# Aston Hall Mental Hospital - pic heavy!



## TeeJF (Oct 3, 2011)

last week we decided to explore one of the few remaining relatively modern asylums in England that has yet to be demolished. Aston Hall Mental Hospital is located on the edge of the pretty village of Aston-On-Trent just outside Derby and is in fact one of two mental hospitals that served the city, the other being the Derby Borough Lunatic Asylum, a large, rather aged Victorian red brick classical asylum. The hospital is built in a villa layout on a site of some 3.2 acres though the grounds looked considerably larger than that when we got there. Originally the land which had been part of the Aston Hall estate was bought in 1924 and the hospital was opened in the 1930s. Each of the villas housed up to 50 patients but as the years passed the number gradually declined, especially with the advent of "Care In The Community". By the nineties the writing was on the wall for Aston Hall. The last 58 long term, chronic patients were farmed out to other hospitals in the surrounding area and the doors of "the village" as it was known locally, were finally closed in 2004. It is unclear as to what is on the cards for the site though it seems likely that they will demolish the buildings, none of which are listed, to make way for an extension of the housing estate which currently butts up almost to the front wall of the services block.

The villa layout of the hospital means it is unusually spacious and airy, and the south facing bedrooms on the wards - which appeared to be predominantly singles - are bathed in the most glorious light. But even the rooms on the north sides of the villas benefit from loads of natural light. At the back of the site there is a large area of open playing fields together with a small building which we took to be a gym or sports hall of some kind. At the front end of the site a large kitchen block made the food for the hospital but an uber abundance of Aston Hall catering tray lids litter the grounds hinting at central prep of micro wave "TV Dinners", with micro-wave re-heating in each of the villas; the catering department may also have provided food for other hospitals and medical facilities in the area, though that is only our as yet unproven guesswork!

Having seen other explorer's photographs taken over the years since the closure we thought the place would be a great explore as it has not been abandoned all that long. But sadly we were in for a serious disappointment when we arrived and saw just how much damage has been inflicted by random occupants of the moron-o-sphere. Rampant chavvery, at times reportedly committed by children as young as nine or ten, together with blatant and hard faced theft of metal and fittings, has left the former hospital in a very sorry state. In the ward villas there are very few studded partition walls that have not been kicked through, and of course all the window glass and pot sanitary fittings have long since been reduced to little more than crunching under foot or a hazard to the hands. There has also clearly been a fire very, very recently in the theatre area of the central leisure block, and the structural integrity of one of the most interesting areas of the hospital has been seriously compromised as a result. It's sad that this building has suffered so badly because it contains a very large theatre with a stage, and a pretty polygonal hydro-therapy swimming pool, which apprently was the only one of it's kind anywhere in Derbyshire. An imaginative developer could very easily have converted this building into a superb leisure facility for the housing estate but of course it is probably beyond economic repair now, especially as much of the roof has collapsed in already. It is my suspicion that the fire was set by school age youths because we found a maths work book with childish hand writing partially burnt close to the seat of the fire.

We rocked up on site and wandered through the woods on the western edge looking for a discrete route in - to be frank though we needn't have bothered. In the distance up by the services block we could see two blokes in high viz and hard hats and naturally we took them for demo workers or possibly security. It was immediately clear that they had seen us so we made no attempt to hide, preferring the direct, amiable approach. But something seemed a little odd about their mannerisms and conversation, especially that of the younger of the two who seemed very nervous, but only a little later did the penny drop - they were metal pykeys using the "in your face" approach to have it away with radiators, two of which had been stashed against the wall just short of the closest point of access for a vehicle. I only wish I had twigged a bit sooner so that I could have phoned the dibble!

Anyways, that's enough of the history of Aston Hall Mental Hospital and of our musings after visiting the site so I'll post the photos now. I only hope you'll find something here worth the effort of looking! We both tried very hard to exclude the damage and wanton vandalism in as many of our shots as possible but it was an uphill struggle, so the photos we took perhaps show the hospital in a better light than it actually appears to the visitor on the ground.

And it's only going to get worse before it is finally demolished.

*The pix...*


*As you arrive at the site there is only a row of Heras fencing seperating the hosuing estate from the hospital so it's no wonder it's getting so chavved up.*









*One of the ward "villas"...*








*Virginia Creeper all over the buildings makes it quite photogenic...*








*A heating control room, part of the boiler plant...*








*Quite modern control gear smacks of a refurb late in the life of the hospital...*








*A stairwell leads up to the upper storage area over the workshops...*








*Skylights and windows everywhere are smashed...*








*The workshop lift motor...*








*The workshop roof is accessed via the lift motor room and it affords great views across the hospital. But beware, you are in clear line of sight to anyone in the back garden of the adjacent OAPs home!*








*A ward "villa" close to the workshop block...*








*Is this a child's toy or a "Make-Ladies-Happy-O-Matic"? ...*








*A disabled patient's bath. There's one of these at another famous asylum. Answers on a postcard please...*








*Diesel engine to drive an auxillary generator?*








*the floor of the kitchens and most of the surrounding countryside is strewn with the lids from "TV DInner" style food cartons all sporting an "Aston Hall Catering" logo...*








*Down to a storage area beneath the kitchens which is remarkably dry considering it is under ground and has been abandoned for seven years...*








*What you might expect to find stored here...*








*...and what you definitely would not! Putting Green flags???*








*...hair dryers...*








*...a lifting chair for disabled patients...*








*A roll of unused patients belongings bags...*








*A completely different lifting machine...*








*Going into a ward villa now...*








*Peely paint and wallpaper on a villa staircase...*








*The ward bedrooms all appear to be single occupancy rather than the "cram 'em in" approach found in in the old asylums...*








*...and decorated in individual colour schemes too...*








*Giant Lego!*








*Plug the gap in the window to stop the draft?*








*Why chavs wear DMs...*








*Peeping through the Creeper...*








*Who is Ian?*








*The Leisure Complex roof has been badly damaged...*








*In a villa day room...*








*Anyone remember Blue Peter's "Bleep and Booster"?*








*The Leisure Complex houses the hydro-therapy pool which has been badly trashed like everywhere else in the hospital...*








*Inflatable swimming aid...*








*Don't nick the towels!*








*The spiders in this place are huge!*








*The theatre is still standing despite a fire recently on or under the stage...*








*This kid thought so much of his maths homework he used it to light the fire...*








*This service tunnel runs off towards the boiler house, presumably under thr road...*








*Looking back into the auditorium from under the stage. Note the fire blackening...*








*And finally, a nature study! I did not mess with the colour of this photo in any way, the drain pipes actually looked that colour presumably from something reflecting on to them in the bright sunshine, though I haven't a clue what!*







*Hope you found something worth looking at here! Thanks y'all...* ​


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## Pincheck (Oct 3, 2011)

Very interesting , the stairs down to the basement made me think of Deva for some reason ?


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## MD (Oct 3, 2011)

Thats a Rolls Royce engine mate !! 






its used to be mint I've a picture somewhere  

good write up tho


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## Em_Ux (Oct 4, 2011)

What a cracking explore!

Really enjoyed your report.

Thanks for posting!


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## TeeJF (Oct 4, 2011)

MD said:


> Thats a Rolls Royce engine mate !!



Cheers! I'd never have guessed until you said. Was I right that it's a reserve generator engine?


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## sparky. (Oct 4, 2011)

Nice one mate brill pics looks wicked


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## King Al (Oct 4, 2011)

Superb report as usual TeeJF! 



> Is this a child's toy or a "Make-Ladies-Happy-O-Matic"?


 :jiggy: :wub:


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## urban phantom (Oct 4, 2011)

Great report mate thanks for sharing


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## smiler (Oct 4, 2011)

"Is this a child's toy or a "Make-Ladies-Happy-O-Matic"? I’m going to tell your mum on you, that’ll be two of us in the compost, Great Post TJ, enjoyable as always, Thanks.


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## TeeJF (Oct 5, 2011)

We couldn't find where the batteries went... thanks all for your kind comments.


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## MD (Oct 5, 2011)

here it was in march 2008 





IMG_1013 by M D Allen, on Flickr


the whole place was only just in better condition !!

there are a couple more on my flickr but i didnt want to clog up your thread


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## TeeJF (Oct 5, 2011)

Wow! Even more impressive! thanks for that...


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## Flaxington (Oct 6, 2011)

Horrible pikeys. Aston Hall is quite an interesting place despite the chav damage. It's not really an asylum though. It was a mental handicap hospital - the same as Haperbury Hospital. Most of the patients would have been moved into the community - although some of the patients moved into the houses built next to the edge of the hospital at the top (the side nearest to the village). It must be quite odd for them to see the old buildings from their bedroom windows.


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## TeeJF (Oct 6, 2011)

Flaxington said:


> It's not really an asylum though. It was a mental handicap hospital



Well well well, I stand corrected. Thanks for that, I hadn't realised that was the case.  It also explains why there were some areas that looked as though they were aimed at children so I assume there were youngsters there as well as adults? 



Flaxington said:


> although some of the patients moved into the houses built next to the edge of the hospital at the top.



It's interesting what you say about some of the patients too... when we were walked along the hedge line at the end of the site nearest the housing estate this horrible catawauling started up. At first we thought it was an animal it was so tortured, and then we got quite a shock as we suddenly realised it was actually a human being. So that ties in with what you say about them living adjacent to the place.

You are a mine of information bud! Nice one!


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## sparky. (Oct 6, 2011)

looks like an interesting place i realy like pic 29 nice 1 buddy


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## Silent Hill (Oct 6, 2011)

Enjoyed this immensely mate. Great stuff


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## starfish (Oct 17, 2011)

Brilliant place & intense pictures! Love it


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## talkalot (Oct 31, 2011)

my nan used to work there, when my mum was at junior school in Aston they used to let the mental patients play with the kids at break times as they had the minds of children  that also explains the toys in the hospital. Hope this helps


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## Sshhhh... (Nov 6, 2011)

Great report, looks very interesting. Ive seen one of those things with the pink fronds, in ann summers!!


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## The Cat Crept In (Nov 6, 2011)

Now that is what I call impressive well done


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## TeeJF (Nov 7, 2011)

Sshhhh... said:


> Great report, looks very interesting. Ive seen one of those things with the pink fronds, in ann summers!!



For real??? I was joking when I made that comment but TJ said it looked like it might be fun so perhaps that's what planted the idea. 

Regarding the buildings, yeah... a good explore but incredibly heavily chavved sadly. I was appalled at the state of the hydro therapy pool. The thing is there's just nothing to stop kids getting in and whilst it's in quite a nice area I can see it would attract "gob shites" from far and wide. In one villa we were able to see literally end to end through the holes in the studded walls kicked through by the little sh*tes and there wasn't a piece of porcelain to be seen intact anywhere.

But no, apart from two pykeys on site in high viz and hard hats (yes, they completely fooled me!) it was an incredibly relaxed and easy explore. And we do like it when there's no pressure!


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## Priority 7 (Nov 7, 2011)

nice work Teejf thought I had popped past this thread the over day but must be losing my mind


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## Sshhhh... (Nov 7, 2011)

TeeJF said:


> For real??? I was joking when I made that comment but TJ said it looked like it might be fun so perhaps that's what planted the idea.
> 
> Regarding the buildings, yeah... a good explore but incredibly heavily chavved sadly. I was appalled at the state of the hydro therapy pool. The thing is there's just nothing to stop kids getting in and whilst it's in quite a nice area I can see it would attract "gob shites" from far and wide. In one villa we were able to see literally end to end through the holes in the studded walls kicked through by the little sh*tes and there wasn't a piece of porcelain to be seen intact anywhere.
> 
> But no, apart from two pykeys on site in high viz and hard hats (yes, they completely fooled me!) it was an incredibly relaxed and easy explore. And we do like it when there's no pressure!



Haha, no i was joking!!


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## arnjeaskin (Dec 15, 2011)

*Learning Disabilties*

I support and have supported some of the last 'chronic' patients to leave. These weren't chronic ( thought that was the lingo used back in the day) but people with severe learning disabilities who needed round the clock support. These adults now live in the community in their own houses and all the better for it. Very interesting to see how it was for them back then and not as bad as some places, Very good pics x


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## TeeJF (Dec 16, 2011)

That's interesting and informative, thanks for posting that reply. 

You mention that these severely learning disabled live in houses in the community now... do you mean houses actually on that estate close to the hospital, or spread out throughout the county etc? 

It's interesting you mention it because we were wandering past the back fence of the closest house to the hospital and we heard this appalling, distressing noise - we took it for an animal in distress - and then we realised it was a person. Then someone else told us that it's two houses knocked into one and they care there for some of the former patients. We had taken it for an OAP's home because we spotted someone elderly sun bathing in the back garden when we were up on the roof of the plant room/workshops during the explore.


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## arnjeaskin (Dec 16, 2011)

*Aston*

Some moved to houses in Aston, we have 13 former patients from the last 50 or so to leave, ours live in a normal street in a bungalow, some do have behaviours such as making loud noises and stuff so houses were sought suitable to their behaviours. Funny though alot of violent or repetitive behaviours subsided or stopped altogether on leaving the hospital, staffing was poor so meds were used as control, this no longer happens, each has one to one support therefore relieving alot of frustrations. xx p.s Most are living in the derby area though sadly some have passed away x


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## arnjeaskin (Dec 16, 2011)

*oh just an extra*

Bear in mind most of the last to leave were in their late 40's early 50's and most lived in Aston since children, I expect the noisiest ones were housed in more rural locations


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## TeeJF (Dec 16, 2011)

A friend of ours was doing a psychology course for her qualification to practise. She was asked what she would recommend for a particular patient on a ward round with her tutor, a professor. She told him basically that it should be care on a one to one basis. She was immediately poo pooed by the prof because, "there is insufficient time, man power and money in the NHS to offer such a course of action" and that, therefore, "a sedation programme should be used instead". She went ballistic at him and stormed off the ward and her course in a huff. Later she apologised to him and he told her he admired her beliefs and that he would finance her course fees (she was trying to scrape the finances for the course herself). 

On the one hand Care In The Community is seen just as a callous way of saving money. On the other if it frees up resources by the fact that it has reintegrating institutionalised patients, it's no bad thing. 

Have you visited our personal website and looked at our Whittingham Asylum pictures? There's a very interesting set of video clips there of the asylum in the late seventies in the aftermath of the scandal. And it shows clearly how bad institutionalisation was at that time.


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## arnjeaskin (Dec 16, 2011)

I'll take a look at that! Aston was supposed to be one of the hospitals who learned from previous bad press but it too had it's bullies etc. I still work with staff from there who have some stories to tell! To be honest I cant see how it saves money in the community, it costs roughly £3k per week for most severe people, ours have 24 hour support, its good in some ways but although most of us realise these people have a value, its the public that needs educating. Out of sight out of mind seems to be the key. Aston was one of the first to offer oepn visiting to family, usually it was lucky if you had an hour once a month. Also on a history note my ex Father in Law was a Prisoner of War at Aston Hall where he worked on nearby farms ( He was German) met a local lass and stayed after the war!

We have also fought since its closure to give access to the hydrotherapy pool, it was considered too expensive to keep open,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,yet look at it now, it was state of the art!


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## Ratters (Dec 16, 2011)

Looks a good place - Shame it's so open & accessable really as it'll soon deteriorate 

Nice bit of history aswell.


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## TeeJF (Dec 16, 2011)

arnjeaskin said:


> We have also fought since its closure to give access to the hydrotherapy pool, it was considered too expensive to keep open,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,yet look at it now, it was state of the art!



I heard that yes. That part of the building is in a right state with a seriously iffy roof.

As to the comment on money saving with C in the C I had it explained to me that every residential place costs so much the savings are enormous in terms of bed and feeding alone when you get patients back into their own homes or into sheltered accom. I kind of wonder though if there's an element of passing costs OFF one budget (ie the NHS budget) on to a different one (the dole basically). But there has to be a massive saving in terms of patients who can function relatively normally on a regime of self administered medication when they live in their own homes and holding down a job of work whereas in the past patients with things as (relatively) minor as post natal depression would go into an asylum and stay there for years on end after what was supposed to be a two or three day respite treatment. A crecent TV docuimentry was very revealing on exactly that topic - one woman went into the asylum near Leeds for two days and didn't come out for several years. She was given ECT and if my memory serves me correctly, a lieucotomy, for post natal depression!

Anyhow, enjoy the video clips on our Whitty page and there are also several other asylums on there too, though our Barrow Gurney page is not finished yet. BG was very similar to Aston hall in a lot of ways.


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## TeeJF (Dec 16, 2011)

Ratters said:


> Looks a good place - Shame it's so open & accessable really as it'll soon deteriorate
> 
> Nice bit of history aswell.



Thanks for your kind comments. It would be hard now for Aston Hall to deteriorate much more frankly short of burning down and the chavs have already had one go at doing that... it's disgusting the mentality of some people today.


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## Foxylady (Dec 18, 2011)

TeeJF said:


> - one woman went into the asylum near Leeds for two days and didn't come out for several years. She was given ECT and if my memory serves me correctly, a lieucotomy, for post natal depression!


Oh!!! That's horrendous. Poor, poor woman.  I had the same condition big time for about two years after giving birth but never told anyone. It's a terrible thing to have but does right itself in the end. I can't imagine how awful it must have been for her to have been taken away from her child and subjected to such draconian treatment. My heart goes out to her.


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## TeeJF (Dec 18, 2011)

Yeah, it was an horrendous documentary.


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