size of a cat. The tunnels do cross under the road, and into the live part of the hospital, but then they stop at a tunnel far too small to crawl through. A strong draught can be felt through it though, suggesting it leads to the rest of the system.
So we leave the tunnels again, after a long, dirty, asbestos riddled journey.
Let's just say the large block is accessible with little effort. And it is well worth going in. Compared to any other place, even Cane Hill 7 years ago, this building is virtually untouched.
The X-ray room still has the developing machines in it. The labs still have glassware in them. There are documents, slides, electrodes, records, books, everything. We spent a long time looking through it all - the building is suprisingly large once inside and nearly every room has something of interest. It's also quite light inside, with an overabundance of skylights.
The brain samples appear to have gone... which I guess is a good thing.
We need to go back to do some of the other buildings sometime. No sign of security and we weren't really trying to be subtle.
Well worth a visit anyway.
My photos here:
http://flickr.com/photos/cybergibbons/sets/1679342/