# Ashworth Secure Hospital (Night Visit) - September 2009



## CHEWY (Sep 6, 2009)

Ashworth Secure Hospital is one of the three "special" hospitals in England and Wales, along with Rampton and Broadmoor, that exist to work with people who require treatment in conditions of special security due to their "dangerous, violent or criminal propensities". Ashworth was formed from the merger of the old Moss Side Hospital (originally a learning-disability unit once used for the treatment of "shell shock" in World War I) and the vastly more modern and considerably more appropriate Park Lane Hospital, opened as a Broadmoor overspill unit in the early 1970s.

The hospital has had a mixed history and has been the subject of two major public inquiries; Blom-Cooper in the 1992 and Fallon in 1998. It currently houses some 275 male patients.



Ashworth is noted for the weekly test of its alarm system, sounded at 9:00 am every Monday morning.
Such an alarm system is audible in much of the surrounding area, as far afield as the outskirts of Kirkby and Skelmersdale. This alarm system is intended to warn residents and institutions of escapees, of which there have been two in its history as a psychiatric hospital.


Moors Murderer Ian Brady was kept here.. (born Ian Duncan Stewart on 2 January 1938), he is a Scottish serial killer, known primarily for the series of murders that he committed with his lover Myra Hindley in England from 1963 to 1965. Their crimes were dubbed the "Moors murders"; all but one of the known victims were buried along the Saddleworth Moor near Oldham in Lancashire.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment in May 1966, in 1985 he was moved to a mental hospital, and since 1999 has been trying to gain the right to commit suicide through hunger strikes. 






*The Pics*

























































































































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## klempner69 (Sep 6, 2009)

Grim looking place Chewy,I didnt know this had closed..off to read up on it now.


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## Reaperman (Sep 6, 2009)

klempner69 said:


> Grim looking place Chewy,I didnt know this had closed..off to read up on it now.



Its a part closure, South side out of use north side in use.

I think i heard somewhere they may build a prison ton this site?


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## Cuban B. (Sep 6, 2009)

Very atmosperic pics there, was that the male block you were in? Shame admin's been emptied.


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## CHEWY (Sep 6, 2009)

Yeah, this is the South side 

very grim place (especially at night with the moon shining in) 
mostly just cells with a washroom here and there, then a couple of day room type bits.

The East side i believe is now HMP Kennet..
not sure if this is going to be an extension of the prison , or a different prison altogether.

Went in a couple of buildings Cuban, one was a male part (names still on the cell doors).
also found a wage slip/receipt for £12.50 for a weeks work somebody had done.
(you can see it on the pic with the coat hanger) 


very depressing place indeed, but great to see.
the bits of perimeter fence alone that are left seem quite threatening before you get to the building.

very dodgy in parts too inside with only a bit of carpet covering holes to the floor below.


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## Potter (Sep 6, 2009)

Fantastic work. Awesome. Really looks errie.


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## Swampy21 (Sep 6, 2009)

And they let you back out????


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## CHEWY (Sep 8, 2009)

Thanks Potter 

was a bit eerie at nighr with the noises of the night and the wind blowing down a pipe making noises like blowing into a milk bottle 

wouldn't mind seeing it again during the day, but better at night these places.


You cheeky beggar Swamps.. i'll get you back one day


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## celo (Sep 9, 2009)

Looks like a cool place! Do you know if the rest of the site is due to close soon?

Celo


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## Cuban B. (Sep 9, 2009)

I don't think the rest of the site has any plans to close as it has been modernised and has a better layout than the older site.


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