The History
Hellingly Hospital began construction in 1898 and first opened in 1903 as East Sussex County Lunatic Asylum. Originally, East and West Sussex shared a joint asylum, being St. Francis at Haywards Heath when the county was still one body. When it split into east and west in 1889, East Sussex needed its own institution. So in a way this was Sussex Second County Asylum, although not strictly so. St. Francis and Hellingly provide examples of typical change in asylum design, with the first being of ornate Italiante style in a corridor plan, and Hellingly being the more streamlined compact arrow plan in Neo-Georgian style. Hellingly was designed by the well-regarded George T. Hine, who popularised the plan. The main building closed in 1994. Clearance began in the mid-2010s. Some of the wards were converted into flats, whilst the chapel and four villas also survive in their largely original state, with three villas still in use by the NHS.
Aerial photograph of the north of the hospital site from 1932 (Britain From Above/Aerofilms Collection Ltd).
Homestead Villa (front), with the chapel and then Woodside Villa beyond, and The Firs villa surrounded by trees to the rear.
On the eastern side is the main hospital building, showing its admin building opposite the chapel with female wards behind.
The Explore
Explored between Christmas Day and New Years Eve with @KismetJ. We took quite a long drive down here at a loss of closer things to see, but it was worth a mooch about. Encountered some local teenagers acting shifty when there, but not the yoof sort. We heard them inside the derp block at first, so decided to check the chapel instead. A few of these lads kept wandering along the back of the chapel alone as though patrolling or cutting through. When we did the derp block, we encountered a random kid at the end of the path waiting near the bushes. 'What's the best way in mate?' I said, and he just awkwardly responded after some silence 'ehh I don't think you can get in mate'. My guess is he was either selling a bit of gear or giving out favours for pocket money, or maybe they were just overly cautious about exploring. It became very foggy but this only added to the atmosphere, and made for a mildly chaotic drive home down the country lanes. Not like we saw anything special of this once impressive asylum, but it was nice to see what was left and tick another off the list. I've been shooting surviving asylum buildings in b&w 35mm film but sadly I had no film left so had to do without and stick to digital. Would have loved to have seen the hall back in the day, that looked incredible.
The Chapel
The chapel at Hellingly has stood vacant for a while, but appears to have fairly recently opened up. Once inside we had a wander round and shot a few photos, really I should have used a tripod but we were fighting daylight with the rest still to see. It's an impressive large space as to be expected, and has some nice brickwork, although is largely stripped bare inside. The sides of the building have been fitted out with plasterboard offices or something also containing filestore archive shelves, presumably from a business owning the chapel before abandoning it again. Apparently the chapel was much nicer once and its safe to say has gone downhill. Still, I never expected to see inside it and it made the journey more worthwhile.
The Converted Wards
The two echelons of wards at the southern end of the site have been partially kept and converted into flats. Not the most interesting to look at now but I took a few snaps for the sake of completion.
Eastern wards for female patients.
Western wards for male patients.
Homestead Villa
This is believed to have been a male chronic block for patients alledgedly working on the local farms, which would have been suited to longer-term patients with no forseaable life outside the asylum. I've known about this for a while and meant to get down here a good while ago, but heading to the south coast isn't really en route to anything just to see one derp. Unfortunately this place has been rinsed, it's had a lot of unwanted attention especially after Bloe Feller's YouTube videos. It was pretty rubbish but we still managed to get some reasonable shots with a bit of creative lighting. Some nice orange tiling in here typical of many asylums, a bit like Rauceby and nearly as wrecked.
Unusually this villa had a sort of cellar, bricked up but may have led to utility tunnels.
What I'm gonna guess is a small water pump in the cellar.
Going upstairs.
Not all rooms up here were worth photographing.
Woodside Villa
This was a block for mentally handicapped children. Still in use by the NHS at the entrance to their remaining site. Bet it's pretty good inside still, maybe one day we'll see.
The Firs Villa
This villa was another behind Woodside of similar design also still in use by the NHS, although a bit smaller.
South View Villa
A modern medium-secure unit called The Hellingly Centre was built near here which still functions and as such feels a bit like a prison on the approach. At the entrance to this is an original villa still in use.
That's all folks
Hellingly Hospital began construction in 1898 and first opened in 1903 as East Sussex County Lunatic Asylum. Originally, East and West Sussex shared a joint asylum, being St. Francis at Haywards Heath when the county was still one body. When it split into east and west in 1889, East Sussex needed its own institution. So in a way this was Sussex Second County Asylum, although not strictly so. St. Francis and Hellingly provide examples of typical change in asylum design, with the first being of ornate Italiante style in a corridor plan, and Hellingly being the more streamlined compact arrow plan in Neo-Georgian style. Hellingly was designed by the well-regarded George T. Hine, who popularised the plan. The main building closed in 1994. Clearance began in the mid-2010s. Some of the wards were converted into flats, whilst the chapel and four villas also survive in their largely original state, with three villas still in use by the NHS.
Aerial photograph of the north of the hospital site from 1932 (Britain From Above/Aerofilms Collection Ltd).
Homestead Villa (front), with the chapel and then Woodside Villa beyond, and The Firs villa surrounded by trees to the rear.
On the eastern side is the main hospital building, showing its admin building opposite the chapel with female wards behind.
The Explore
Explored between Christmas Day and New Years Eve with @KismetJ. We took quite a long drive down here at a loss of closer things to see, but it was worth a mooch about. Encountered some local teenagers acting shifty when there, but not the yoof sort. We heard them inside the derp block at first, so decided to check the chapel instead. A few of these lads kept wandering along the back of the chapel alone as though patrolling or cutting through. When we did the derp block, we encountered a random kid at the end of the path waiting near the bushes. 'What's the best way in mate?' I said, and he just awkwardly responded after some silence 'ehh I don't think you can get in mate'. My guess is he was either selling a bit of gear or giving out favours for pocket money, or maybe they were just overly cautious about exploring. It became very foggy but this only added to the atmosphere, and made for a mildly chaotic drive home down the country lanes. Not like we saw anything special of this once impressive asylum, but it was nice to see what was left and tick another off the list. I've been shooting surviving asylum buildings in b&w 35mm film but sadly I had no film left so had to do without and stick to digital. Would have loved to have seen the hall back in the day, that looked incredible.
The Chapel
The chapel at Hellingly has stood vacant for a while, but appears to have fairly recently opened up. Once inside we had a wander round and shot a few photos, really I should have used a tripod but we were fighting daylight with the rest still to see. It's an impressive large space as to be expected, and has some nice brickwork, although is largely stripped bare inside. The sides of the building have been fitted out with plasterboard offices or something also containing filestore archive shelves, presumably from a business owning the chapel before abandoning it again. Apparently the chapel was much nicer once and its safe to say has gone downhill. Still, I never expected to see inside it and it made the journey more worthwhile.
The Converted Wards
The two echelons of wards at the southern end of the site have been partially kept and converted into flats. Not the most interesting to look at now but I took a few snaps for the sake of completion.
Eastern wards for female patients.
Western wards for male patients.
Homestead Villa
This is believed to have been a male chronic block for patients alledgedly working on the local farms, which would have been suited to longer-term patients with no forseaable life outside the asylum. I've known about this for a while and meant to get down here a good while ago, but heading to the south coast isn't really en route to anything just to see one derp. Unfortunately this place has been rinsed, it's had a lot of unwanted attention especially after Bloe Feller's YouTube videos. It was pretty rubbish but we still managed to get some reasonable shots with a bit of creative lighting. Some nice orange tiling in here typical of many asylums, a bit like Rauceby and nearly as wrecked.
Unusually this villa had a sort of cellar, bricked up but may have led to utility tunnels.
What I'm gonna guess is a small water pump in the cellar.
Going upstairs.
Not all rooms up here were worth photographing.
Woodside Villa
This was a block for mentally handicapped children. Still in use by the NHS at the entrance to their remaining site. Bet it's pretty good inside still, maybe one day we'll see.
The Firs Villa
This villa was another behind Woodside of similar design also still in use by the NHS, although a bit smaller.
South View Villa
A modern medium-secure unit called The Hellingly Centre was built near here which still functions and as such feels a bit like a prison on the approach. At the entrance to this is an original villa still in use.
That's all folks
