One that got a bit of hammer last year. I really enjoyed this visit and we spent a good couple of hours looking round. It was in quite a state by this point with a of vandalism and graffiti. We went back in October and it was even worst. That said I thought the decay in here was awesome. Loads of cracked and peeling paint and wallpaper hanging off, lovely. Really liked the corridors in here also with the aforementioned decay making them especially photogenic. Very nice externally as well. Great architecture and dereliction mixed together to make it look the part. Visited with my usual partner in recreational trespass Paul.
Built in 1916, Ridge Lea Hospital was originally designed to be a separate women’s unit to the nearby Lancaster Moor Lunatic Asylum. It went on to become part of the Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust as a mental health hospital. Ridge Lea Hospital first saw a decline in patients after the 1986 publication 'Making a Reality of Community Care' by the Audit Commission. This report outlined the slow progress in resettling people from long stay hospitals. It was this report which prompted the subsequent Green and White papers on community care. Care in the Community is a British policy of deinstitutionalization, treating and caring for physically and mentally disabled people in their homes rather than in an institution such as Ridge Lea Hospital. The hospital was in use until 2014 for in house patients and then finally closed its doors in 2016.
Here is some info on the resent demolition request. Citing security risks and liability concerns, landowners Seemore Properties had asked the council for permission to knock down the old Ridge Lea Hospital, only to be refused due to insufficient information regarding environmental impacts in the proposal.
Ultimately the decision was refused by the council, which cited insufficient information on how the demolition would impact the habitats of protected species of bats and protected trees that surround the site.
If the demolition request had been approved, work would have begun on taking down the former hospital in March, with a tentative completion date of 30 June. Seemore Properties said it would recycle any material that was eligible, sending off anything that cannot be recycled to be disposed of at the Suez facility off Ovangle Road in Lancaster.
Sounds like it might be around for a little longer
Thanks for Looking
More pics on my Flickr page - Ridge Lea Hospital | Flickr
Built in 1916, Ridge Lea Hospital was originally designed to be a separate women’s unit to the nearby Lancaster Moor Lunatic Asylum. It went on to become part of the Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust as a mental health hospital. Ridge Lea Hospital first saw a decline in patients after the 1986 publication 'Making a Reality of Community Care' by the Audit Commission. This report outlined the slow progress in resettling people from long stay hospitals. It was this report which prompted the subsequent Green and White papers on community care. Care in the Community is a British policy of deinstitutionalization, treating and caring for physically and mentally disabled people in their homes rather than in an institution such as Ridge Lea Hospital. The hospital was in use until 2014 for in house patients and then finally closed its doors in 2016.
Here is some info on the resent demolition request. Citing security risks and liability concerns, landowners Seemore Properties had asked the council for permission to knock down the old Ridge Lea Hospital, only to be refused due to insufficient information regarding environmental impacts in the proposal.
Ultimately the decision was refused by the council, which cited insufficient information on how the demolition would impact the habitats of protected species of bats and protected trees that surround the site.
If the demolition request had been approved, work would have begun on taking down the former hospital in March, with a tentative completion date of 30 June. Seemore Properties said it would recycle any material that was eligible, sending off anything that cannot be recycled to be disposed of at the Suez facility off Ovangle Road in Lancaster.
Sounds like it might be around for a little longer
Thanks for Looking
More pics on my Flickr page - Ridge Lea Hospital | Flickr
