This was the first stop on a stag exploring weekend. It's little under 3 weeks until my life supposedly ends, there will be no time for exploring once married 
Whittingham has always eluded me, sometimes I've run out of time to visit it or work has ruined my planned visit. Last summer I'd put down a marker to do it and still didn't succeed. With marriage on the horizon I'd set a target to hit 30 asylums visited in the UK. Whittingham was to be #27 - it didn't start well either, walking along towards the social club we typically saw security exiting the gate to the left of the farm. It's one of those stupid occasions that you just know that you just stand out like like a sore thumb. We might have well had a banner with us saying explorers. We decided we'd continue to walk along to the social club, after all it's a public right of way. Security chap naturally approaches and we remain polite and inform him we are just walking around the area. He knows we are lying, we know he knows what we are up to too. Then he proceeds to tell us about the UNFED and HUNGRY ROCKWEILERS roaming around inside the grounds along with the 94 checkpoints and extensive CCTV. I try not to laugh, I know he's just trying to do his job and scare us off but please.
We continue on the footpath and think wait in the hope he'll soon return to his cabin at the front of the site. Unintentionally we stumble across the graveyard to the west of the chapel, it hits you just how many patients are buried here. Probably 6 deep and in rows of 10. Easily 500 if not 1'000 patients and most of the pauper graves unmarked. At least the grounds are to remain maintained by the new developers, it's a bit more respectful than the 500 odd graves at Mid Wales that are under the tarmac by wards 7/8
After talking to some lovely locals about the graveyard and hospital in general we eventually made our way in. No dramas, it was done, finally. It's fair to say the old girl is knackered. I can safely say Whitttingham is the most ruined asylum I've visited. Sure some are more stripped but the sheer state of the place.. well it's a death trap in places probably, not least the floors. I don't think it's possible to visit Whittingham without going through the floor at least once.
In a way its even more remarkable that the hall remains in relatively good condition to the rest of the site. Certainly better than the roman catholic chapel that sits alongside it.
It's fair to say after a while the knackered corridors and ruined wards become rather samey. We'd got a lot of travelling to do today so we quickly snapped other parts of the site before making our way out again.
Some more here: http://www.whateversleft.co.uk/asylums/whittingham/whittingham-hospital-goosnargh
Whittingham has always eluded me, sometimes I've run out of time to visit it or work has ruined my planned visit. Last summer I'd put down a marker to do it and still didn't succeed. With marriage on the horizon I'd set a target to hit 30 asylums visited in the UK. Whittingham was to be #27 - it didn't start well either, walking along towards the social club we typically saw security exiting the gate to the left of the farm. It's one of those stupid occasions that you just know that you just stand out like like a sore thumb. We might have well had a banner with us saying explorers. We decided we'd continue to walk along to the social club, after all it's a public right of way. Security chap naturally approaches and we remain polite and inform him we are just walking around the area. He knows we are lying, we know he knows what we are up to too. Then he proceeds to tell us about the UNFED and HUNGRY ROCKWEILERS roaming around inside the grounds along with the 94 checkpoints and extensive CCTV. I try not to laugh, I know he's just trying to do his job and scare us off but please.
We continue on the footpath and think wait in the hope he'll soon return to his cabin at the front of the site. Unintentionally we stumble across the graveyard to the west of the chapel, it hits you just how many patients are buried here. Probably 6 deep and in rows of 10. Easily 500 if not 1'000 patients and most of the pauper graves unmarked. At least the grounds are to remain maintained by the new developers, it's a bit more respectful than the 500 odd graves at Mid Wales that are under the tarmac by wards 7/8
After talking to some lovely locals about the graveyard and hospital in general we eventually made our way in. No dramas, it was done, finally. It's fair to say the old girl is knackered. I can safely say Whitttingham is the most ruined asylum I've visited. Sure some are more stripped but the sheer state of the place.. well it's a death trap in places probably, not least the floors. I don't think it's possible to visit Whittingham without going through the floor at least once.
In a way its even more remarkable that the hall remains in relatively good condition to the rest of the site. Certainly better than the roman catholic chapel that sits alongside it.
It's fair to say after a while the knackered corridors and ruined wards become rather samey. We'd got a lot of travelling to do today so we quickly snapped other parts of the site before making our way out again.
Some more here: http://www.whateversleft.co.uk/asylums/whittingham/whittingham-hospital-goosnargh
