Explored with jST.
Lord Belper sold the land to the Derby Borough Corporation in 1883, Kingsway Hospital was founded in 1884, and it took two years to build (by Walkerdines) and accepted it's first patients in November 1888. Patients normally stayed at Kingsway for between four weeks and nine months and were given anti-dementia drugs and therapy.
In 1999 plans were hatched for a new hospital were made and patients were moved across after breakfast and a concert in August 2009. The new hospital, called the Ashbourne Centre, has a bank, library, coffee shop, restaurant, chapel, multi-faith centre and a physiotherapy suite.
Most of the old hospital buildings are owned by English Partnerships, a government agency which aims to regenerate communities by providing affordable housing. It has applied to Derby City Council for permission to build 600 homes on the site.
Loads more interesting stuff on it here
We set off nice and early from Leeds, catching the sunrise as we headed down the motorway then, after a brief breakfast stop with some dodgy coffee at McD's, we headed over to the hospital. As soon as we stepped onto the grounds a security guard crossed our path but paid no attention to us, so we headed over to the closed hospital.
After entering and the initial nerves had calmed down we walked straight into a meeting room complete with long table, then headed off on our mooch around the hospital. Whilst in the lower hall we got a bit of a scare as we heard what sounded like high heels very close by. jST chose the flight mode, legging it back down the nearest corridor, creating a hell of a racket on the way, whilst I went for freeze until the noise had subsided.
Calm returned shortly after, although we were still in stealth mode as a lot of the place is open for anyone to look in. After about two hours we bounded down some stairs and were faced with 3 Liverpudlian explorers with their tripods out tapping along the floor with a sound that was remarkably like high heels...
After a bit of a chat and exchanging notes on the possible location of the morgue we headed off in our separate directions, only to bump into them again at the morgue! I was stepping back to take a wide shot when someone exclaimed "Watch out for the shi..." Yes. I stepped in some dirty buggers huge terd. Ace. Everyone exited the scene quickly as I had broken some kind of seal and the place suddenly reeked. Luckily I found an old brush head and a tap that was still on.
We heard the others later on again, and noticed that they were being quite loud, we paid no mind and wandered on, looking for our goal of a green tilting bath. As I was poking about jST informed me that he'd just seen the guys being escorted out by the guard, so we made a quick exit. Whilst we were heading back to the car after a few externals and a lovely apple from a tree out front, when some police in a van pulled up and asked if we had been stopped by security, we were polite and courteous, said no and that we hadn't seen any other explorers and they let us go on our way.
All in all a great day, about 3.5 hours inside.
Thanks for looking
Lord Belper sold the land to the Derby Borough Corporation in 1883, Kingsway Hospital was founded in 1884, and it took two years to build (by Walkerdines) and accepted it's first patients in November 1888. Patients normally stayed at Kingsway for between four weeks and nine months and were given anti-dementia drugs and therapy.
In 1999 plans were hatched for a new hospital were made and patients were moved across after breakfast and a concert in August 2009. The new hospital, called the Ashbourne Centre, has a bank, library, coffee shop, restaurant, chapel, multi-faith centre and a physiotherapy suite.
Most of the old hospital buildings are owned by English Partnerships, a government agency which aims to regenerate communities by providing affordable housing. It has applied to Derby City Council for permission to build 600 homes on the site.
Loads more interesting stuff on it here
We set off nice and early from Leeds, catching the sunrise as we headed down the motorway then, after a brief breakfast stop with some dodgy coffee at McD's, we headed over to the hospital. As soon as we stepped onto the grounds a security guard crossed our path but paid no attention to us, so we headed over to the closed hospital.
After entering and the initial nerves had calmed down we walked straight into a meeting room complete with long table, then headed off on our mooch around the hospital. Whilst in the lower hall we got a bit of a scare as we heard what sounded like high heels very close by. jST chose the flight mode, legging it back down the nearest corridor, creating a hell of a racket on the way, whilst I went for freeze until the noise had subsided.
Calm returned shortly after, although we were still in stealth mode as a lot of the place is open for anyone to look in. After about two hours we bounded down some stairs and were faced with 3 Liverpudlian explorers with their tripods out tapping along the floor with a sound that was remarkably like high heels...
After a bit of a chat and exchanging notes on the possible location of the morgue we headed off in our separate directions, only to bump into them again at the morgue! I was stepping back to take a wide shot when someone exclaimed "Watch out for the shi..." Yes. I stepped in some dirty buggers huge terd. Ace. Everyone exited the scene quickly as I had broken some kind of seal and the place suddenly reeked. Luckily I found an old brush head and a tap that was still on.
We heard the others later on again, and noticed that they were being quite loud, we paid no mind and wandered on, looking for our goal of a green tilting bath. As I was poking about jST informed me that he'd just seen the guys being escorted out by the guard, so we made a quick exit. Whilst we were heading back to the car after a few externals and a lovely apple from a tree out front, when some police in a van pulled up and asked if we had been stopped by security, we were polite and courteous, said no and that we hadn't seen any other explorers and they let us go on our way.
All in all a great day, about 3.5 hours inside.
Thanks for looking
