# Cane Hill Retro December '04 visits



## mr_bones (Jan 2, 2012)

Cane Hill December 2004 - Image intensive!

Every so often I have a look back through photos of past explores and realise I never really shared them (apart from a handful on DeviantART) as I wasn't a huge forum user before about 2005.

There are already quite a few 'retro' Cane Hill reports on here but I have chosen December '04 as there were 2 very memorable trips to the hill around this time, as well as one of the first night visits. Despite the cold, wet and dark our enthusiasm was very high and we were starting to see some real 'off the tourist trail' areas of the crumbling hospital.

The order of the pictures always gets messed up in photobucket, but i'll let them do the rest of the talking anyway! Feel free to ask anything about the shots or the visits.


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## LulaTaHula (Jan 2, 2012)

What a wonderful report! Thanks for putting these images up. Does rather increase the sense of loss and pangs of nostalgia for the place though. Still, excellent memories prodded there and some bits I don't think I've seen images of elsewhere.


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## klempner69 (Jan 2, 2012)

Always good to see these oldies..I like the fact you simply shot the pics rather than set them up to be arty.Does anyone know if the spacka bike was ever restored as was promised?I did know who took it but memory fails me at the moment.


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## mr_bones (Jan 2, 2012)

Thankyou both

Lula - there was a time when we were visiting twice a week so we liked to sneak away from the normal route 

Klempner, this was a time for discovering the features of the camera (Fuji S5500) and it was much harder to get arty shots. Don't remember who took the ancient exercise bike but someone saved it.


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## dangerous dave (Jan 2, 2012)

thanks for putting the old shots up i only got to see the place twice but its kinda what got me into UE in the first place


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## mr_bones (Jan 2, 2012)

You are welcome Dave.


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## dangerous dave (Jan 2, 2012)

kinda odd that the decline in asylums is directly proportional to the amount of ue ive done recently


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## mr_bones (Jan 2, 2012)

Another Asylum fan! Have you been to any of the 'new' sites that seem to be popping up lately?


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## dangerous dave (Jan 2, 2012)

nah not been to any of the newer ones not sure why just kinda drifted out the loop


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## Cuban B. (Jan 2, 2012)

Top stuff.


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## mr_bones (Jan 2, 2012)

dangerous dave said:


> nah not been to any of the newer ones not sure why just kinda drifted out the loop



That's a shame Dave, perhaps you should give Stone House a go or something?



Cuban B. said:


> Top stuff.



Cheers Cuban.


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## possessed (Jan 2, 2012)

*wow*

I love seeing shots of old urbex sites, more stuff will be appreciated. Thanks for showing us those pics of the dying bastion of urbex that was cane hill. I just feel so sad that I only discovered urbex in 2008.


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## tank2020 (Jan 2, 2012)

Wow, the stuff actor seems to be missing from places now, all them things left behind, Thanks


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## odeon master (Jan 2, 2012)

Thanks for showing these photos, was a trip back in time for me, remembered most shots there,would be great if one day someone came forward with photos of the early 90's at cane hill, someone must have some somewhere.
regards
THE ODEON


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## UrbanX (Jan 3, 2012)

Love these, it's shots like these that got me into Urbex! 
Place looks so lovely to explore back then. Exploring asylums was certainly a different beast back then!


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## TeeJF (Jan 3, 2012)

Only one word for it - wow! 

What is left of this place now, rubble I suspect!

happy new year bud...


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## night crawler (Jan 3, 2012)

What a state the palce was in back then, no wonder a lot of it could not be saved. Great photo's form the palce.


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## mookster (Jan 3, 2012)

Amazing...every 'back dated' Cane Hill report I see increases the annoyance that I got into this a year or so too late to see it


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## mr_bones (Jan 3, 2012)

tank2020 said:


> Wow, the stuff actor seems to be missing from places now, all them things left behind, Thanks



Cane Hill varied a lot, some wards were completely empty and others had obviously been used for storage. The basements amazed me as they were all full to the brim with documents and equipment



odeon master said:


> Thanks for showing these photos, was a trip back in time for me, remembered most shots there,would be great if one day someone came forward with photos of the early 90's at cane hill, someone must have some somewhere.
> regards
> THE ODEON



Hiya Odeon, hope you are keeping well. It would be great to see some 70's to 90's stuff from the hill, there seems to be a few photos that pre-date that.



UrbanX said:


> Love these, it's shots like these that got me into Urbex!
> Place looks so lovely to explore back then. Exploring asylums was certainly a different beast back then!



Cheers UrbanX - It was amazing to wander around back then, and I feel quite spoilt to have had Cane Hill as a first major explore. 



TeeJF said:


> Only one word for it - wow!
> 
> What is left of this place now, rubble I suspect!
> 
> happy new year bud...



Thanks TeeJF, Happy New Year to both of you. Most of this is rubble now, but the tower and chapel are still standing for now until the next 'convenient' arson attack. 



possessed said:


> I love seeing shots of old urbex sites, more stuff will be appreciated. Thanks for showing us those pics of the dying bastion of urbex that was cane hill. I just feel so sad that I only discovered urbex in 2008.



Glad you liked it. It is a shame that this place was being pulled down in 2008 - although we managed to get a tower climb or two at that time.


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## mr_bones (Jan 3, 2012)

night crawler said:


> What a state the palce was in back then, no wonder a lot of it could not be saved. Great photo's form the palce.



Thanks. A lot of it was in a state, but if they'd wanted it saved, the brick/metal structures of the place were still very sturdy (apart from one side of admin pictured with a hole in it) - just rip the floors out, a few roof repairs and you'd have a great conversion - even if it were only a couple of wards.



mookster said:


> Amazing...every 'back dated' Cane Hill report I see increases the annoyance that I got into this a year or so too late to see it



Thanks Mookster, It is a shame you missed it but you managed to have a wander round before the demolition really set in didn't you?


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## mookster (Jan 4, 2012)

mr_bones said:


> Thanks Mookster, It is a shame you missed it but you managed to have a wander round before the demolition really set in didn't you?



Had a wander around the outside of the fence about a third of the way through demo in june 09, the plan was to get inside but it was way too busy on the site

Better than nothing though....

I think I and many others were glad for 'open season' at West Park in 2009, makes up for missing the big CH in it's prime. It's sad really thinking about poeple just discovering this hobby nowadays, with almost all the great asylums gone or going.


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## Pincheck (Jan 4, 2012)

Very nice mate. i must admit when we did our asylum tour, the place honestly didn't appeal on our list to me. I had just seen so many pictures and reports to be honest i was a bit sick of it but Cuban and Htmlnangel had put the place on the list. Well i can only say it was the biggest surprise of the tour and we had a lot of those . 

We arrived just as it snowed in April, to be honest i was gobsmacked at how much was missed in the reports i had seen. For me it was the one of the best asylums i had been to interest wise at the time even with natural decay and just so glad we got to see it when we did before it was demo'd :wcool:


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## mr_bones (Jan 4, 2012)

Nice one Pincheck, I am glad the others insisted on including it and it ended up appealing to you. I still can't quite believe this massive place is gone.


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## krela (Jan 5, 2012)

mr_bones said:


> Nice one Pincheck, I am glad the others insisted on including it and it ended up appealing to you. I still can't quite believe this massive place is gone.



*does the happy dance*

Ding dong Cane Hill is dead!


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## mr_bones (Jan 5, 2012)

krela said:


> *does the happy dance*
> 
> Ding dong Cane Hill is dead!



 Maybe you'd have responded in the same way that Pincheck did if you'd been able to go there


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## krela (Jan 5, 2012)

Nope I can't stand asylums, you should know that by now!!


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## mr_bones (Jan 5, 2012)

I do know that, and my last comment was half tongue-in-cheek but even Mr. JonDoe who isn't a huge 'top-side' fan seemed to enjoy Cane Hill when I showed him and Sam (NobodyThere) around the place.


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## krela (Jan 5, 2012)

I love the architecture, but what they stand for and my personal experiences of mental health care means they just leave me cold. I'm really not that into trashed interiors of any type either. I'm an industrial and WW2 person and I don't see the point of seeing things 'for the sake of it', that's where it turns into tourism rather than an involved interest for me.

That's just my personal opinion and preferences though.


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## mr_bones (Jan 5, 2012)

Aye that's fair enough.


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## King Al (Jan 6, 2012)

Really enjoyed looking through these Mr B, the nostalgia is overwhelming! I would kill for 1 last trip


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## mr_bones (Jan 6, 2012)

Cheers Al, I can imagine. I still remember our night time explore during demolition - even then it was still great for a wander.


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