On 13 Jun 2010 at 8:26pm Dave wrote:
Has anyone ever been inside the abandoned Hellingly Mental Asylum?
On 13 Jun 2010 at 10:08pm MC wrote:
No, but it looks absolutely fascinating.
www.forbidden-places.net/urban-exploration-hellingly-asylum
On 13 Jun 2010 at 10:37pm MC wrote:
It's even got its own Facebook page
On 13 Jun 2010 at 10:40pm MC wrote:
Best photos here:
www.smashingshare.com/2010/06/09/hellingly-asylum-mental-hospital-photos/
Must visit this place
On 14 Jun 2010 at 4:52pm Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
I've driven round it, and it's heart breaking - all those enormous buildings going to ruin. I wish they'd convert it to flats or soemthing, like they did with Laughton Lodge.
On 14 Jun 2010 at 4:58pm Brixtonbelle wrote:
I think I saw on BBc local recently it's going to be part demolished and redeveloped soon.
//news.bbc.co.uk/local/sussex/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8406000/8406466.stm
On 14 Jun 2010 at 5:52pm Julia Squeezer wrote:
Annette is right; it's heartbreaking. My father spent the last thirteen months of his life there as a result of Altzheimers. The staff were magnificent in the care they offered him, the support they gave my mother, and the fact that the atmosphere of the place was such that I could easily take my two small children with me to visit him.
The hospital was supposedly closed to save money, but was left to rot. Never, never, never trust the Tories on health care.
On 14 Jun 2010 at 7:18pm DrTrickCyclist wrote:
Its worth pointing out that much of the site is still in use by the local mental health trust (Sussex Partnership). At the moment there is the regional secure unit (Ashen Hill) another lower security unit (Southview), some specialist therapy services for women and the administrative base for the area. There is also Amberstone rehab hospital about a mile away.
Forbidden places is worth a look as the photos are quite good but they have left out all the ones of staff's cars (not to mention people having a fag break outside).
When the adult and older people's wards were closed they begs were located in Eastbourne and Tunbridge wells. Eastbourne currently serves Lewes. Unfortunately the Tun Wells ward was moved to Maidstone a few years back. A modern facility but quite far for families to visit.
The Bowhill building ad Hellingly (in use as a management base until a couple of years back has been sold to developers though I am slightly out of touch as to whether that's going ahead in these financially straitened times. There are still some other delelict buildings but that obsiouslyt is not such a dramatic way of putting it.
When the hospital was
On 14 Jun 2010 at 9:14pm DrTrickCyclist wrote:
Sorry that last message a bit gibberish. MrsTC hassling me for dinner during writing.
I did mean to add that I should thing there are many people looking at this list who have had some recent association with Hellingly.
On 15 Jun 2010 at 9:37pm Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
I know the Mental Helath in Primary Care Team are based at Bowhill, but I hadn't heard that it had been sold.
When you drive round the site, there's a lot more of it empty and festering than occupied.
On 16 Jun 2010 at 9:45am Down and Out wrote:
I used to work in mental health. There's a hospital in South London where the main Victorian asylum building is still in use as an admin wing. There are two entrance doors, which now have NHS signs over the top. The signs conceal the original stone carving - over each doorway is written 'Idiots' and 'Imbeciles'. I'm afraid I can't help chuckling at the quite extraordinarily un-PC-ness of that.
On 16 Jun 2010 at 11:09pm Brixtonbelle wrote:
You have to tell us which one it is - as a former saaarrff Londoner I would love to know.
On 18 Jun 2010 at 7:23am Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
I was wondering that too, BB. Maudsley perhaps?
On 19 Jun 2010 at 7:36pm Brixtonbelle wrote:
I think all of Maudsley is still in use - it's part of the King's complex in Denmark Hill.
I was wondering whether it's the old Dulwich Hospital or the now closed Bolingbroke ?
On 20 Jun 2010 at 5:04pm Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
What was the one in Tooting called and is it still open? Could it be that one?
On 20 Jun 2010 at 5:12pm Clifford wrote:
Is that Springfield ACT? I think part of it is still open but most of it has been demolished and a big estate of flats built there.
On 20 Jun 2010 at 5:18pm Brightonbird wrote:
I did my student nurse training there in the early 80s. Terrible shame it closed due to "Care in the Community" bill, meaning majority of the patients - a lot of them institutionalised were left to fend for themselves in inappropriate B&B accommodation 
It was a great training hospital with high levels of care, which I discovered particularly when I went to work in St Francis Hospital in Haywards Heath and they were treating patients in the dark ages!
On 21 Jun 2010 at 10:14am Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
It was Springfield, thank you Clifford.
You must be the kiss of death to hospitals, Brightonbird - St Francis is closed now! Mind you. I suppose that's true of most of the big old "asylums" though - Croydon had two, both now closed and houses built on the sites, I believe.
On 21 Jun 2010 at 2:36pm Down and Out wrote:
Just noticed this thread is still going. Yes, Springfield. Think I'm correct in saying that a whole load of the original buildings are now boarded up pending redevelopment. SLAM are trying to get permission to shoe-horn several million rabbit-hutch flats onto the site to raise cash for hospital developments, much to the annoyance of the local community. There are still several working MH units on the site.
On 21 Jun 2010 at 8:30pm Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
It's very sad imo. Some of those old hospitals are lovely buildings, it would be so much better if they could keep the exterior fabric of the building and make flats etc out the existing building, like they did at St Francis's.
The one at Warlingham in Surrey had a magnificent Victorian water tower, I hope they at least managed to save that.
On 22 Jun 2010 at 1:54pm henry wrote:
Yes, I was there for eight wonderful years. I should really have been on my throne on the Isle of Wight but my courtiers recommended the southern counties. It was a wonderful palace, the grounds are magnificent and truly fit for a King! As well the superb ballroom was frequently used for entertainment fitting a King, indeed I met and married my Queen at Hellingly Palace. Times are different now, as I am quite elderly. Also my Queen passed away and due to ill health exagerrated by melancholy I was unable to rule efficiently. I am told my successor, King Cameron, is doing a marvellous job of ruling the kingdom