# Rauceby Hospital and Chapel, Lincolnshire - January 2013



## shatners (Jan 14, 2013)

Explore number two on our whistle stop tour, not a lot left here. Most of the buildings are just shells with everything including the plaster on the wall having been removed. It is however a big site and a nice sedate explore.

Thanks again to MrToby and Skankypants for their excellent company.

Appologies again for the lack of processing on the photos again, Im knackers deep in nappies at the moment but I have converted them to black and white and cropped them where needed, never ususaly do much black and white but it suited this site somehow. Taken again with EOS 7D and 30mm 1.4 / 10-20mm 3.5.

Thanks for looking.

The hospital was designed by GT Hine, construction began in 1897 and was completed in 1902. Operated by the Kesteven County Council the facility was renamed to Kesteven Mental Hospital in 1924 and to Rauceby Mental Hospital in 1933.

In 1940 the building was taken over by the Royal Air Force, renamed as No.4 RAF Hospital Rauceby it became a crash and burns unit under the control of nearby RAF Cranwell. During its tenure as a burns unit plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe worked at the facility, along with other members of the "Guinea Pig Club".

The wartime Burns Unit was situated in Orchard House, built alongside the hospital orchard - one of the last remaining parts of Rauceby Mental Hospital to remain in NHS use as offices for the former Lincolnshire South West PCT following the Mental Health Hospital's closure in 1998.

An isolation hospital, built on the western edge of the site was never used as such; instead it housed those residents working on the farm[5] and now functions as a 12-bedded in-patient unit for age 12-18 years within the child and adolescent mental health services under the control of the Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust).

The main hall burnt down in 1947 marking the end of RAF control, the NHS took over the site the following year renaming it to Rauceby Hospital and returning patients that had previously been displaced.

The South Lincolnshire Community & Mental Health Services NHS Trust closed the main hospital building in 1997, whilst retaining Orchard House as the Trust's headquarters and Ash Villa on Willoughby Road as a Special School.

After standing unused and, with the main building in a deteriorating state of repair, David Wilson Homes began redevelopment work on the site in 2004. Following public consultation, the site and its surroundings (including Rauceby railway station) were officially renamed as Greylees, although the developer continues to refer to the housing development as De Vessey Fields






































































































​Thanks for looking!


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## abel101 (Jan 14, 2013)

Nice set 
the black and white shots certainly give it a nice touch, an you certainly get a real feel of the place

Thanks!


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## skankypants (Jan 14, 2013)

Spot on mate!


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## shatners (Jan 14, 2013)

Cheers mate, MrTobys staircase is looking pretty amazing on Flickr


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## flyboys90 (Jan 14, 2013)

Very nice photos.


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## Wendy Lou (Jan 14, 2013)

Gorgeous photos! I bet it was amazingly interesting!


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## Stealthstar79 (Jan 14, 2013)

Your pictures make the place look real good!
Wish I had done this 1 years ago, thanks for sharing!


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## Pen15 (Jan 14, 2013)

Black and white really adds to these types of places and with images like that you don't need to apologise about the lack of processing. They're Great !!


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## Runner (Jan 14, 2013)

Great shots Shatners, those monos look a treat.


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## shatners (Jan 16, 2013)

Cheers everyone... appreciate the kind words. I tend to like pictures from any explore that has dramatic lighting or shadows converted to B&W.


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## mrtoby (Jan 16, 2013)

you made it look sooooo much better than it is-top stuff...


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## Sshhhh... (Jan 16, 2013)

Fantastic pics! really gives the place a dark atmosphere. Wouldnt mind seeing this place


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## shatners (Jan 24, 2013)

My friend went up today to take a of pictures of the chappel and was stalked by a ranting man with a daft dog... I think its the same bloke who followed us around for ten minutes asking what we were doing, hes a local resident with a chip on his shoulder. I think he was behaving as he had his wife with him when we were there but my mate said he was shouting and hitting walls with a plank of wood so they gave it a miss... just a heads up for anyone else heading over lol


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## UrbanX (Jan 24, 2013)

You know your photos are good when:
You can make Rauceby look good

Stunning shots, just beautiful. I almost didn't bother getting my camera out when I went, but almost wanna get back now! Inspiring.


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