Here is a blast from the past!
The recent report from Rauceby made me trawl through the archive to have a look at the compact camera snaps we took on that epic summer of asylum battering.
In those days the place really had been left and forgotten about. No security, no fences. Just doors swinging in the breeze on an enormous building still packed full of vintage hospital goodness.
Turk and I popped out at one point to trawl the near by building site to find a ladder to access the clock tower, which was in pristine condition with (what we now know to be) a Gent's waiting train movement which still turned over when you swung the pendulum.
Behind the hall the hospital stores were still full of glass lights and Gent's clocks still wrapped in straw packaging. The hall's projection room had been converted to "hospital radio Rauceby" with posters of the infamous DJ "The Heartbreak Kid".
I have very fond memories of casually wandering around the endless glazed brick corridors, not fully realizing how amazing the place actually was.
The tower, now demolished sported a huge crack in the chimney, a remnant of the design flaws that plagued the asylum tower/chimney combo. Up top we sat in the sun and enjoyed the views of the sprawling wards and corridors. The other highlight was the XRAY room, with a pristine machine of impressive vintage which moved so smoothly one could have been mistaken in thinking it was still oiled daily.
So, here are some crooked, poorly framed photos in their 3.2 megapixel glory, from a simpler time in the world of Urban Exploring...
Quite depressing to think the guys stripping admin chiseled all these off the bloody wall
Note the beautiful wood paneling that was in all the ground floor rooms of admin
Mosaic floor, not dissimilar to High Royds
The recent report from Rauceby made me trawl through the archive to have a look at the compact camera snaps we took on that epic summer of asylum battering.
In those days the place really had been left and forgotten about. No security, no fences. Just doors swinging in the breeze on an enormous building still packed full of vintage hospital goodness.
Turk and I popped out at one point to trawl the near by building site to find a ladder to access the clock tower, which was in pristine condition with (what we now know to be) a Gent's waiting train movement which still turned over when you swung the pendulum.
Behind the hall the hospital stores were still full of glass lights and Gent's clocks still wrapped in straw packaging. The hall's projection room had been converted to "hospital radio Rauceby" with posters of the infamous DJ "The Heartbreak Kid".
I have very fond memories of casually wandering around the endless glazed brick corridors, not fully realizing how amazing the place actually was.
The tower, now demolished sported a huge crack in the chimney, a remnant of the design flaws that plagued the asylum tower/chimney combo. Up top we sat in the sun and enjoyed the views of the sprawling wards and corridors. The other highlight was the XRAY room, with a pristine machine of impressive vintage which moved so smoothly one could have been mistaken in thinking it was still oiled daily.
So, here are some crooked, poorly framed photos in their 3.2 megapixel glory, from a simpler time in the world of Urban Exploring...
Quite depressing to think the guys stripping admin chiseled all these off the bloody wall
Note the beautiful wood paneling that was in all the ground floor rooms of admin
Mosaic floor, not dissimilar to High Royds
