Severalls Hospital. March 2016

Ferox · Aug 9, 2016

With all the talk of demolition and Severalls at the minute I thought I'd get this one up from the backlog. Went down in March when I first heard about the demolition plans. After my trip down here last September I knew I had to see this place again. Managed about four hours this time on a lovely misty morning before getting caught. The security lad was really sound and simply escorted us off the site. And like many others I though, well at least we don't have to go over that fence again

Seen more and different bits from my last visit and I revelled in the old girl's splendour one more. Still not seen all of it and I doubt I'll get back again. Really glad I got to see what I did of this awesome place and if it was not 320 miles away I'd have had alot more visits that's for sure. Visited with non member Paul.

HISTORY

Severalls Hospital in Colchester, Essex, United Kingdom was a psychiatric hospital built in 1910 to the design of architect Frank Whitmore. It opened in May 1913.

The 300-acre (120 ha) site housed some 2000 patients and was based on the "Echelon plan" - a specific arrangement of wards, offices and services within easy reach of each other by a network of interconnecting corridors. This meant that staff were able to operate around the site without the need to go outside in bad weather. Unlike modern British hospitals, patients in Severalls were separated according to their gender. Villas were constructed around the main hospital building as accommodation blocks between 1910 and 1935. Most of the buildings are in the Queen Anne style, with few architectural embellishments, typical of the Edwardian period. The hospital closed as a psychiatric hospital in the early 1990s following the closure of other psychiatric institutions. However, a small section remained open until 20 March 1997