# Derby Royal Infirmary, Derby, Jan14



## The Wombat (Jan 11, 2014)

*First full proper road test of the new camera, so please be patient whilst I go through some new learning curves!
After an early start (well, for me anyway!), had a full day’s explore here. And we needed it – its huuuge. I can see how you can get lost here due to its size and multiple levels. The buildings vary in age, from the Victorian era, to the modern concrete, to a recent extension dating from 1995 (hope that wasn’t a waste of money then.) Some bits are trashed or pikied, whilst others don’t look too bad. Whilst a lot of rooms were empty, I was surprised at some of the expensive medical equipment left here.

We only encountered one other person in the building; who walked round the corner, and gave us all a heart attack. He was taking some video footage for a project of his.

We explored everything from the operating theatres, to the wards, canteen, security office, accommodation tower & the morgue.
A good day’s Explore, with MCrosbie & Nightvision.*

history

Derbyshire Royal Infirmary (DRI) was established in 1810 on land formerly part of Derby's Castlefield estate on land near what is now Bradshaw Way and the A6 London Road. It was known as the Derbyshire General Infirmary at the time.

In 1890 a Typhoid outbreak sweeped through the hospital, and the buildings design was blamed. The hospital was entirely demolished. A year later Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone of what would become Derbyshire Royal Infirmary. The neo-Jacobean building was completed in 1894, and its main features were its 'Onion' shaped domed towers and its central corridor which ran the length of the hospital.

The hospital was expanded at several points in the 20th century, the most visible being the still used Wilderslowe Tower and the now disused A+E building built in 1970. The DRI as a result is an architectural mish-mash with the original hospital at its heart.

In the late 90s, the NHS Trust's for each hospital in Derby merged, and drew up a dramatic plan to consolidate the services of both hospital's on one site. The so called 'super hospital', soon to be known as the DerbyRoyal Hospital is one of the largest in the region.

There are no official plans to redevelop the now redundant Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, the land is covered by a large regeneration plan which will expand Derby's city centre southwards into what is known as Castleward. The 1987 built part of the hospital shall continue to provide medical care, providing the services of the closed Aston Hall and Grove Hospital's south of Derby.







A&E Block





The operating theatre
One of us said "I wander how many people have died in this room...."
A chilling thought



































this looks expensive.....





security office






























Children's ward:

























The Morgue





And finally the whole site
The A&E block is the large grey soviet concrete building in the middle





Thanks for looking


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## Stealthstar79 (Jan 11, 2014)

Cracking set of pics and write up!
Thanks!


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## UEP-Wales (Jan 11, 2014)

Nice shots there! Cheers for posting them up dude!


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## GPSJim (Jan 12, 2014)

Excellent!! Think I'll have to splore this, before it's completely trashed!


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## mockingbird (Jan 12, 2014)

Yet again nice stuff Wombat 
The seven dwarfs look naughty! your getting to gripes with the camera well!


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## flyboys90 (Jan 12, 2014)

Its always mind bogling how much kit is left behind when these places close! great pics thanks for sharing.


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## Pilot (Jan 12, 2014)

The sheer amount of high value equipment that is just abandoned in closed hospitals never ceases to amaze me. In Spain, there is an entire airport - with all the latest bells and whistles just sitting there, abandoned. If someone switched the kit on, it could accept aircraft within minutes (yes, everyting STILL works).

So much kit here - sad to see it just going to waste.


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## mookster (Jan 13, 2014)

Another place on my to-do list soon is this...



Pilot said:


> The sheer amount of high value equipment that is just abandoned in closed hospitals never ceases to amaze me. In Spain, there is an entire airport - with all the latest bells and whistles just sitting there, abandoned. If someone switched the kit on, it could accept aircraft within minutes (yes, everyting STILL works).
> 
> So much kit here - sad to see it just going to waste.



I'd love to have a nose around that Airport, although I knew about it before Top Gear did their segment there that was the best footage I've seen from it. Truly amazing waste.


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## Froggy (Jan 15, 2014)

Fantastically intact.


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## Mars Lander (Jan 15, 2014)

Wow what a place, ace images and report for sure!


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## The Wombat (Jan 16, 2014)

Mars Lander said:


> Wow what a place, ace images and report for sure!



Cheers Mars Lander


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