# High Royds Mortuary - October 2009



## ukmayhem (Oct 9, 2009)

Visited with Darkzac

We were staying the night near Leeds so we thought we'd pop along to High Royds before we got our heads down as it was far. 

We got to the site and drove into the new housing estate that is well underway and already have people moved in. You could really sense the vast size high royds was in its day.

Main Objective was the Mortuary and anything else was a bonus. We wasn't disappointed. Once inside i was in awe i had always wanted to see the High Royds Slab and i was now standing in front of it. Was abit worried about the crate that i had seen in pictures but it had been removed and stuffed in the corner. 

Spent ages inside i really have a weird thing with mortuarys and feel really comfortable around them and didnt wanna say goodbye lol.

*History*

High Royds hospital is a now-closed psychiatric hospital south of the village of Menston, West Yorkshire, England. The hospital is located in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough as the border with the City of Bradford metropolitan borough passes between the hospital and the village. It was first opened on 8 October 1888, as the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, and was closed on 25 February 2003. Although this date is given in the High Royds book the final two wards, office, canteen etc did not close until June 2003.

A truly magnificent example of Vickers Edwards architecture, it is arguably the finest example of the broad arrow layout.

The administration building, which is Grade II listed, is now considered something of a show piece at the former hospital, which is situated on a 300-acre (1.2 km2) site at the foot of Rombalds Moor.

It hosts an Italian mosaic floor in the main corridor which is intricately decorated with the Yorkshire Rose and some black daisies - the latter of which provided inspiration for the title of a television screen play, filmed at High Royds, as a tribute to sufferers of Alzheimers.

The hospital once contained a library, a surgery, a dispensary, butchers, dairies, bakers, a sweetshop, an upholster's, a cobbler's, spacious grounds, a ballroom and even a railway. The patients lived in Nightingale wards (named after Florence Nightingale), rather than the individual accommodation found in the more recent mental health units. The hospital was for much of its life connected to the Wharfedale railway line by a dedicated spur connection.

More recently however it had been considered outdated, and as part of Leeds Mental Health's £47 million reprovision process it was closed, with the wards being relocated to various community mental health units in the City of Leeds, in the three years leading up to its closure. These include The Becklin Centre in St James' Hospital and The Mount (hospital) in the city centre.

Developers are well underway in converting the site into a new village, also called High Royds, retaining some features of the hospital, such as the ballroom and the clock tower. Parts are already lived in.


*Pictures*
































































We got out of the Mortuary at about 1am and thought we'd have a quick look around the Hospital we were very tired at this point. So we looked for a way in and found loads only to be greeted by a breezed blocked or nailed shut doors when inside, it was really frustrating finally we found a way in which led through kitchings, main hall and to Admin. It was really dark inside even for the flashgun but i still got afew shots that were worthy of posting.










































All my pics will be on my Flickr shortly.


Matt​


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## Krypton (Oct 9, 2009)

Very nice. I suppose its a good thing really that most the doors are secured. It has stopped the vandalisation.


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## pricejs (Oct 9, 2009)

This place looks spookier with every set of photos. I wonder if somebody will eventually live in the mortuary not knowing what it once was?


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## mookster (Oct 9, 2009)

oh wow, that slab is awesome

Love that last photo too


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## SONAR (Oct 9, 2009)

Very nice man!


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## Mr Sam (Oct 9, 2009)

odd i heard the slab had been removed

good to see its still there


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## bricoleur (Oct 9, 2009)

Beautiful!

Thanks for sharing.

bricoleur


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## Daydreamer (Oct 9, 2009)

Fantastic pictures, well done.


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## smilla (Oct 9, 2009)

*Scary!*

What a wonderfully creepy place. Great location for a pop video!


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## Locksley (Oct 10, 2009)

smilla said:


> What a wonderfully creepy place. Great location for a pop video!



or a horror movie


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## Lightbuoy (Oct 10, 2009)

Great effort to match your piccies. Even though High Royds has deteriorated in parts, it still retains a lot of beauty and dignity. Thanks for sharing these with us


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## ukmayhem (Oct 10, 2009)

thanks alot guys


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## Allstar#500 (Oct 10, 2009)

Great pictures UKM, shame its such a distance away as id really like to see it!


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## kevsy21 (Oct 15, 2009)

nice architecture and great pics - always find it eerie to see pictures of a mortuary


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## bayzer (Oct 18, 2009)

High Royds was a beautiful building the history still remains in some places.
The mortuary slab is spooky and weird and one day it will no doubt be removed and probably smashed up but until then it rest there for urban explorers to take as many pics as they can.
Excellent pictures here


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## Potter (Oct 25, 2009)

Superb. Love the black & white shot.


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## Canonite (Oct 26, 2009)

I'd been led to believe the whole area was well off limits now. And i too heard the slab had been removed. I'm gonna have a wander up there, it's only half hour away.


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## lunaticasylum (Oct 26, 2009)

great pics mate im slab mad


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## cybelle (Oct 27, 2009)

is it still standing? im a alt model and id love to use it as a location :]


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## cybelle (Oct 27, 2009)

*giggles* me thinks this is perfect for my next photoshoooooot ^^


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## mexico75 (Oct 28, 2009)

*frowns* me thinks it's people like you that get decent sites locked down.


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## The_Revolution (Oct 28, 2009)

mexico75 said:


> *frowns* me thinks it's people like you that get decent sites locked down.



Hmm; you might have a point.

Still it would be interesting to see shots of teenage girls posing in a morgue. So edgy and no-one's done it before.


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## Goldie87 (Oct 28, 2009)

cybelle said:


> is it still standing? im a alt model and id love to use it as a location :]



Oh dear, here we go again


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