pumice
Well-known member
Severals - April 2013
This was my first trip to this incredible asylum and I can't believe it took me so long! What a truly wonderful explore and a real treat to be found only 50 minutes train journey away from my front door. I had heard many things and seen many, many outstanding pictures, so thought I was aware of the scale and magnificence of this completely inter-connected and wondrous piece of early 20th Century architecture, planning and removal. My first visit to Severals hospital comprised myself and DP member Headflux. It was an exceptional day that entailed the usual ridiculous scrapes and the not usual, friendly security guards! For those that may know Headflux and I, the next sentence will not pass as much of a surprise, but are expected 7am arrival time turned out due to excessive alcohol and silent phones, to be more like 10.30am. An awful time to start exploring, and with the active security, 2 rows of 10ft palisade fencing and heavy hung over heads the likelihood of this misadventure ending with success seemed more than certainly remote!
Given the fact that I have already added 3 photographs to this report, you would be right in assuming that we did indeed succeed in scaling the fences (ermmmm), avoiding security (well once at least) and beating the hangover (not a chance)! The day was brilliant and the site, out of this world. I have seen a few asylums now and I rank this truly heart warming place to be up amongst the best that I have seen; even in it's current dilapidated state. The colours, the grounds, the peeling paint, the vastness, the doors and of course, the corridors! Just wow.......!
But, it isn't just about the corridors. The site is full of dreamy light, better shadows, glass paneled ceilings, endless ornate windows, conservatories, and the promise of much colour in full spring. This is an explore that just goes on forever, with every turn and corridor leading to new wonder and excitement. I loved it so much on this visit that only a day later, I went back out of Liverpool Street to further explore and see what may be seen inside this epic and quite enchanting maze of an asylum. Intending and looking forward to my first solo explore in an age, I left late arriving early afternoon. Entry was enjoyable and probably foolish, but it cannot be discussed here and oddly, I had acquired a keen supernaturalist accomplice who had collared me as I made my way towards the hospital from the street. I did not lone explore, but learnt much more information than I will ever need on what equipment is needed and how to see ghosts(?)! However, we were blessed by a truly stunning sunny afternoon that day, with warm, glorious sunshine, a mild temperature and pleasing light to be found both inside and out! So comes summer it seems.....
For those of you that don't know (I guess that that isn't a lot of you!), Severals Asylum was opened n May, 1913 to the design of architect Frank Whitmore and was to be the second lunatic asylum in Essex. It has a rather dark history for those interested in the treatment of mental ill health through the ages as the psychiatrists here were given free rein to practice brutal techniques such as electro-convulsive therapy and the horrifying frontal lobotomy. It was not until the 1960's that these practices began to change and the more modern approach of medication and therapy overtook the harsh experimental treatments. Still, heavily sedated, living a life being forcibly removed from the world must have been a tortuous punishment for suffering a mental illness. It certainly adds a twist to your feelings when wondering the endless corridors, which are in places painted bright and cheery and you ponder the misery that must have been played out behind these walls. I don't believe in ghosts, but if I were ever to see one, it would certainly be in a place similar to Severals. Such a past entombed beautifully within gigantic and empty (besides security) dereliction. The hospital finally closed in 1997, but had ceased to function as a psychiatric hospital in the early 1990's as mental health care was moved back in to the community.
An interesting fact about the hospital site is that the ground the Community Stadium now sits on, which neighbours the hospital, was once the farm belonging to Severalls. I suppose though that when in its prime, cooking for over 2000 people, a farm would have been necessary to nourish and sustain the patients. I think it demonstrates well the size of the hospital and the many people it must have employed within the local area. Farmers, boilermen, nurses, cleaners, cooks and the list goes on. I don't have that statistic, but I reckon it must have numbered in the high hundreds, if not thousands. The standout location at the hospital is the well sealed water tower. Headflux had photographs from when he had been up there last summer, but on this occasion, due primarily to our lack of explosives or heavy industrial tools, we could not access the steel plated entry point to this listed part of the hospital. Maybe next time, but I think likely not as the hospital and site are listed for sale with planning permission to build over 1200 homes. This has been on hold after a sale fell through not long after the financial crash in 2008, but it seems likely a buyer will eventually be found.
This was my first trip to this incredible asylum and I can't believe it took me so long! What a truly wonderful explore and a real treat to be found only 50 minutes train journey away from my front door. I had heard many things and seen many, many outstanding pictures, so thought I was aware of the scale and magnificence of this completely inter-connected and wondrous piece of early 20th Century architecture, planning and removal. My first visit to Severals hospital comprised myself and DP member Headflux. It was an exceptional day that entailed the usual ridiculous scrapes and the not usual, friendly security guards! For those that may know Headflux and I, the next sentence will not pass as much of a surprise, but are expected 7am arrival time turned out due to excessive alcohol and silent phones, to be more like 10.30am. An awful time to start exploring, and with the active security, 2 rows of 10ft palisade fencing and heavy hung over heads the likelihood of this misadventure ending with success seemed more than certainly remote!
Given the fact that I have already added 3 photographs to this report, you would be right in assuming that we did indeed succeed in scaling the fences (ermmmm), avoiding security (well once at least) and beating the hangover (not a chance)! The day was brilliant and the site, out of this world. I have seen a few asylums now and I rank this truly heart warming place to be up amongst the best that I have seen; even in it's current dilapidated state. The colours, the grounds, the peeling paint, the vastness, the doors and of course, the corridors! Just wow.......!
But, it isn't just about the corridors. The site is full of dreamy light, better shadows, glass paneled ceilings, endless ornate windows, conservatories, and the promise of much colour in full spring. This is an explore that just goes on forever, with every turn and corridor leading to new wonder and excitement. I loved it so much on this visit that only a day later, I went back out of Liverpool Street to further explore and see what may be seen inside this epic and quite enchanting maze of an asylum. Intending and looking forward to my first solo explore in an age, I left late arriving early afternoon. Entry was enjoyable and probably foolish, but it cannot be discussed here and oddly, I had acquired a keen supernaturalist accomplice who had collared me as I made my way towards the hospital from the street. I did not lone explore, but learnt much more information than I will ever need on what equipment is needed and how to see ghosts(?)! However, we were blessed by a truly stunning sunny afternoon that day, with warm, glorious sunshine, a mild temperature and pleasing light to be found both inside and out! So comes summer it seems.....
For those of you that don't know (I guess that that isn't a lot of you!), Severals Asylum was opened n May, 1913 to the design of architect Frank Whitmore and was to be the second lunatic asylum in Essex. It has a rather dark history for those interested in the treatment of mental ill health through the ages as the psychiatrists here were given free rein to practice brutal techniques such as electro-convulsive therapy and the horrifying frontal lobotomy. It was not until the 1960's that these practices began to change and the more modern approach of medication and therapy overtook the harsh experimental treatments. Still, heavily sedated, living a life being forcibly removed from the world must have been a tortuous punishment for suffering a mental illness. It certainly adds a twist to your feelings when wondering the endless corridors, which are in places painted bright and cheery and you ponder the misery that must have been played out behind these walls. I don't believe in ghosts, but if I were ever to see one, it would certainly be in a place similar to Severals. Such a past entombed beautifully within gigantic and empty (besides security) dereliction. The hospital finally closed in 1997, but had ceased to function as a psychiatric hospital in the early 1990's as mental health care was moved back in to the community.
An interesting fact about the hospital site is that the ground the Community Stadium now sits on, which neighbours the hospital, was once the farm belonging to Severalls. I suppose though that when in its prime, cooking for over 2000 people, a farm would have been necessary to nourish and sustain the patients. I think it demonstrates well the size of the hospital and the many people it must have employed within the local area. Farmers, boilermen, nurses, cleaners, cooks and the list goes on. I don't have that statistic, but I reckon it must have numbered in the high hundreds, if not thousands. The standout location at the hospital is the well sealed water tower. Headflux had photographs from when he had been up there last summer, but on this occasion, due primarily to our lack of explosives or heavy industrial tools, we could not access the steel plated entry point to this listed part of the hospital. Maybe next time, but I think likely not as the hospital and site are listed for sale with planning permission to build over 1200 homes. This has been on hold after a sale fell through not long after the financial crash in 2008, but it seems likely a buyer will eventually be found.
Such a magnificent place and a real treasure for the UK. The tagging isn't even that bad and on the painted corridors it's hardly there at all. It's an absolute dream and I intend to head back as soon as it is possible, because I know I have still missed half of it, despite being there around 12 hours in total.
I hope you enjoyed my photographs and the brief story behind the explore. For those that are not keen on pictures at an angle, I have kept many out, but I hope it isn't to bad for you....
Thanks for looking
I hope you enjoyed my photographs and the brief story behind the explore. For those that are not keen on pictures at an angle, I have kept many out, but I hope it isn't to bad for you....
Thanks for looking
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