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- Oct 19, 2015
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A little bit of history on another place I'm sure you've all seen plenty before -
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 most ornate buildings are the Administration Building, Larch House and Severalls House (originally the Medical Superintendent's residence).
Psychiatrists were free to experiment with new treatments on patients seemingly at will, using practices now considered unsuitable such as electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) and the use of frontal lobotomy.
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 for the treatment of elderly patients suffering from the effects of serious stroke, etc., as a temporary building for nearby Colchester General Hospital which was in the process of building an entire new building for these patients. A few of the satellite villas as of 2013 are still operational as research facilities on the edge of the site. (Copied from Wikipedia, though loads of info on the hospital to be found here too- http://severallshospital.co.uk/#/home-page/4531049539
Annd the explore -
Explored again with TheVampiricSquid and a couple other explorers. After a reluctant 4am start, (cheers to thevampiricsquid for letting me crash at his, I'm not sure how I would have fared if I'd had to do that extra bit of driving in the morning!) helped by the downing of energy drinks and a stop at maccie's we finally made it over to essex to meet the others just as daylight came creeping in.
Over the quite frankly evil fence we went, and off to the main building. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time for much other than the main building this time, yet another place far too large for just one day, looks like I'm going to have to revisit, what a shame!
Once again, I'd seen hundreds of photos, but when faced with the real thing, it was another story. The decay in this place is stunning, one of my favourite rooms being a hall with black paint bleeding down the walls, and of course, the corridors… well what can I say, words can't really do this place much justice!
We spent a fair few hours wandering the main building, and tried and failed to get into the water tower and the morgue, all somehow without getting busted, then, right as we were about to leave, my tripod decided to fail me and my poor wide angle hit the floor bit of a damper on the day, but what can you do, these things happen.. >.<
Anyway, enough rambling, and on with some photos -
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 most ornate buildings are the Administration Building, Larch House and Severalls House (originally the Medical Superintendent's residence).
Psychiatrists were free to experiment with new treatments on patients seemingly at will, using practices now considered unsuitable such as electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) and the use of frontal lobotomy.
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 for the treatment of elderly patients suffering from the effects of serious stroke, etc., as a temporary building for nearby Colchester General Hospital which was in the process of building an entire new building for these patients. A few of the satellite villas as of 2013 are still operational as research facilities on the edge of the site. (Copied from Wikipedia, though loads of info on the hospital to be found here too- http://severallshospital.co.uk/#/home-page/4531049539
Annd the explore -
Explored again with TheVampiricSquid and a couple other explorers. After a reluctant 4am start, (cheers to thevampiricsquid for letting me crash at his, I'm not sure how I would have fared if I'd had to do that extra bit of driving in the morning!) helped by the downing of energy drinks and a stop at maccie's we finally made it over to essex to meet the others just as daylight came creeping in.
Over the quite frankly evil fence we went, and off to the main building. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time for much other than the main building this time, yet another place far too large for just one day, looks like I'm going to have to revisit, what a shame!
Once again, I'd seen hundreds of photos, but when faced with the real thing, it was another story. The decay in this place is stunning, one of my favourite rooms being a hall with black paint bleeding down the walls, and of course, the corridors… well what can I say, words can't really do this place much justice! We spent a fair few hours wandering the main building, and tried and failed to get into the water tower and the morgue, all somehow without getting busted, then, right as we were about to leave, my tripod decided to fail me and my poor wide angle hit the floor
bit of a damper on the day, but what can you do, these things happen.. >.<Anyway, enough rambling, and on with some photos
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Thanks for looking ^.^
