TeeJF
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Not a lot of point doing the full history thing here, everyone knows it by now, so this is a precis instead...
House built way back and then "modernised" to a mock Tudor style late 17 - early 1800s. House and estate lost on a "bet at the races", estate split and sold off but house never sold. Let to Henry Tate of Tate and Lyle fame. Bought by local area health authority as convalescent home in 1934 for 80 male patients, upped to 120 for war. POW camp also built in the grounds at that time.
Change of use to asylum overspill for nearby Denbigh Asylum, but with Care in The Community it was run down in the 80s and abandoned late 80s. Still in very good condition at the beginning of this year (see other reports) but now decaying exponentially. The upper floor corridor is rotten and through in holes where as it appeared to be fully intact and quite sound in January!!! The magnificent oak staircase is being stripped of all it's carved decoration and the entrance hall is also being stripped progressively, presumably to sell the carvings etc off.
We visited on a week day and although we did a huge circuit to get around the back because we saw what we took to be a security hut on site we saw no one whilst we were there except for a couple walking their dog. Little or no internal vandalisation apart from windows and grafitti is also conspicuously absent! All in all a very worthwhile explore AT THE MOMENT.
But it won't last...
Exterior front view at main entrance...
Within the kitchens...
Industrial sized Magi-Mix!!!
Telephone/intercom in kitchen area...
Paging Mr. Davies, Mr. Davies please...
Dining room?
Wonder what happened? The other piece of crime tape we found had the same spiel in Welsh as well as English... *sighs.
Water ingress is bad in the kitchen wing but elsewhere AT THIS TIME it is not so severe and the damage is correspondingly lighter...
Lets desecrate the fine oak panelling with a coat of cream gloss! Gotta love the NHS for their sense of aesthetics!
The first floor corridor is still relatively safe as the water ingress hasn't rotted the floor boards yet. But it's getting rather spongey under foot.
One of many upper floor bedroom fireplaces...
"That" chair!
Undoubtedly photogenic (hello Jen!) and clearly with a mind of it's own, this chair seems to move from room to room of it's own free will...
Quite a visual impact despite the water damage. The second floor corridor was in a much better state earlier in the year.
Many old Victorian houses, ours included, had a system of signalling bells so that the servants could be summoned by tugging on a small handle in say a bedroom. Here you can see the bell pull wires descending the wall and turning through 90 degress on pulleys to run off under the floor boards!
View from an "attic" bedroom window across the adjacent farm land which was originally part of the estate linked to the house.
One of many ornamental spires on the roof.
Seen in another attic bedroom, I'm not at all sure what this was all about!
It would be a brazen explorer that gained entry via this fire escape even though it's perfectly possible. The adjacent buildings are a working farm.
Attention to detail Victorian style!
Up on the roof...
That's quite some mushroom! The smell of this thing was really strong and I wonder just how wise is to inhale the spores? In future we will both carry a rezzy when we're exploring!
At the top of the main stairs, now sadly denuded of most of their magnificent carved wooden panels...
One of the few remaining panels...
They are even robbing the posts and hand rails, these though give an idea of how it once looked...
The staircase seen from the entrance hall...
Behind the front door...
Peeling wall paper here but it's still impressive...
A theatre, however small, seems to be a feature of every asylum...
Drug store...
Old beds and stacking chairs stored in the cellars...
Week (or month?) end catering bills for the staff are scattered over the cellar floor...
Alarm panel?
The back of the building has almost been swallowed up by the overgrown rhododendrons...
On the corner...
...and finally, our parting "shot"...
Hope you enjoyed our take on this popular site! Thanks for looking...
House built way back and then "modernised" to a mock Tudor style late 17 - early 1800s. House and estate lost on a "bet at the races", estate split and sold off but house never sold. Let to Henry Tate of Tate and Lyle fame. Bought by local area health authority as convalescent home in 1934 for 80 male patients, upped to 120 for war. POW camp also built in the grounds at that time.
Change of use to asylum overspill for nearby Denbigh Asylum, but with Care in The Community it was run down in the 80s and abandoned late 80s. Still in very good condition at the beginning of this year (see other reports) but now decaying exponentially. The upper floor corridor is rotten and through in holes where as it appeared to be fully intact and quite sound in January!!! The magnificent oak staircase is being stripped of all it's carved decoration and the entrance hall is also being stripped progressively, presumably to sell the carvings etc off.
We visited on a week day and although we did a huge circuit to get around the back because we saw what we took to be a security hut on site we saw no one whilst we were there except for a couple walking their dog. Little or no internal vandalisation apart from windows and grafitti is also conspicuously absent! All in all a very worthwhile explore AT THE MOMENT.
But it won't last...
Exterior front view at main entrance...
Within the kitchens...
Industrial sized Magi-Mix!!!
Telephone/intercom in kitchen area...
Paging Mr. Davies, Mr. Davies please...
Dining room?
Wonder what happened? The other piece of crime tape we found had the same spiel in Welsh as well as English... *sighs.
Water ingress is bad in the kitchen wing but elsewhere AT THIS TIME it is not so severe and the damage is correspondingly lighter...
Lets desecrate the fine oak panelling with a coat of cream gloss! Gotta love the NHS for their sense of aesthetics!
The first floor corridor is still relatively safe as the water ingress hasn't rotted the floor boards yet. But it's getting rather spongey under foot.
One of many upper floor bedroom fireplaces...
"That" chair!
Undoubtedly photogenic (hello Jen!
) and clearly with a mind of it's own, this chair seems to move from room to room of it's own free will...
Quite a visual impact despite the water damage. The second floor corridor was in a much better state earlier in the year.
Many old Victorian houses, ours included, had a system of signalling bells so that the servants could be summoned by tugging on a small handle in say a bedroom. Here you can see the bell pull wires descending the wall and turning through 90 degress on pulleys to run off under the floor boards!
View from an "attic" bedroom window across the adjacent farm land which was originally part of the estate linked to the house.
One of many ornamental spires on the roof.
Seen in another attic bedroom, I'm not at all sure what this was all about!
It would be a brazen explorer that gained entry via this fire escape even though it's perfectly possible. The adjacent buildings are a working farm.
Attention to detail Victorian style!
Up on the roof...
That's quite some mushroom! The smell of this thing was really strong and I wonder just how wise is to inhale the spores? In future we will both carry a rezzy when we're exploring!
At the top of the main stairs, now sadly denuded of most of their magnificent carved wooden panels...
One of the few remaining panels...
They are even robbing the posts and hand rails, these though give an idea of how it once looked...
The staircase seen from the entrance hall...
Behind the front door...
Peeling wall paper here but it's still impressive...
A theatre, however small, seems to be a feature of every asylum...
Drug store...
Old beds and stacking chairs stored in the cellars...
Week (or month?) end catering bills for the staff are scattered over the cellar floor...
Alarm panel?
The back of the building has almost been swallowed up by the overgrown rhododendrons...
On the corner...
...and finally, our parting "shot"...
Hope you enjoyed our take on this popular site! Thanks for looking... 
