Yep - another Sev's thread :/
Hopefully I've done something a bit different with the photographs, this was all shot in the dark and there was no moon with seca driving around so not the easiest photography wise! In and out with no issues but a few close calls.
Severalls Asylum.. Built in 1913 the asylum homed more than 2000 patients; Patients with mental health issues, those who just couldn't fit into the contemporary society. The hospital was more than just a place for treatment and rest - of those who were sectioned here many would never leave the grounds again. Everything was provided on site from the shops and bakery to water tower and power generation - this was a self sufficient and secure village of kinds.
There are many dark stories associated with the site, ECT treatments and lobotomy were common and often patients would have the tell tale dents in their cranium. Practices that thankfully have been replaced by more modern treatments.
Starting with Enoch Powells reforms to the mental health service the asylums began to close down. Severalls closed around 1997 and almost 20 years later the site still sits vacant. Left and forgotten like many of those incarcerated in its wards in the early part of the 20th century.
4 fences and active security patrols stood in my way but Sev's days are numbered - the bulldozers have moved in. This would be my last chance to visit the sprawling site. Late at night I made my way undercover of trees, over and under fences to the imposing palisade fence. Once inside I could see the bright lights of security patrols circling the site - a badly timed camera flash or torch beam could give me away so the next 3 hours were spent in almost complete darkness. Tunnels, old stores, the watertower, flakey wards and endless corridors lay out infront of me and it was the early hours of the morning before I left the site to begin my journey home.
And the machines which are pulling the place apart:
Hopefully I've done something a bit different with the photographs, this was all shot in the dark and there was no moon with seca driving around so not the easiest photography wise! In and out with no issues but a few close calls.
Severalls Asylum.. Built in 1913 the asylum homed more than 2000 patients; Patients with mental health issues, those who just couldn't fit into the contemporary society. The hospital was more than just a place for treatment and rest - of those who were sectioned here many would never leave the grounds again. Everything was provided on site from the shops and bakery to water tower and power generation - this was a self sufficient and secure village of kinds.
There are many dark stories associated with the site, ECT treatments and lobotomy were common and often patients would have the tell tale dents in their cranium. Practices that thankfully have been replaced by more modern treatments.
Starting with Enoch Powells reforms to the mental health service the asylums began to close down. Severalls closed around 1997 and almost 20 years later the site still sits vacant. Left and forgotten like many of those incarcerated in its wards in the early part of the 20th century.
4 fences and active security patrols stood in my way but Sev's days are numbered - the bulldozers have moved in. This would be my last chance to visit the sprawling site. Late at night I made my way undercover of trees, over and under fences to the imposing palisade fence. Once inside I could see the bright lights of security patrols circling the site - a badly timed camera flash or torch beam could give me away so the next 3 hours were spent in almost complete darkness. Tunnels, old stores, the watertower, flakey wards and endless corridors lay out infront of me and it was the early hours of the morning before I left the site to begin my journey home.
And the machines which are pulling the place apart:
....you did well, this is the one for me that simply got away 
Yea seca drive around the outside with a massive floodlight on top of the car so have to be a little careful but apart from that no worries really!
