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Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital
The hospital was commissioned as an initiative of the gentry of the counties of Tyrone and Fermanagh in the early 19th century. It was designed by William Farrell in the Elizabethan Gothic style and opened as the Omagh District Lunatic Asylum in 1853. Although it was originally intended to accommodate 300 patients, this proved inadequate and additional buildings were erected and the east and west wings were both extended in the 1860s. By the 1930s the facility had become the Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital. Following the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s the hospital went into a period of decline and wards often closed and probably still do regularly to this day. Some of the rear buildings that I'll point out must have closed in the 80s-90s due to the extensive levels of decay. The front of the building became an integrated school called Drumragh in 1995 as the locals were in desperate need of one. However, capital funding led to the area having enough money to build a purpose built school, doing so and moving completely by 2009. During the brief duration the buildings had as a school, the interior reflects this nowadays with old classwork and students drawings remaining. Past students that occupied the building stated that many sections were 'out of bounds' whilst others were bricked up due to asylum equipment remaining within.
After checking most of the live Irish asylums for disused sections, this one came up trumps with a couple others. Later we would find old reports of the site on the forum, that made it look even more promising with a lot of abandoned bits in comparison to a small section we thought what the only vacant part. Midway through our trip, we visited the place and found the grounds fairly empty of walkers or workers, so finding an entry was relatively simple but physically difficult all the same. It turns out that at least half of the property is disused, and we definitely explored some cleaner wings that I hadn't seen images from, making me think that they had closed a few years ago. The odd beds from the reports had been removed and the hall was sealed, but we still had an enjoyable time walking through the grand structure and trying not to enter anything remotely active, which was misleading at times. Supposedly, there is a padded cell somewhere in the site but we didn't come across it, so it might be in the active space.
Reception.
The corridors in the building were probably it's best feature.
Furniture?!
A nice window heading up the staircase to the second floor.
This section was formerly the college. I didn't get any photos but most rooms that looked like converted cells had children's drawings of cartoon characters in them.
Finally, into the very decayed section at the back. There was more graffiti and rare signs of vandalism in here, leading me to think that youths had easy access to this part in the past. With all the ground floor windows metal sheeted up now, it doesn't seem like any of it was recent.
A view of the complex looking from most abandoned to least abandoned (live) in the distance.
Some old hospital signage indicated that this was neglected way before everything else.
We probably would have continued looking for more parts or headed into the basement, but daylight was running out and we still had another place to see as well as the task of finding a camping spot for the evening. Therefore, we left with the asylum still with some mystery inside it, for sure.
Here is the link to our documentary styled video filmed at this location. We cover the hospital's past, present and future through cinematics and narration:
Thanks for reading
The hospital was commissioned as an initiative of the gentry of the counties of Tyrone and Fermanagh in the early 19th century. It was designed by William Farrell in the Elizabethan Gothic style and opened as the Omagh District Lunatic Asylum in 1853. Although it was originally intended to accommodate 300 patients, this proved inadequate and additional buildings were erected and the east and west wings were both extended in the 1860s. By the 1930s the facility had become the Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital. Following the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s the hospital went into a period of decline and wards often closed and probably still do regularly to this day. Some of the rear buildings that I'll point out must have closed in the 80s-90s due to the extensive levels of decay. The front of the building became an integrated school called Drumragh in 1995 as the locals were in desperate need of one. However, capital funding led to the area having enough money to build a purpose built school, doing so and moving completely by 2009. During the brief duration the buildings had as a school, the interior reflects this nowadays with old classwork and students drawings remaining. Past students that occupied the building stated that many sections were 'out of bounds' whilst others were bricked up due to asylum equipment remaining within.
After checking most of the live Irish asylums for disused sections, this one came up trumps with a couple others. Later we would find old reports of the site on the forum, that made it look even more promising with a lot of abandoned bits in comparison to a small section we thought what the only vacant part. Midway through our trip, we visited the place and found the grounds fairly empty of walkers or workers, so finding an entry was relatively simple but physically difficult all the same. It turns out that at least half of the property is disused, and we definitely explored some cleaner wings that I hadn't seen images from, making me think that they had closed a few years ago. The odd beds from the reports had been removed and the hall was sealed, but we still had an enjoyable time walking through the grand structure and trying not to enter anything remotely active, which was misleading at times. Supposedly, there is a padded cell somewhere in the site but we didn't come across it, so it might be in the active space.
Reception.
The corridors in the building were probably it's best feature.
Furniture?!
A nice window heading up the staircase to the second floor.
This section was formerly the college. I didn't get any photos but most rooms that looked like converted cells had children's drawings of cartoon characters in them.
Finally, into the very decayed section at the back. There was more graffiti and rare signs of vandalism in here, leading me to think that youths had easy access to this part in the past. With all the ground floor windows metal sheeted up now, it doesn't seem like any of it was recent.
A view of the complex looking from most abandoned to least abandoned (live) in the distance.
Some old hospital signage indicated that this was neglected way before everything else.
We probably would have continued looking for more parts or headed into the basement, but daylight was running out and we still had another place to see as well as the task of finding a camping spot for the evening. Therefore, we left with the asylum still with some mystery inside it, for sure.
Here is the link to our documentary styled video filmed at this location. We cover the hospital's past, present and future through cinematics and narration:
Thanks for reading
