North Wales Hospital, Denbigh - December 2012

[Seffy]

North Wales Hospital (Denbigh County Asylum), Denbigh - December 2012

Visited with Lowrijen37, mr_bones and a non-member.

Some history, although we all know about this place:

The North Wales Lunatic Asylum was the first psychiatric institution built in Wales; construction began in 1844 and completed in 1848 in the town of Denbigh. It was original called ‘The North Wales Counties of Caernarvonshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Merionethshire and Anglesey Asylum'.
The U-shaped Tudorbethain style hospital was built due to the spreading word of mistreatment of Welsh people in English asylums; The North Wales Hospital would be a haven for welsh speaking residents to seek treatment without prejudice or a language barrier.
Renovations and extensions were made at the hospital from 1867 until 1956, when the hospital reached its maximum capacity at 1,500 patients living inside her walls and 1,000 staff at hand. Physical treatments such as Cardiazol, malarial treatment, insulin shock treatment, and sulphur based drugs were used and developed in the 1920s and 1930s, and 1941-1942 saw the advent of electro convulsive therapy (ECT) and pre-frontal leucotomy (lobotomy) treatments.
In 1960, Enoch Powell visited the North Wales Hospital, and later announced the “Hospital Plan” for England and Wales, which proposed that psychiatric care facilities be attached to general hospitals and favored community care over institutional settings. This was the beginning of the end for the North Wales Hospital and others like it; in 1987 a ten year strategy to close the hospital was formed. The North Wales Hospital was closed in sections from 1991 to 2002; most notable was the closure of the main hospital building in 1995.
The future of the grade II* listed buildings remain uncertain. UK Living presented a ‘Most Haunted Live’ show during Halloween 2008 which drew local criticism at the poor understanding of mental health issues and general slurs on the local town and area.
On the 22nd November 2008 the main hall was subject to an arson attack, resulting in the complete demolition of the hall. This halted all further development plans on the site which has now stood derelict for a further 2 years.

BBC news story about the compulsory works on the listed buildings.

The North Wales Hospital has been on my to-do list ever since I first started exploring, and one that I am gutted I haven't been able to see up until now. Due to the recent works being done to the listed buildings, as well as out of control security, I thought it wasn't worth travelling the long distance for. Luckily, knowing Lowri who lives down the road from it, I was able to get regular updates, and as soon as I knew the builders had all gone, and business was back to normal, I got onto organising a trip.

Luckily, Beardie was no where to be seen at the start of the day, and sure enough, appeared to stay away for the entire trip as we didn't see or hear a peep from him. Although that is a good thing, I sort of would have liked to meet him all the same! This meant a nice relaxed explore and even meant it was a lot easier to climb up high to get some good views in too.

A massive thanks to Lowri and Marlon for meeting us there and giving us the guided tour and making the trip run smoothly :thumb

Annoyingly, due to water, lens misting up and general stupidity, my photos are nothing to write home about, but was still good to be able to document the place all the same. I also seemed to get far more externals than internals, mainly as now that is where the main interest lies. Still some interesting features inside however.

Piccies:

Cheers :thumb​

 

[skankypants]

Very nice!thanks for posting..

 

[wherever i may roam]

You can never tire of seeing reports from this place...

 

[MrDan]

Vote Ginger?
Love the external shots here!!

 

[Bones out]

Great to see her so well documented after a long break in reports...... . Im glad you never saw Beardy, the guy is a real tool fella......

 

[Pen15]

Good to see inside.

We never got that chance lol

Nice set of images!!

 

[UE-OMJ]

Great photos.

Luckily, Beardie was no where to be seen at the start of the day, and sure enough, appeared to stay away for the entire trip as we didn't see or hear a peep from him. Although that is a good thing, I sort of would have liked to meet him all the same!

I'm with you on this one, if you go there you at least want to bump into Beardy on the way out or something - he is part of the explore

 

[UrbanX]

Nothing to apologise about here, fantastic photos! Spot on, always love seeing pics of this place

 

[robbie1003]

i went 3 yearsago and was blown away by the place, spent hours in there, otherhalf was pooping herself because it had a very spooky feeling. like many others i watched the most haunted and since then it was a place i wanted to visit and im glad i did. nice report, good to see the old place again. i must make another trip befor its too late.

 

[Mars Lander]

Great shots you have their , never been on any of the roofs before or met beardy in person before altho he did come just as we left the site in a Black vehicle now, not white van

 

[ZerO81]

Very nice shots there mate. Was quite surprised to see bits still left in Admin (the door and the 'red' stair case), looks like there is still stuff to see.

 

[Silent Hill]

So many sections in here that once used to house a floor where I once trod

The exterior has taken a battering too. Still has that Architectural wonder about her though

 

[sonyes]

Cracking pics and report

 

[Ellis]

You can see the difference here from previous reports, she's slowly giving in.

 

[skankypants]

Great set of shots,thanks..

 

[TeeJF]

Ooooo, there's a bit more left than I thought there would be. When we visited they were literally ripping the middle out of the place and we thought there would be zip left to see when they finished. Did you not do the nurse's home when you went? We've not done that yet.

 

[Seffy]

Thanks for the comments guys

Ooooo, there's a bit more left than I thought there would be. When we visited they were literally ripping the middle out of the place and we thought there would be zip left to see when they finished. Did you not do the nurse's home when you went? We've not done that yet.

Sadly we didn't have time to get to the nurse's home, as we still had a lot of miles to cover

 

[Ramsgatonian]

I've never realised this place was quite so massive!

You've captured it well!

 

[prettyvacant71]

Glorious shots!!! Great first pic of front of place, luv the high shots....and that red door hanging off where the floors fallen through...mad!

Ive wanted to get to see that place for years and now ive seen ur pics its hurting!!

Cheers for sharin dude

 

[Menzo1982]

Hi Seffy,

Im looking at going here how can you find it i cant locate it anywhere for the address?

Great pics