# St Johns Mental Hospital, Bracebridge Heath - May 2012



## ravenwing93 (May 30, 2012)

> The Asylum was built in 1852 and enlarged on several subsequent occasions.
> 
> It was originally established jointly by Lindsey, Kesteven, Holland, Lincoln, Grimsby and Stamford, and managed by a Board of Visitors appointed by the contributing authorities. Kesteven and Grantham withdrew from the arrangement when the contract of Union expired in 1893 (eventually establishing the Kesteven County Asylum at South Rauceby, 1897).
> 
> ...



There's quite a lot of photos, I know the Report Guide says 10-15, so if you need it chopping down then I can do.

We had a good day here and ended up spending quite a while wandering around. Originally we had the intention of doing a few other sites on the same day but this soon went out of the window when we realised how big this place was. Sadly we didn't manage to get around the entire place although I think we may have come across some parts that I've not seen previously in other reports: Teddy Bears Day Nursery and some sort of archive room complete with a load of deeds to places all over the county.

Externally this place looks fantastic and on the most part the internals seem pretty solid. The main problem areas being the second floor areas and the branch into the west wing from the entrance hall where there seems to of been quite a large fire at some point. Nevertheless quite a lot of interesting features remain including the awesome corridor ceilings and in some areas the wall paper.

Hopefully at some point the developers will finish off their job and complete the conversion to apartments before it's too late.

*Asylum*



























































































*Nursery*








































Thanks for looking


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## UE-OMJ (May 30, 2012)

Bugger me I didnt know St Johns was that well intact... cheers for the update.


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## abel101 (May 30, 2012)

wow!
this place looks awesome some cracking shots aswel!


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## kevsy21 (May 30, 2012)

Well captured,good work.


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## Goldie87 (May 30, 2012)

Interesting to see some different bits, think the nursery was still used last time I was there.


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## prettyvacant71 (May 30, 2012)

Sum great shots there mate! Good use of dof which i often forget about, get abit lazy just f/16 all the time so good to see a nice bit of blur! ...thanks for reminding me not to be so lazy!


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## rectory-rat (May 30, 2012)

Nice! Likewise I had no idea there were intact and furnished parts - I thought it was all pretty much stripped. Must get myself round this place soon as I'm not that far away...

The pic below may interest some of you. Sure it's been seen around before, but offers an illustration of the hospital in its olden days. Scanned from a very old book page I picked up framed at a local auction house...(sorry its not cropped - my first time on Flickr and I can't work it out yet )




Lincoln Hospital Doc 1 by rectory-rat, on Flickr

-RR


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## the kwan (May 30, 2012)

Looks fresh as a daisy, thanks for posting it..nice pics!


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## flyboys90 (May 31, 2012)

Superb photos,thanks for sharing.


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## TeeJF (May 31, 2012)

Listen, what's that I hear? Echooo echooooo echooooo.... 

I'm just going to add to it... I never knew it was so intact!!! I'm staggered. I'd heard all sorts of stories about it being a difficult explore for access with quite on the ball security, and that the state of the place made it barely worth the effort. But it's actually in lovely nick, far better than Whittingham's grotty floors. 

Nice report mate and some cracking pix. Well done.


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## Silent Hill (May 31, 2012)

Nice one mate. I just love St Johns. It's one of the best in my eyes. Shame to see the nursery has shut. Did you manage the cellars?? The ceilings in there are honeycombed too


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## ravenwing93 (May 31, 2012)

Cheers for the comments guys 

Not done the cellars, I'd heard that there's a massive amount of asbestos in the cellar. But we are going back that way soon so will have a look.

Awesome find RR, I presume that part is long gone?


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## onthebusescrazy (May 31, 2012)

Brillant Find Brillant Pictures thank u


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## MD (May 31, 2012)

good stuff 
St Johns has great wallpaper !!


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## Sshhhh... (May 31, 2012)

Great pics! i really must see this place


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## rectory-rat (May 31, 2012)

ravenwing93 said:


> Awesome find RR, I presume that part is long gone?



I assume so from the photos of it I have seen. But I'm hoping to do the place pretty soon so I'll try and match it to some existing buildings if I can...


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## Scaramanger (May 31, 2012)

ooooh... those stairs.....


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## UEP-Wales (May 31, 2012)

WOW! This looks pretty amazing and your photo's are spot on! 

Thanks for posting these


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## UrbanX (May 31, 2012)

I can't believe it's so in tact! 
Awesome photographs! Really show off the spaces like the main hall and the stairs. 
Interesting to see the floor removed and the service void visible too. 
Thanks for sharing, although I can only assume were going to be queuing to get in here now!


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## stevejd (Jun 2, 2012)

rectory-rat said:


> Nice! Likewise I had no idea there were intact and furnished parts - I thought it was all pretty much stripped. Must get myself round this place soon as I'm not that far away...
> 
> The pic below may interest some of you. Sure it's been seen around before, but offers an illustration of the hospital in its olden days. Scanned from a very old book page I picked up framed at a local auction house...(sorry its not cropped - my first time on Flickr and I can't work it out yet )
> 
> ...



Sorry to correct you but it's not St John's. This picture is of The Lawn, another psychiatric hospital that predates St John's and reputedly provided care for mad King Goerge


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## stevejd (Jun 2, 2012)

The Lawn, opened in 1820 as the Lincoln Asylum, was the County's first purpose-built hospital for the treatment of the mentally ill. The Asylum was developed largely through the efforts of local physician, the Reverend Doctor Francis Willis. A caring and pioneering hospital, it was famous for removing all use of physical restraint and isolation and developing instead on a sympathetic and rehabilitative environment for its patients. 

In the mid 1980s, with a change in emphasis towards the care of the mentally ill, the hospital became surplus to health authority requirements and was closed. Lincoln City Council decided to purchase the complex and its eight acres of grounds to establish a new visitor centre. 

The Lawn was officially opened by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales in November 1990 and today includes excellent conference facilities, caters for civil marriages and receptions, and there is a cafe and shops. Special events are also held at the Lawn during the year, located in the many meeting rooms and around its beautiful gardens.

info nicked from a Lincoln council website


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## ravenwing93 (Jun 7, 2012)

Just a quick update to anyone who is thinking of visiting, work is starting in the next two weeks according to security.
Also, I previously said that there was a lack of security, guess I must of been lucky on the day I went the first time, been back again and got busted by secca and dog within about 40 minutes.

Apparently he'd caught 10 other explorers over the weekend 

If you are going then I'd probably go sharpish!


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## rectory-rat (Jun 7, 2012)

stevejd said:


> Sorry to correct you but it's not St John's. This picture is of The Lawn, another psychiatric hospital that predates St John's and reputedly provided care for mad King Goerge



No worries mate, I'd much rather know what the place actually is. I'd just assumed that St Johns was the one and only in Lincoln. Thanks for the info 

-RR


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## stevejd (Jun 10, 2012)

It's now a venue for hire, parties and such
Not much left of the asylum but I believe there is a historical display but thats all


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## LulaTaHula (Jun 10, 2012)

Lovely stuff


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## Lucky Pants (Jun 15, 2012)

Really good pictures will have to make plans to see it myself .


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## Headflux (Jun 21, 2012)

Really great shots.. I'm off there very soon ;-)


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## Ninja Kitten (Jun 21, 2012)

i really need to get here..brill report.


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