# St. David's Hospital, Carmarthen & patient graffiti (pic heavy), '11



## The Archivist

Took a trip to the old St. David's Mental Hospital earlier this year to see what the state of things was there. As it turns out, apart from some outlying villas, the chapel and a possible mortuary, all of the buildings are in use as local authority offices. The hospital is surprisingly complete, apparently retaining all of its original buildings.

Originally the Carmarthenshire, Cardigan and Pembrokeshire Joint Counties Asylum, St David's was originally planned as the United Lunatic Asylum for Cardigan, Carmarthen, Glamorgan & Pembroke. Building work started in 1863 and completed in 1865 when it opened with 212 beds. It was known as the Joint Counties Mental Hospital by 1929, underwent a major refit in the 1930s and became St David's Hospital under the NHS in 1948. The hospital closed around 2002 and in 2003 Carmarthenshire Council bid £3m for the site to prevent it from being used to process and house asylum seekers. It is now used by the council for a variety of administrative purposes. 






Main Buildings





Brick-built annexe, c.1930s. 





Oil tanks





Chapel





Workshop or mortuary





Villas





Ward interior











Anyway, on my circuit of the main buildings I noticed a series of scratch marks on one of the window surrounds which on closer inspection turned out to be one of the most extensive collections of patient graffiti I've ever seen. Much of it is unintelligable but what little can be deciphered relates to place and personal names, probably of the patient or patients themselves. There are about 14 panels on either side of 7 windows, all surrounding one airing court on the male side. 

On enquiry with the body that deals with historic buildings in Wales, (RCAHMW) it turned out that these hadn't been recorded before, so I submitted my photographs and accompanying drawings to the commission and I believe they have now been included in their file on the hospital buildings. These are a very unusual survival and I thought some of you may be interested to see them so I've reproduced some of them here (unfortunately, all of the details don't show in the compressed images below, but the marks are there and I transcribed them as best I could): 








'Gwendawy in the beautiful Llywynhendy? Thanks to God'








W.S. Jones. A series of numbers. Looks a bit like the date 1866 at the top, possibly 1871 at the bottom.
















Card suits and more place-names








Mouser. I found this one rather creepy. 
















A germanic name and a cross together with the Three Feathers, and the legend HICH [sic] DIEN, the motto and crest of the Princes of Wales. 

Thanks for reading, 
A.


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## banshee

love the carvings.i remember seeing some on the top of an old church i was converting iin harrow years ago.pity i didn't think of taking pictures like i would now.


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## highcannons

Thanks for that. I found the writing well interesting.  Never thought to look out for something like that.


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## MD

nice one on finding the patient graffiti 
i found some craved into the bricks at St Crispins ages ago


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## urbex13

Good stuff there mate, dead impressed with the transcriptions and it's good to see that the buildings haven't gone to waste


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## TeeJF

Brilliant! It's also great to see an intact asylum. Well done.


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## Madaxe

That's some impressive work there Arch.
Really interesting report.
Thanks for the effort and well done.


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## Cuban B.

Good report from a place you hardly ever hear about.


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## Em_Ux

That's really interesting.

Thanks for posting!


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## welshowen

Really interesting photo's. I've been there many times in a professional capacity, obviously to the bits still in use. Lots of the site is still used by the NHS, doing very important work, great to see bits of the site not used though. The graffiti is fantastic.


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## dangerous dave

will see if a few welsh speaking mates can translate it


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## Lightbuoy

Great effort -this is what it's all about!


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## nelly

Wow, thats different, love it


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## Pincheck

yeh the markings are really interesting mate well done


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## Foxylady

Wow...those carvings are amazing. Excellent work, Arch. Some interesting buildings too.


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## AbandonedPlacesExsplorer

Anyone know if you can still explore this place?


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## Msmezza

The Archivist said:


> Took a trip to the old St. David's Mental Hospital earlier this year to see what the state of things was there. As it turns out, apart from some outlying villas, the chapel and a possible mortuary, all of the buildings are in use as local authority offices. The hospital is surprisingly complete, apparently retaining all of its original buildings.
> 
> Originally the Carmarthenshire, Cardigan and Pembrokeshire Joint Counties Asylum, St David's was originally planned as the United Lunatic Asylum for Cardigan, Carmarthen, Glamorgan & Pembroke. Building work started in 1863 and completed in 1865 when it opened with 212 beds. It was known as the Joint Counties Mental Hospital by 1929, underwent a major refit in the 1930s and became St David's Hospital under the NHS in 1948. The hospital closed around 2002 and in 2003 Carmarthenshire Council bid £3m for the site to prevent it from being used to process and house asylum seekers. It is now used by the council for a variety of administrative purposes.
> 
> View attachment 111180
> 
> Main Buildings
> 
> View attachment 111181
> 
> Brick-built annexe, c.1930s.
> 
> View attachment 111182
> 
> Oil tanks
> 
> View attachment 111183
> 
> Chapel
> 
> View attachment 111184
> 
> Workshop or mortuary
> 
> View attachment 111185
> 
> Villas
> 
> View attachment 111186
> 
> Ward interior
> 
> View attachment 111187
> 
> 
> View attachment 111188
> 
> 
> Anyway, on my circuit of the main buildings I noticed a series of scratch marks on one of the window surrounds which on closer inspection turned out to be one of the most extensive collections of patient graffiti I've ever seen. Much of it is unintelligable but what little can be deciphered relates to place and personal names, probably of the patient or patients themselves. There are about 14 panels on either side of 7 windows, all surrounding one airing court on the male side.
> 
> On enquiry with the body that deals with historic buildings in Wales, (RCAHMW) it turned out that these hadn't been recorded before, so I submitted my photographs and accompanying drawings to the commission and I believe they have now been included in their file on the hospital buildings. These are a very unusual survival and I thought some of you may be interested to see them so I've reproduced some of them here (unfortunately, all of the details don't show in the compressed images below, but the marks are there and I transcribed them as best I could):
> 
> View attachment 111189
> View attachment 111190
> 
> 'Gwendawy in the beautiful Llywynhendy? Thanks to God'
> 
> View attachment 111191
> View attachment 111192
> 
> W.S. Jones. A series of numbers. Looks a bit like the date 1866 at the top, possibly 1871 at the bottom.
> 
> View attachment 111193
> View attachment 111194
> 
> 
> View attachment 111195
> View attachment 111196
> 
> Card suits and more place-names
> 
> View attachment 111197
> View attachment 111198
> 
> Mouser. I found this one rather creepy.
> 
> View attachment 111199
> View attachment 111200
> 
> 
> View attachment 111201
> View attachment 111202
> 
> A germanic name and a cross together with the Three Feathers, and the legend HICH [sic] DIEN, the motto and crest of the Princes of Wales.
> 
> Thanks for reading,
> A.





AbandonedPlacesExsplorer said:


> Anyone know if you can still explore this place?


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## Msmezza

Hi we went there yesterday, we couldn’t find the carvings. I love the place and grounds. I used to go there as a child for summer fairs on the grounds and for whist drives with my grandmother. There is a big hall, with a stage in the main building with a circular hall that goes right around it. I went to Christmas parties there and they put on shows on the stage. I was quite young as can I barely remember. When my grandmother played whist I ran around the hallway or roller skated. I saw a few patients wondering about. Yesterday I mainly walked around the boiler room. My uncle worked there for many years. Huge furnaces inside. He used to pick me up to look at the flames and he held a special piece of glass in front of my eyes to protect them. What I would do to look inside that building one more time. I miss him so much. He died over 30 years ago. I still remember it being very hot and humid in there and it smelled of oil. Not the best place to let me roam about by my self but that’s what I did!


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## Squirrel21

I found this postcard inside a book I got from Carmarthen Free Books today. The front features an old engraving of the hospital entitled "J C Asylum, Carmarthen". I am not sure why anyone would want to send a postcard from this place: "Wish you were here."?!! "Having a lovely time."?!!


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## Wrench

There are a few people I'd wish were there tbh


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## Hayman

Squirrel21 said:


> I found this postcard inside a book I got from Carmarthen Free Books today. The front features an old engraving of the hospital entitled "J C Asylum, Carmarthen". I am not sure why anyone would want to send a postcard from this place: "Wish you were here."?!! "Having a lovely time."?!!





Squirrel21 said:


> I found this postcard inside a book I got from Carmarthen Free Books today. The front features an old engraving of the hospital entitled "J C Asylum, Carmarthen". I am not sure why anyone would want to send a postcard from this place: "Wish you were here."?!! "Having a lovely time."?!!


Perhaps staff members sending photos of where they work? Or relatives of those sent to the asylum.


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## Hayman

There is something ironic about "The hospital closed around 2002 and in 2003 Carmarthenshire Council bid £3m for the site to prevent it from being used to process and house asylum seekers". For asylum seekers read people willing to pay large sums of money to be trafficked thousands of miles to illegally arrive in the UK, having passed through many safe countries between their native lands and England.


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