St. Martins Hospital - Canterbury - January 2024
St Martin’s Hospital is an asylum in Canterbury, Kent. Originally opened in 1902 as the Canterbury Borough Asylum, it was designed by architects William Joseph Jennings and Gray in a compact arrow shaped layout with a male and female wing, a style common in Victorian asylums. Built to serve the city’s mentally ill population following Canterbury’s designation as a County Borough in 1889, it initially operated independently, addressing the needs unmet by nearby overcrowded asylums like St Augustine’s in Chartham.
In the 1920s, the facility was renamed Canterbury City Mental Hospital, reflecting a shift away from the term "asylum" as attitudes towards mental health began to modernize. During World War II, it temporarily housed patients who had to be moved from other hospitals due to the war. In 1948, it joined the NHS and was renamed St Martin’s Hospital, after the nearby Church of St. Martins which is the oldest in Britain.
The hospital’s role changed over time, particularly during the 1980s with the introduction of the Care in the Community scheme, which reduced inpatient services and led to a gradual decline in its traditional functions. By 2019, parts of the west side had closed, with the Cranmer Ward being sold to Homes England for £6.32 million to be redeveloped into even more houses. Despite this, St Martin’s continues to operate as a mental health facility nearby under the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust, though on a lot smaller scale.
I had heard about an abandoned insane asylum near me ever since it closed 5 years ago. Me and 2 of my friends decided to head up to Canterbury to try out a few sites, not knowing the amount of success we would have, this was one of my favourites of the 4 that we succeeded in getting into that day.
Access was quite hard as there weren't many entrances that weren't sealed. Luckily some rotten wooden boards on one of the many windows had mysteriously fallen down which mean't that we could get in. We spent quite a few hours in here and toured most of the place including the lift tower and the ex morgue which has now been converted into a workshop, we did not get into the Ramsay ward and guardsroom cottage as they were properly sealed up.
We had been told by others online that the security here was very good and that we would be caught quickly but we decided it was clearly not true due to the amount of time we spent inside. Deciding to be cocky after we had finished the explore we decided to go pay the security hut a visit so we knocked on the door and startled the security guard who was drinking coffee and watching tv, we then proceeded to inform him of our visit and how nicely preserved the hospital was, safe to say he was not happy as he angrily asked for our names so we proceeded to lie to him that we were from the "BBC", he saw right through our bs though and we were then quickly escorted out of the main gate and told not to come back.
St Martin’s Hospital is an asylum in Canterbury, Kent. Originally opened in 1902 as the Canterbury Borough Asylum, it was designed by architects William Joseph Jennings and Gray in a compact arrow shaped layout with a male and female wing, a style common in Victorian asylums. Built to serve the city’s mentally ill population following Canterbury’s designation as a County Borough in 1889, it initially operated independently, addressing the needs unmet by nearby overcrowded asylums like St Augustine’s in Chartham.
In the 1920s, the facility was renamed Canterbury City Mental Hospital, reflecting a shift away from the term "asylum" as attitudes towards mental health began to modernize. During World War II, it temporarily housed patients who had to be moved from other hospitals due to the war. In 1948, it joined the NHS and was renamed St Martin’s Hospital, after the nearby Church of St. Martins which is the oldest in Britain.
The hospital’s role changed over time, particularly during the 1980s with the introduction of the Care in the Community scheme, which reduced inpatient services and led to a gradual decline in its traditional functions. By 2019, parts of the west side had closed, with the Cranmer Ward being sold to Homes England for £6.32 million to be redeveloped into even more houses. Despite this, St Martin’s continues to operate as a mental health facility nearby under the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust, though on a lot smaller scale.
I had heard about an abandoned insane asylum near me ever since it closed 5 years ago. Me and 2 of my friends decided to head up to Canterbury to try out a few sites, not knowing the amount of success we would have, this was one of my favourites of the 4 that we succeeded in getting into that day.
Access was quite hard as there weren't many entrances that weren't sealed. Luckily some rotten wooden boards on one of the many windows had mysteriously fallen down which mean't that we could get in. We spent quite a few hours in here and toured most of the place including the lift tower and the ex morgue which has now been converted into a workshop, we did not get into the Ramsay ward and guardsroom cottage as they were properly sealed up.
We had been told by others online that the security here was very good and that we would be caught quickly but we decided it was clearly not true due to the amount of time we spent inside. Deciding to be cocky after we had finished the explore we decided to go pay the security hut a visit so we knocked on the door and startled the security guard who was drinking coffee and watching tv, we then proceeded to inform him of our visit and how nicely preserved the hospital was, safe to say he was not happy as he angrily asked for our names so we proceeded to lie to him that we were from the "BBC", he saw right through our bs though and we were then quickly escorted out of the main gate and told not to come back.
