After a nice relaxing day in Edinburgh looking at body parts in jars at the Surgeons Museum H and I met up with some of my best mates for a few drinks. One of them had recently been up to Cardross to see St Peters Seminary with another one of our mates, and to my annoyance they got in. We tried in June and got caught! He really wanted to join us for an explore, and after several pints of beer we agreed he could come along and decided to visit Bangour the next day.
We set off early feeling a bit fragile and finally arrived and parked up. We scrambled our way through the bushes and approached the first building. As I was rolling a cigarette we walked round the corner to find the security in his 4x4 parked up. ****! Great start. To our amazement, as we backed off he fired up the engine and drove off! Er... ok!
As we walked from building to building realising nothing was accessible I was beginning to give up hope. A lot of places have their windows bricked up, the rest boarded. Our friend drove past us in his 4x4 so we smiled and waved, and he did the same and kept going. That was the last we saw of him. As we got further into this vast site I spotted a few tell tale signs that proved to be useful.
The first access point we found was absolutely stupid. I decided to go first. Its always fun having a tight squeeze, ripping your jeans, trying not to fall through the rotten floor boards and aiming for the support beams. But my god it was worth it. We got lucky a few more times, but we spent longer looking outside than we did inside. This places is huge.
Some history:
"Bangour Village Hospital was a psychiatric hospital located west of Dechmont in West Lothian, Scotland. It was officially opened in October 1906 (under the name Edinburgh District Asylum), over two years after the first patients were admitted in June 1904. In 1918 Bangour General Hospital was created in the grounds, but the hospital began winding down in 1989 with services being transferred to the newly built St. John's Hospital in the Howden area of Livingston. The final ward at Bangour eventually closed in 2004.
The hospital was modelled on the example of the Alt-Scherbitz asylum of the 1870s, at Schkeuditz, Germany, and represents one of the first village-plan psychiatric hospitals in Scotland. The Bangour institution comprised individual villas which would house approximately 30 patients each. The village also incorporated its own railway connection, a farm, bakery, workshops, recreation hall, school, shop, library and, latterly, a multi-denominational church.
The hospital was requisitioned by the War Office during both wars when it became the "Edinburgh War Hospital" and "The Scottish Emergency Medical Hospital", reverting to a psychiatric hospital between the wars and after 1945.
The number of patients rose to over 3,000 in 1918. Temporary marquees and prefabricated huts were erected to cope with the demand for bed space, for both patients and staff. This led to the creation of Bangour General Hospital in the surrounding grounds, which was to become a world leader in many medical fields, in particular its esteemed burns and plastic surgery unit which was established in 1940. It also had a 1st class Maternity Unit serving the whole of the county.
In 1989, St John's Hospital opened in nearby Livingston, and services were transferred from Bangour General Hospital, which closed in the early 1990s. The Village Hospital also started to wind down after the opening of St Johns, with the last remaining ward closing in 2004."
This was explore number 3 of the 4, so my last one to post from the trip. This was supposed to be a quick mooch with a mate, but turned into a great day out. We missed so much here. I will return next time, less hungover!
Some externals:
This was the first building we accessed:
Inside:
Now a selection of the other buildings:
A great way to see off a hangover and waste a day. I cannot wait for my next trip!
Thanks for looking!
We set off early feeling a bit fragile and finally arrived and parked up. We scrambled our way through the bushes and approached the first building. As I was rolling a cigarette we walked round the corner to find the security in his 4x4 parked up. ****! Great start. To our amazement, as we backed off he fired up the engine and drove off! Er... ok!
As we walked from building to building realising nothing was accessible I was beginning to give up hope. A lot of places have their windows bricked up, the rest boarded. Our friend drove past us in his 4x4 so we smiled and waved, and he did the same and kept going. That was the last we saw of him. As we got further into this vast site I spotted a few tell tale signs that proved to be useful.
The first access point we found was absolutely stupid. I decided to go first. Its always fun having a tight squeeze, ripping your jeans, trying not to fall through the rotten floor boards and aiming for the support beams. But my god it was worth it. We got lucky a few more times, but we spent longer looking outside than we did inside. This places is huge.
Some history:
"Bangour Village Hospital was a psychiatric hospital located west of Dechmont in West Lothian, Scotland. It was officially opened in October 1906 (under the name Edinburgh District Asylum), over two years after the first patients were admitted in June 1904. In 1918 Bangour General Hospital was created in the grounds, but the hospital began winding down in 1989 with services being transferred to the newly built St. John's Hospital in the Howden area of Livingston. The final ward at Bangour eventually closed in 2004.
The hospital was modelled on the example of the Alt-Scherbitz asylum of the 1870s, at Schkeuditz, Germany, and represents one of the first village-plan psychiatric hospitals in Scotland. The Bangour institution comprised individual villas which would house approximately 30 patients each. The village also incorporated its own railway connection, a farm, bakery, workshops, recreation hall, school, shop, library and, latterly, a multi-denominational church.
The hospital was requisitioned by the War Office during both wars when it became the "Edinburgh War Hospital" and "The Scottish Emergency Medical Hospital", reverting to a psychiatric hospital between the wars and after 1945.
The number of patients rose to over 3,000 in 1918. Temporary marquees and prefabricated huts were erected to cope with the demand for bed space, for both patients and staff. This led to the creation of Bangour General Hospital in the surrounding grounds, which was to become a world leader in many medical fields, in particular its esteemed burns and plastic surgery unit which was established in 1940. It also had a 1st class Maternity Unit serving the whole of the county.
In 1989, St John's Hospital opened in nearby Livingston, and services were transferred from Bangour General Hospital, which closed in the early 1990s. The Village Hospital also started to wind down after the opening of St Johns, with the last remaining ward closing in 2004."
This was explore number 3 of the 4, so my last one to post from the trip. This was supposed to be a quick mooch with a mate, but turned into a great day out. We missed so much here. I will return next time, less hungover!
Some externals:
This was the first building we accessed:
Inside:
Now a selection of the other buildings:
A great way to see off a hangover and waste a day. I cannot wait for my next trip!
Thanks for looking!
