# Hellingly Asylum 05/2011



## Leeloo (May 16, 2011)

Hello all!

It is with a certain sadness that I post my first report...

Hellingly Hospital, aka The East Sussex County Asylum, first opened in 1903. It was designed by G.T Hine, one of the famous Victorian asylum architects. It was huge, covering over 25 hectares, and in its heyday housing many hundreds of patients. It did not fully close down until 1994. I am sure that many of you are quite familiar with this site, from what I have read it was hailed as something of the urban explorers paradise. Seeing photographs of its fantastic sprawling architecture it really isn't hard to see why.

I was unfortunate enough to not find out about this specific site until last week. Of course I got myself there as quickly as I could, but I was too late, and by the look of it not by a small margin.

The majority of the site is now under demolition, and what remains has largely been gutted.

Although progress is inevitable and essential, I find it sad that a fascinating historical relic has been bulldozed to make way for another anonymous housing estate. Frankly I cant believe that this building was not listed.

There is however one building in the complex still standing empty on the north side of the estate. I will provide a report of this next week.

*IMAGES
*

In order to provide some context to this report, this map details the building as it stands currently. This is as accurate as I can provide, as exploring the entire site is difficult and somewhat dangerous:








East side:






Interiors:











Remains of East side:
















Interiors in Main Building S:


























West Side:






Upstairs Main building S:
















East and south side:












As you can see, the building is in a dangerous condition, we were kitted out with masks, but in the end decided that the structural integrity of the place just wasn't sound enough to go wandering properly.


*VIDEO*

I managed to capture a few short film clips, they are nothing special but should give a an idea of what we were seeing. They can be viewed via the youtube links below.

NOTE: These videos are unlisted, meaning that they are not openly available to all on youtube. You will need these links to view them.

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-AJNUarifo[/nomedia]

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJn0_tuaGbY[/nomedia]

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYcb1ingSKk[/nomedia]

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ7C54FRRos[/nomedia]


Love Leeloo


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## klempner69 (May 16, 2011)

Really good to see the dying embers of a once great explore..spent many very enjoyable hours in this place.Thanks very much for the update LeeLoo


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## mookster (May 16, 2011)

Oh Hellingly, you poor poor girl

So very glad I got to explore this before demolition.

That photo of the west side with the remains of the conservatory, I still remember that as the place we got access on my first trip to Hellingly which was my first ever explore.


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## UrbanX (May 17, 2011)

Wish I'd have been more organised and got down there before demo. Such a shame. Beautiful pics tho.


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## Snips86x (May 17, 2011)

I've been a massive fan of Hellingly for a long time and I've allways wanted to visit the place but time was in short supply, mostly on my part. I wish I'd had more of it to visit this fantastic building. I've been following this site and various posts about this place for years before starting Urbex, but I wish I'd gotten there sooner had I known it was going to be demolished.

Thanks for the pictures Leeloo!


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## Leeloo (May 17, 2011)

Probably should mention that the photographer is not actually me, but my long suffering boyfriend. He has a far better eye for photography than me. I'm just the one that comes up with the crazy plans.

xx


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## zombizza (May 17, 2011)

Aaaaarrrgh
Thats horrendous.
I went back in january and that was too late.

Your penultimate pic shows the remains of what was my favourite room.
That is gutting.


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## waley_bean (May 17, 2011)

Is that the place Most Haunted filmed in? I thought it looked beautiful and was sad they were pulling it down.


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## Leeloo (May 17, 2011)

zombizza said:


> Aaaaarrrgh
> Thats horrendous.
> I went back in january and that was too late.
> 
> ...



 You have my sympathies zombizza

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news


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## matt22272 (May 17, 2011)

I explored hellingly 3 times in the past years and was always amazed at how huge the place was and its such a shame its almost gone, thank you for the great pics


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## klempner69 (May 17, 2011)

waley_bean said:


> Is that the place Most Haunted filmed in? I thought it looked beautiful and was sad they were pulling it down.



They some rubbish at Denbigh.


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## klempner69 (May 17, 2011)

zombizza said:


> Aaaaarrrgh
> Thats horrendous.
> I went back in january and that was too late.
> 
> ...



In happier times..


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## Breesey (May 17, 2011)

Wow...when was that photo taken klmepner? Amazing that it has deteriorated so much.


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## klempner69 (May 17, 2011)

Breesey said:


> Wow...when was that photo taken klmepner? Amazing that it has deteriorated so much.



January 2009...Hellingly holds very good memories for me.


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## mookster (May 18, 2011)

klempner69 said:


> January 2009...Hellingly holds very good memories for me.



Same such a lovely place


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## Woofem (May 18, 2011)

i used to live 10 miles from this place and never thought to go near it, heard lots of spooky chit going on. Sad to see it going


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## mookster (May 19, 2011)

Leeloo said:


> West Side:



More happier times - making our way in on my first ever explore.







>







Goodbye Hellingly


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## ImmortalShadow (May 19, 2011)

One more asylum I'll never get to see  great photos though guys, at least we'll have those!


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## nelly (May 19, 2011)

Nice stuff, havn't got to see this one myself but it looks like a good un.


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