The Welsh Asylum Gauntlet - April / Oct 2023

[tumbles]

Lovely stuff. I feel a bit lucky that still have a slice of the asylum pie just over the river to play with now and again.

The mortuary at North Wales is within the main block but towards the back. The slab was famously broken about 2008 when some idiots tried to nick it, lifted it and it broke. Most Haunted then proceeded to make a fake one for the week they filmed there!

There were two padded cells at MW according to the original plans, both of them upstairs almost mirrored locations on male/female ward side. I have a scan of the layout somewhere in my swag pile.

Glanryhd admin block although looking slightly derp is still in use, the board room is pretty lovely, I'll dig out my photo from going there with the heritage group.

Edit here tis

What happened to Pen y Fal? Possibly my fav design after Denbeeee

 

[TheTimeChamber]

That's a cracking report mate, looks awesome. I need to get over to Wales again, only seen two of them!

After speaking to @Bikin Glynn to whom I owe a huge thanks, we returned on trip 2 with new optimism. This time, it would involve a more calculated approach. After checking it the night before, we got up at 5am with adrenaline already coursing through our veins and entered under the cover of darkness. It was pretty bold and would've looked awful if we were spotted, but we found ourselves inside after some exertion. Quickly eyeing up the goods in darkness, we knew it was promising. We found ourselves sitting in wait in an old cell in total darkness and silence for an hour and a half, occasionally hearing footsteps below hoping they wouldn't come upstairs. It was a very eerie and atmospheric experience.

Our view for 1hr 30 whilst we waited for sunrise getting stiff backs

As the sun came up, we began exploring and were absolutely chuffed with what we found. This all sounds very cheeky, but I have to say that this place has a certain sleepy-town charm to it, and I really didn't want to cause a disturbance. I'm also in great admiration of its staff for keeping this piece of local history running against the odds. It does require a certain level of respect.

The upper largely disused corridors. The section in the foreground must've been part of the original building connecting the wards (note the sash windows), whilst the sections beyond appear to be a post-war addition.

Siderooms

Dayroom

Cell still bearing a foam mattress

If you couldn't be asked to walk to the next room?

Love this room

Dormitory

I was thinking the rather tidy wood panelling was an addition from maybe the 70s or so? But could it be original?

Original sinks and tiling.

As we approached the more active upstairs ward, we decided to call it a day.

Immaculate

Anyway, that's enough St. Cadocs before I wish I'd done a separate post. Upon leaving, we walked past several staff downstairs and bailed via the nearest door. After the big win, we went to a cafe round the corner and had an absolutely gorgeous celebratory breakfast for our sleepy adrenaline-rinsed souls.​

The wood panelling you mention, that is more that likely original. Fairmile used to have a fabolous ward with wood pannelling, and Hellingly had similar too.

 

[Wastelandr]

Haha I thought you might have got that from me 😂 plenty more where that came from!

Sounds like a story haha

A summary report of the highest order. Superb photography too.

Very kind thank you! Glad you liked it.

 

[Wastelandr]

Lovely stuff. I feel a bit lucky that still have a slice of the asylum pie just over the river to play with now and again.

The mortuary at North Wales is within the main block but towards the back. The slab was famously broken about 2008 when some idiots tried to nick it, lifted it and it broke. Most Haunted then proceeded to make a fake one for the week they filmed there!

There were two padded cells at MW according to the original plans, both of them upstairs almost mirrored locations on male/female ward side. I have a scan of the layout somewhere in my swag pile.

Glanryhd admin block although looking slightly derp is still in use, the board room is pretty lovely, I'll dig out my photo from going there with the heritage group.

What happened to Pen y Fal? Possibly my fav design after Denbeeee

Cheers for the clarification. Yes I've seen pics of a body tray ontop of the stand where the slab is meant to be lol.

As for padded cells, I've always thought the rooms with the wooden shutters would have been padded. I'm guessing they're actually just regular seclusion rooms then?

Thanks for sharing the Glanryhd pic, that's pretty cool. This is why permission visits are not to be sniffed at!

Looks like Pen y Fal is a residential conversion now.

 

[Wastelandr]

That's a cracking report mate, looks awesome. I need to get over to Wales again, only seen two of them!

The wood panelling you mention, that is more that likely original. Fairmile used to have a fabolous ward with wood pannelling, and Hellingly had similar too.

Thanks mate! I suppose it would be strange for them to add wood panelling later on, so maybe it has just been preserved extra well. I guess combined with the wooden flooring those rooms must look pretty close to their original state then.

 

[tumbles]

Cheers for the clarification. Yes I've seen pics of a body tray ontop of the stand where the slab is meant to be lol.

As for padded cells, I've always thought the rooms with the wooden shutters would have been padded. I'm guessing they're actually just regular seclusion rooms then?

Thanks for sharing the Glanryhd pic, that's pretty cool. This is why permission visits are not to be sniffed at!

Looks like Pen y Fal is a residential conversion now.

Padded cell rooms have smaller windows, this is the one on the female side.. I think. The male side one was less obvious but by the old museum room/where piano used to be

Pen Y Fal is still worth stopping in if you are passing, its proper nice conversion. The chapel is also still derelict

 

[Wastelandr]

Padded cell rooms have smaller windows, this is the one on the female side.. I think. The male side one was less obvious but by the old museum room/where piano used to be

Pen Y Fal is still worth stopping in if you are passing, its proper nice conversion. The chapel is also still derelict

I see! So the wooden shutters aren't related to padding necessarily? I could tell a few at Whitchurch from curved walls and bits but I suppose it's not always obvious. Cheers I'll have to swing by Pen Y Fal at somepoint, looks a cool building. I've been doing a bit of a b&w film photography project of externals so good to get a snap or two anyway.

 

[tumbles]

I see! So the wooden shutters aren't related to padding necessarily? I could tell a few at Whitchurch from curved walls and bits but I suppose it's not always obvious. Cheers I'll have to swing by Pen Y Fal at somepoint, looks a cool building. I've been doing a bit of a b&w film photography project of externals so good to get a snap or two anyway.

I vaguely remember finding signs of padded cells at Whitchurch, the other obvious thing is they had much thicker door frames and you could usually still see the fixing marks on the frame.

Cefn had them fitted but the super intendant didn't want them - so he thanked the supplier but said you can come and remove them!

 

[Wastelandr]

I vaguely remember finding signs of padded cells at Whitchurch, the other obvious thing is they had much thicker door frames and you could usually still see the fixing marks on the frame.

Cefn had them fitted but the super intendant didn't want them - so he thanked the supplier but said you can come and remove them!

These are what I saw at Whitchurch, windows were fairly standard but the sloped walls and rounded corners made me think they could've been. Are the little wall vents you see at various places anything to do with them also?

Wonder if with Cefn that was something to do with it being designed much earlier than it was completed?

 

[Calamity Jane]

Fantastic ensemble. Totally rocked this report

 

[jtza]

Amazing collection. Mega report

 

[Wastelandr]

Fantastic ensemble. Totally rocked this report

Cheers

 

[Wastelandr]

Amazing collection. Mega report

Thanks mate!

 

[Mikeymutt]

Superb mate. Always nice to see an asylum round up.

 

[KPUrban_]

Absolutely top stuff right there.

Really liking the look into the Bristol asylum. It's interesting to see how the building has been converted in a rather tasteful way with a lot of the original details left undisturbed when possible.