I should preface this by saying this isn't abandoned in any shape or form, so don't go here expecting it to be a conventional explore and do be respectful as people live here. The asylum has been substantially converted into a sympathetic residential development. It's been done pretty well and retains much of the overall structure of the main building, so given that it still has its original character to some degree, I thought it would be worth a look and might just about justify a report for curiosity's sake.
For the first visit I took a stroll around the outside, and on the second visit I met with @KismetJ to see if we could find a way into the corridors now within the residents-only complex to see what was left. Surprisingly, a lot of the original grand building remains as well as some of its features. Nicest is probably admin but the corridors are also decent in places. Despite it being a very boujee development for the TOWIE crowd, it somehow blends quite well with how I imagine the hospital looked originally.
THE HISTORY
Warley Hospital began life in the early 1850s, with the hospital opening as Essex County Lunatic Asylum in 1853. It was the first county asylum to be built in Essex, and saw several extensions and the addition of other blocks over the following decades. The hospital had an initial capacity for 300 patients, although by 1937 it could accommodate up to 2,000 patients. It was constructed to a corridor plan typical of the 'first wave' Victorian county asylums, and was designed by architect Henry Edward Kendall. As the hospital's capacity was pushed and to prevent overcrowding, Essex's second county asylum would open in 1913 as Severalls in Colchester, followed finally by Runwell Hospital in 1937 which specifically served Southend and East Ham Boroughs. Through these three Essex hospitals, you can nicely track the main stages of asylum design, from grand Victorian buildings like Warley, to more streamlined Edwardian 'second wave' asylums, through to the late modernist designs after the word asylum was officially replaced with mental hospital. Warley was accordingly renamed Brentwood Mental Hospital in 1920.
(Upscaled)
Like the rest of the county asylums, the shift towards a care in the community in the 1980s was the death knell for Warley, declining until eventual closure in 2001. Throughout the 2000s and early 2010s the hospital's extensive residential conversion was underway into what is now known as The Galleries, and has been fully complete now for a number of years. The design of county asylums was conceptualised as a stark shift away from older prison-like asylums and workhouses towards countryside retreats primarily inspired by stately homes - an unlikely influence. It's safe to say that these original asylums did so successfully as Warley has ironically been converted to something which resembles a stately home more than a hospital today.
Inside the admin foyer:
I couldn't work out what had become of the recreation hall, built in 1879, as the roof appears to still be there. From a closer inspection during visiting, I think the hall may have been divided into separate apartments as the doors from the corridors shown would have led straight out into it.
The inner courtyards and corridors (I still managed to wrangle a classic corner shot):
The wards and general exterior shots:
Interior shots of corridors connecting to wards and other areas:
Some outbuilding connecting to the main structure:
The original chapel at the rear of the main building, which quickly became too small and was converted into a dormitory:
The new chapel built in 1889:
The water tower:
A small graveyard still remains in the grassland around the residence. Below are two graves which eerily state 'died at the asylum':
Night shot of the admin building:
For the first visit I took a stroll around the outside, and on the second visit I met with @KismetJ to see if we could find a way into the corridors now within the residents-only complex to see what was left. Surprisingly, a lot of the original grand building remains as well as some of its features. Nicest is probably admin but the corridors are also decent in places. Despite it being a very boujee development for the TOWIE crowd, it somehow blends quite well with how I imagine the hospital looked originally.
THE HISTORY
Warley Hospital began life in the early 1850s, with the hospital opening as Essex County Lunatic Asylum in 1853. It was the first county asylum to be built in Essex, and saw several extensions and the addition of other blocks over the following decades. The hospital had an initial capacity for 300 patients, although by 1937 it could accommodate up to 2,000 patients. It was constructed to a corridor plan typical of the 'first wave' Victorian county asylums, and was designed by architect Henry Edward Kendall. As the hospital's capacity was pushed and to prevent overcrowding, Essex's second county asylum would open in 1913 as Severalls in Colchester, followed finally by Runwell Hospital in 1937 which specifically served Southend and East Ham Boroughs. Through these three Essex hospitals, you can nicely track the main stages of asylum design, from grand Victorian buildings like Warley, to more streamlined Edwardian 'second wave' asylums, through to the late modernist designs after the word asylum was officially replaced with mental hospital. Warley was accordingly renamed Brentwood Mental Hospital in 1920.
(Upscaled)
Like the rest of the county asylums, the shift towards a care in the community in the 1980s was the death knell for Warley, declining until eventual closure in 2001. Throughout the 2000s and early 2010s the hospital's extensive residential conversion was underway into what is now known as The Galleries, and has been fully complete now for a number of years. The design of county asylums was conceptualised as a stark shift away from older prison-like asylums and workhouses towards countryside retreats primarily inspired by stately homes - an unlikely influence. It's safe to say that these original asylums did so successfully as Warley has ironically been converted to something which resembles a stately home more than a hospital today.
Inside the admin foyer:
I couldn't work out what had become of the recreation hall, built in 1879, as the roof appears to still be there. From a closer inspection during visiting, I think the hall may have been divided into separate apartments as the doors from the corridors shown would have led straight out into it.
The inner courtyards and corridors (I still managed to wrangle a classic corner shot):
The wards and general exterior shots:
Interior shots of corridors connecting to wards and other areas:
Some outbuilding connecting to the main structure:
The original chapel at the rear of the main building, which quickly became too small and was converted into a dormitory:
The new chapel built in 1889:
The water tower:
A small graveyard still remains in the grassland around the residence. Below are two graves which eerily state 'died at the asylum':
Night shot of the admin building:
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