thirtyfootscrew
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I've been to Harperbury Hospital at least four times over the last year and I've started to write-up each visit in turn on the Sick Britain blog (see posts tagged Harperbury) but for forum purposes it seems pointless to split all of the visits up so I've rolled them into one big report (note, all photos click through to large versions on Flickr)...
Harperbury was built as a specialised Mental Health / Learning Disability hospital in the period between the first and second world wars, referred to at the time as either an ‘asylum’ or a ‘colony’. At it’s height the place had over 200 staff and over 1,500 patients, for a full historical account of the place please read the excellent History of Harperbury Hospital which goes into quite some depth. The site is quite large but despite those stats the site doesn’t feel like it has the scale of somewhere like Nocton Hospital, partly because many of the buildings are at least 2-storey and the buildings are also quite close together.
The first couple of times I went in April 2008 there I was alone, I only managed to see the 'bottom right' part (as you go down the lane), I tried my hand at light painting and got these shots which I was quite pleased with...
I returned with a friend in October 2008 and encountered other explorers, hornets and assorted hazards. We tried more light painting as well as some 'urbex modelling' shots which were quite cool...
The latest visit was in March 2009 alone once more, this time I made it around to the front-left set of buildings which were mostly sealed but from one that wasn't I did manage to grab these shots...
For some reason Harperbury seems to be a graffiti magnet, despite it's semi-rural location the graffiti changes every time I visit. Some of the more interesting pieces I've come across are...
And to get more of a sense of what the place is like I offer these pics...
Overall it's a cool place to visit, I'm not sure if there's any asbestos but it stinks in places so you'd be better off wearing a mask anyway. The main hazards I've found are hornets nests (if it's the right time of year) and dodgy flooring - I nearly fell through in a couple of places so watch yourself.
If you have any questions please feel free to reply here or get in touch via Sick Britain.
Cheers, TFS.
Harperbury was built as a specialised Mental Health / Learning Disability hospital in the period between the first and second world wars, referred to at the time as either an ‘asylum’ or a ‘colony’. At it’s height the place had over 200 staff and over 1,500 patients, for a full historical account of the place please read the excellent History of Harperbury Hospital which goes into quite some depth. The site is quite large but despite those stats the site doesn’t feel like it has the scale of somewhere like Nocton Hospital, partly because many of the buildings are at least 2-storey and the buildings are also quite close together.
The first couple of times I went in April 2008 there I was alone, I only managed to see the 'bottom right' part (as you go down the lane), I tried my hand at light painting and got these shots which I was quite pleased with...
I returned with a friend in October 2008 and encountered other explorers, hornets and assorted hazards. We tried more light painting as well as some 'urbex modelling' shots which were quite cool...
The latest visit was in March 2009 alone once more, this time I made it around to the front-left set of buildings which were mostly sealed but from one that wasn't I did manage to grab these shots...
For some reason Harperbury seems to be a graffiti magnet, despite it's semi-rural location the graffiti changes every time I visit. Some of the more interesting pieces I've come across are...
And to get more of a sense of what the place is like I offer these pics...
Overall it's a cool place to visit, I'm not sure if there's any asbestos but it stinks in places so you'd be better off wearing a mask anyway. The main hazards I've found are hornets nests (if it's the right time of year) and dodgy flooring - I nearly fell through in a couple of places so watch yourself.
If you have any questions please feel free to reply here or get in touch via Sick Britain.
Cheers, TFS.
