The History:
Severalls Hospital in Colchester, Essex, United Kingdom was a psychiatric hospital built in 1910 to the design of architect Frank Whitmore. It opened in May 1913.
The 300-acre (120 ha) site housed some 2000 patients and was based on the "Echelon plan" - a specific arrangement of wards, offices and services within easy reach of each other by a network of interconnecting corridors. This meant that staff were able to operate around the site without the need to go outside in bad weather. Unlike modern British hospitals, patients in Severalls were separated according to their gender. Villas were constructed around the main hospital building as accommodation blocks between 1910 and 1935. Most of the buildings are in the Queen Anne style, with few architectural embellishments, typical of the Edwardian period. The hospital closed as a psychiatric hospital in the early 1990s following the closure of other psychiatric institutions. However, a small section remained open until 20 March 1997
The Explore:
With the impending demolition that imminently awaits severalls, I decided that after putting it off for long enough that it was now or never if I was to see the site so decided to get the wheels rolling. All my usual explore partners were either busy or unavailable so I asked Mikeymutt if he fancied it and we hatched a plan.
Having finally arrived at the site, I was blown away at the sheer size and scale of the place. It is MASSIVE! Our first obstacle was the three fences we needed to conquer before gaining access to the building itself. The first one was no problem and we were soon over it, the second one again was no problem and we had soon passed that. The big challenge though was finding a way around the very imposing looking 10ft palisade. This however was a breeze and we soon found ourselves inside the mothership which is Severalls!
If you don't know your way around this place, it's understandably easy to get lost very quickly. I lost count of the amount of times we must have walked down the same corridors again and again!
We lasted about 2 hours before inevitably getting caught by security which somewhat came as a delight as it meant we wouldn't have to face climbing 3 fences again to get out! Hats off to the security guy as he was one of the most (if not the only) pleasant security personnel I have ever come across!
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Thanks for looking!
Severalls Hospital in Colchester, Essex, United Kingdom was a psychiatric hospital built in 1910 to the design of architect Frank Whitmore. It opened in May 1913.
The 300-acre (120 ha) site housed some 2000 patients and was based on the "Echelon plan" - a specific arrangement of wards, offices and services within easy reach of each other by a network of interconnecting corridors. This meant that staff were able to operate around the site without the need to go outside in bad weather. Unlike modern British hospitals, patients in Severalls were separated according to their gender. Villas were constructed around the main hospital building as accommodation blocks between 1910 and 1935. Most of the buildings are in the Queen Anne style, with few architectural embellishments, typical of the Edwardian period. The hospital closed as a psychiatric hospital in the early 1990s following the closure of other psychiatric institutions. However, a small section remained open until 20 March 1997
The Explore:
With the impending demolition that imminently awaits severalls, I decided that after putting it off for long enough that it was now or never if I was to see the site so decided to get the wheels rolling. All my usual explore partners were either busy or unavailable so I asked Mikeymutt if he fancied it and we hatched a plan.
Having finally arrived at the site, I was blown away at the sheer size and scale of the place. It is MASSIVE! Our first obstacle was the three fences we needed to conquer before gaining access to the building itself. The first one was no problem and we were soon over it, the second one again was no problem and we had soon passed that. The big challenge though was finding a way around the very imposing looking 10ft palisade. This however was a breeze and we soon found ourselves inside the mothership which is Severalls!
If you don't know your way around this place, it's understandably easy to get lost very quickly. I lost count of the amount of times we must have walked down the same corridors again and again!
We lasted about 2 hours before inevitably getting caught by security which somewhat came as a delight as it meant we wouldn't have to face climbing 3 fences again to get out! Hats off to the security guy as he was one of the most (if not the only) pleasant security personnel I have ever come across!
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Thanks for looking!
I last set foot in there almost 10 years ago. Felt an immense amount of peace - seeing it now, I really do think it's time that it goes.
