Whittingham Asylum, Lancashire - May 2012

[Seffy]

Whittingham Hospital (Whittingham Asylum) - May 2012

Visited with djflava, 114 072 22 and a non-member.

As with most of the asylums, the history has been covered on here and elsewhere many times, but just in case you haven't read about it, here's a snippet from Wikipedia:

Whittingham Hospital, whose grounds adjoin the village of Goosnargh, grew to be the largest mental hospital in the country, and pioneered the use of electroencephalograms (EEGs). During its time it had its own church, farms, railway, telephone exchange, post office, reservoirs, gas works, brewery, orchestra, brass band, ballroom and butchers.
In 1866, the three Lancashire lunatic asylums at Prestwich, Rainhill and Lancaster were deemed to be full. The building of Whittingham Asylum began in 1869, originally to accommodate 1000 patients. It was built from brick made from clay dug on site from a pit which later became a fish pond.
The hospital officially opened on 1 April 1873. The large site included an Anglican church, a Catholic chapel, a recreation hall (also used as a ballroom) and several farms.

We made an early morning entry, even though not as early as first planned, and after a near miss with security, we were in.
This one had been on my list for a while, but just didn't get round to getting up north and doing it. Although it is trashed, I still maintain it was worth it. But when I say trashed, I mean trashed. Even just looking at reports from the place from less than a year ago, it has gone downhill drastically since. Every other step you take, you end up sinking down slightly, there are holes in most of the sections of roof, meaning that everything is completely damp and rotten, making walking through the place full of surprises!

We explored the place uninterrupted, and apart from a slight detour to get out, the day went smoothly.

On with some shots.

 

[perjury saint]

This place looks amazing! Excellent pictures...

 

[urban phantom]

very nice i think its seen better days thanks for sharing

 

[rectory-rat]

Wow that really is trashed and rotting away. Beautifully photo'd though, many thanks for sharing those

-RR

 

[flyboys90]

What a state!,what surprises me is that it looks like the metal miners aint been there? great photos thanks.

 

[Seffy]

Cheers for the comments guys

 

[nelly]

Very nice photos fella, like them a lot

 

[Scaramanger]

Nice reporting there..... It was one soggy floored xplore...

 

[Seffy]

Nice reporting there..... It was one soggy floored xplore...

Indeed it was, I think I missed your best one, although I fell through a few times too

 

[pinkmagpie]

really enjoyed looking at your pictures... we go there a lot... but have not been inside the place yet...

 

[TeeJF]

Nice pics and a lot of areas there I haven't seen yet. It's always good to compare pix, thanks for posting.

Did you have to wade through all the cow poo?

Metal explorers have been inside the place repeatedly Flyboys. When we visited we found some abandoned "harvesting" tools where some of the scrotes had been disturbed. I don't know whya they bother though because the partial demolition years ago meant most of what was worth salvaging is long gone.

 

[Seffy]

Nice pics and a lot of areas there I haven't seen yet. It's always good to compare pix, thanks for posting.

Did you have to wade through all the cow poo?

Metal explorers have been inside the place repeatedly Flyboys. When we visited we found some abandoned "harvesting" tools where some of the scrotes had been disturbed. I don't know whya they bother though because the partial demolition years ago meant most of what was worth salvaging is long gone.

Cheers mate. We did indeed have to go through the poo, but luckily someone had conveniently placed a door which seemed to stay afloat so could walk over it

Yeah it does seem odd actually, makes no sense

I enjoyed reading your report on the place, like you say, good to compare!

 

[Mars Lander]

Great report and pictures you have there Whittingham s a pretty ace splore been there 4 times and still you got some shots of places i still havent seen, nice one

 

[sparky.]

very nice pics love em thanks for sharing

 

[PROJ3CTM4YH3M]

Nice report! I'm going to have to get myself back there before its too late! Only got photos in 1 building last time due to time constraints!

 

[Seffy]

Cheers guys

 

[Sshhhh...]

I love this place,even tho its so trashed, shes still a grand old girl! Your braver than me going up those dodgy looking ladders on the stage. Great pics

 

[sonyes]

Love it!!! Brilliant report and some truly awesome pics ;-)