Report - A Trip Through Whitchurch Hospital/Cardiff City Asylum - April & Sep 2023

[Wastelandr]

Very thorough and lovely pics! I remember getting in pretty easily and then literally seconds after we left an x5 pulled up with that nasty looking German shepherd…

Haha a close escape by the sounds of it!

It's an interesting place. Been closed what 7 years now? Places like Severalls had been closed the same amount of time when I first started so its interesting to compare.

It's up there with the likes of High Royds for me but not 'the best' it's not in the same league as Cane Hill or WP, it's miles off tbh. Mainly just because it doesn't have the age and it doesn't have the contents (nore the reputation tbh). It's architecturally a very nice hospital and has many more features than even most of the old skool ones did but still most of it has been quite modernised inside. The wards etc. are far more modern than the old skool ones were.. and empty. I guess if you put CH and WP as top tier then High Royds and here would be second tier. They do all have thier own character tho so past that it's a bit down to personal preference.

BTW Deva was done to death. It wasn't that good really. Lacked alot of the features like big watertowers and a grand main hall. Still, looks good compared with today's dross.

Interesting take on it, I would have to say as much as it is the best left I've enjoyed some of the other smaller ones just as much. It does come down to character and maybe the colourfulness of Whitchurch makes it feel a bit less moody in places. The corridors are probably what lends it to the Severalls comparison.

That's one of the interesting points I have talked about with people before. That even the asylums considered 'the worst' or 'boring' back in the day - subjectively places like Deva, Fairmile, Cherry Knowle and the like - were miles better than most of the utter crap around nowadays, just back then everyone was spoiled for choice and there were many other considerably better ones for people to go to.

Nowadays if a hospital like Fairmile or Deva or Cherry Knowle was around, in the absence of very few others of the same style or size we'd be all over it.

Sad times! Whilst there's still plenty to see, I suppose it's the lack of choice available which means everyone kinda has to see the same few. I feel like it's the lack of furnishings left in abandoned places for very long now which also has reduced the quality (maybe a general trend with selling stuff off), but there's still some good quality interiors about.

Very nice mate. It's starting to remind me a bit of Sevs with all that decay setting in.

Cheers mate, certainly!

 

[Bugsuperstar]

I enjoyed reading that. Good effort! It’s nice to see the decay really taking hold too.

 

[Wetherspoon]

Not wanting to blow it by pushing our luck, I took a quick look upstairs in admin as there was one shot I wanted to get.

The same window and the admin block from the outside. I'd speculate this was some kind of meeting room/boardroom.

Here's a few other photogenic rooms around the hospital I also thought I'd share (if there wasn't already enough). I'd imagine these were larger offices and various services.

I couldn't leave out that very tacky looking tuck shop could I. Unlike some of it's past patients, you are finally now free to leave the asylum and admire it from the outside.

Airing shelter

The chapel

Some nice autumnal leafage

That's all folks. Thanks for reading, my brain is once again absolutely fried. It's hard to do this place justice in brief so in my usual style I thought I'd go for something more substantial.
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This place looks amazing! I’d love to go look around

 

[mockney reject]

Great set of pics and really well covered.

It amazes me after multiple visits of this place I still have not got enough pics of it lol

 

[Wastelandr]

Great set of pics and really well covered.

It amazes me after multiple visits of this place I still have not got enough pics of it lol

Cheers mate! Yeah I went back to see more parts and sort of ended up getting distracted and doing the same again

 

[raisinwing]

Really great set of photos there, nice to see a comprehensive update of the place.

Will have to go back again at some point, hard to get tired of it really.

 

[Shutterfilm35]

Stunning report.

 

[JakeV50]

Stunning report fella. Lots of work gone into this

 

[Wastelandr]

@KismetJ made an excellent short documentary-type video from our visits there. Sharing as I think people would genuinely be interested in seeing it, he's captured the atmosphere well and the quality is top notch.