Essex County Hospital
History
After previously being a military hospital, in 1818 The Essex & Colchester Hospital was founded after being sold off from the military as it was no longer required. It soon became one of Britain's first general hospitals for the poor. In 1907 the hospital was extended. A new children's ward was added onto the building and the name of the hospital was changed to Essex County Hospital. To which its still called today.
When the first world war broke out, the hospital was also used for auxiliary to those who were injured. Due to more patients coming in, in 1915 additional wooden buildings were built on the site to house those who had been injured. This provided 52 new beds.
After the war ended the hospital was returned to normal. Come recent years the hospital was soon taken on by the NHS after it was founded in 1948. The site then had many new departments added on such as X-Ray wards and Radiotherapy. The hospital used to have a mortuary but that was demolished in 2001 according to one of the Guardians who caught us in there. The site also had surgical ward built towards the back.
Essex County Hospital was a general hospital that specialised in eye surgeries. For this reason the operating rooms were mainly used only for eye surgery. Therefore they do not have satellite lamps.
In 2015 a small sector of the site closed as a department was moved out. Come 2018 the closure of Essex County Hospital was announced as it was no longer needed. All remaining departments were moved to other hospitals by December 2018. Leaving the hospital empty.
It wasn't long before the main building of the hospital was re-used however. It now is home to so called 'Living In Guardians' which seem to be a group of people who are paid to stay in the place and guard it, whilst living a normal life there too. There is on call security who do check ups a few times a day. Mostly the guardians patrol the buildings at their own leisure and kick out most trespassers.
The Explore
So I didn't really know what to expect with this one. After my friend confirming its closure I was intrigued. I soon managed to find out that there were still operating lights inside the theatres so that was enough to make me want to come here. Not really knowing what to expect, we headed on down the very next day to which we found it.
After getting over the tall fence and not having a clue on where to go, we managed to find the old surgery department. Unfortunately on this visit there was no way into this building. We only managed to access the radiotherapy department. Most of the rooms were bare apart from two rooms with big machines in. I believe they were used to treat cancer patients, but i'm not too sure on that. I'm not an expert when it comes to hospital equipment.
Unfortunately we didn't get much time in here as we were caught by one of the lived in guardians...
I did ask him about the operating rooms and he told me the lights had been removed but come our second visit in May I found out that he was lying. As we managed to get in the surgery department this time. However this was the only department we could get in also on this attempt. So come September we made our final visit. We managed to see every building onsite that was fully closed. The X-Ray building I didn't bother taking any photos as it was completely empty. Not even tiles on the floor in some spaces.
Anyway, on with the photos..
The Radiotherapy Department
The Surgical Department
And finally a selfie. The lights are bigger than you think. Mind you I'm only 5,2.
Thanks for reading!
History
After previously being a military hospital, in 1818 The Essex & Colchester Hospital was founded after being sold off from the military as it was no longer required. It soon became one of Britain's first general hospitals for the poor. In 1907 the hospital was extended. A new children's ward was added onto the building and the name of the hospital was changed to Essex County Hospital. To which its still called today.
When the first world war broke out, the hospital was also used for auxiliary to those who were injured. Due to more patients coming in, in 1915 additional wooden buildings were built on the site to house those who had been injured. This provided 52 new beds.
After the war ended the hospital was returned to normal. Come recent years the hospital was soon taken on by the NHS after it was founded in 1948. The site then had many new departments added on such as X-Ray wards and Radiotherapy. The hospital used to have a mortuary but that was demolished in 2001 according to one of the Guardians who caught us in there. The site also had surgical ward built towards the back.
Essex County Hospital was a general hospital that specialised in eye surgeries. For this reason the operating rooms were mainly used only for eye surgery. Therefore they do not have satellite lamps.
In 2015 a small sector of the site closed as a department was moved out. Come 2018 the closure of Essex County Hospital was announced as it was no longer needed. All remaining departments were moved to other hospitals by December 2018. Leaving the hospital empty.
It wasn't long before the main building of the hospital was re-used however. It now is home to so called 'Living In Guardians' which seem to be a group of people who are paid to stay in the place and guard it, whilst living a normal life there too. There is on call security who do check ups a few times a day. Mostly the guardians patrol the buildings at their own leisure and kick out most trespassers.
The Explore
So I didn't really know what to expect with this one. After my friend confirming its closure I was intrigued. I soon managed to find out that there were still operating lights inside the theatres so that was enough to make me want to come here. Not really knowing what to expect, we headed on down the very next day to which we found it.
After getting over the tall fence and not having a clue on where to go, we managed to find the old surgery department. Unfortunately on this visit there was no way into this building. We only managed to access the radiotherapy department. Most of the rooms were bare apart from two rooms with big machines in. I believe they were used to treat cancer patients, but i'm not too sure on that. I'm not an expert when it comes to hospital equipment.
Unfortunately we didn't get much time in here as we were caught by one of the lived in guardians...
I did ask him about the operating rooms and he told me the lights had been removed but come our second visit in May I found out that he was lying. As we managed to get in the surgery department this time. However this was the only department we could get in also on this attempt. So come September we made our final visit. We managed to see every building onsite that was fully closed. The X-Ray building I didn't bother taking any photos as it was completely empty. Not even tiles on the floor in some spaces.
Anyway, on with the photos..
The Radiotherapy Department
The Surgical Department
And finally a selfie. The lights are bigger than you think. Mind you I'm only 5,2.
Thanks for reading!
