Your opinion on hospital and asylum sites

Hi Guys,

I am a postgraduate at the Ironbridge Institute, and I’m currently writing a thesis on the preservation and presentation of historic asylums. I’m a rookie explorer myself (still at it despite recently meeting a gamekeeper and the business end of a shotgun!), and I think that a significant amount of people’s engagement with historic asylums and hospitals is through Urban Exploration.

There is no real on-site museum of an asylum, and the history of mental healthcare is only looked at in a very limited number of museums, so in many ways urban exploration is the only option. However, I’d like to know what you think of the prospect of an asylum museum in a disused building. Would it lose its appeal to you if it were a managed site? Would you visit anyway? Do you think exploration of other abandoned asylums and hospitals would decline if there were a museum on offer?

I’m really interested to hear your thoughts on this, whatever they may be. Any thoughts, comments or opinions on historic asylums and their preservation/ abandonment will be insightful, and I really think that explorers are a group of people who need to feature in this study, and I think that asking around on the forums is the best way to get to as wide a spectrum of explorers as possible.

If you have any questions or anything, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by PM.

Thanks very much,

Laura

Bogart said:

There is no real on-site museum of an asylum

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Actually there is:

http://www.glensidemuseum.org.uk/

I would be very surprised if there would be enough paying customers and/or investors to sustain any meaningful bigger museum.

krela said:

Actually there is:

http://www.glensidemuseum.org.uk/

I would be very surprised if there would be enough paying customers and/or investors to sustain any meaningful bigger museum.

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Hi Krela,

Glenside Museum is (although fab) housed in the former chapel of the Asylum, and a very small, volunteer-led museum. There are a few other small sites in the UK, but access to the buildings themselves is very limited.

Bogart said:

Hi Krela,

Glenside Museum is (although fab) housed in the former chapel of the Asylum, and a very small, volunteer-led museum. There are a few other small sites in the UK, but access to the buildings themselves is very limited.

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Okay I see, you want to preserve wards and buildings. Then I would add concerns about the massive amount of money it would cost to maintain the building to my previous concerns about limited public interest / funding.

Why the hell would you want to preserve anything to do with asylums etc? They weren't exactly happy places. I should imagine anyone who was ever a patient in one would be happy to see it completely demolished!

Abo said:

I should imagine anyone who was ever a patient in one would be happy to see it completely demolished!

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I can't wait for them to be completely demolished and I've never been a patient in one.

krela said:

I can't wait for them to be completely demolished and I've never been a patient in one.

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I worked in one once and it was aufull. I did think that if you ever went in normal you would not survive that way for long... I don't think the truth would be of too much intrest to the public.

A;so a few that I know had permission to be converted into apartments ended up being used for somthing else or being pulled down, I think they found them hard to sell foe living accomodation, I don't think living in such a place would suit everyone.

mo

Hi there is a small musiem at the lawn visitors centre in licoln that has a padded cell its the only part of the hospital left

This goes to the heart of what you see urbex as being about. A very interesting discussion here which I have recently taken part in suggests that the issue is not clear even for people within the urbex community. For me personally, I think a degree of preservation is sometimes a good thing, but the problem with "heritage" is that it quite quickly becomes a commodity - just ask Fluffy, Derelict-UK and the others on here who have been involved in preserving locos, bunkers and the like - with all the baggage, paperwork and general bad blood that this entails. We do need preservation, but as with many things in life, your idea of "good" preservation and my idea of "good preservation" are wildly different , and as a consequence the question is likely to have us going round in circles for sometime. I think the thing about urbex is that one of the things it does is to capture that time in between use and preservation, which is important in itself, but also might be one of the things that leads to preservation. I've said before that some urbexers are likely to be the curators of the future and if urban exploration leads to worthwhile preservations and proper historical debate (without necessarily commodifying the site being debated) then that is a good thing....

Not sure that will help Bogart, but it sure got me thinking!
GDZ

magmo said:

I worked in one once and it was aufull. I did think that if you ever went in normal you would not survive that way for long... I don't think the truth would be of too much intrest to the public.

A;so a few that I know had permission to be converted into apartments ended up being used for somthing else or being pulled down, I think they found them hard to sell foe living accomodation, I don't think living in such a place would suit everyone.

mo

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My parents worked at Fairmile and when I visited them at work I did find it depressing though it never had a lasting effect on me. I found most of the people old who were in them and since I have been involved with the Forgotten faces project I have a fare few photos of people who were admitted there. Don't know what hospital you were talking about but most have preservation orders on them and the likes of Littlemore were successfully converted and sold. Fairmile is at the moment undergoing some serious work with the wards being made into flats, no doubt they will sell. Unless there was money for a museum then you could not preserve a ward in one of those places, shame really.

Krela said:

Abo said:

I should imagine anyone who was ever a patient in one would be happy to see it completely demolished!

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I can't wait for them to be completely demolished and I've never been a patient in one.

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I myself had the dubious honour of being an outpatient at a large, Victorian Mental Hospital in the '90s, and a relative (since deceased) was a short stay patient at Netherne in the '60s.

It's easy to demonise mental hospitals, but while many were indeed grim and abuses did go on in some cases, they also pioneered art, community and and occupational therapies, new drugs and new treatments. While they weren't good for everyone, some people undoubtedly benefitted from them. They had their good and bad points and were very much of their time: long-stay hospitals were clearly not the way forward in the 80s and 90s, but in my opinion, care in the community hasn't always been ideal either. Don't assume that just because the hospitals have closed the lot of the mentally ill is better today - I've known enough people with mental health problems to know that that isn't always the case.

I for one strongly support the preservation of at least some of the buildings, the archives and the artifacts of the Mental Hospital system as an important architectural and historical legacy. To destroy all traces of the system would be to sweep centuries of history, of peoples lives, under the carpet and almost to deny that they ever happened. Erasing traces of mental hospitals does nothing for the people who were housed or treated in them and nothing for destigmatising mental illness today.

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Small rant over, in answer to the OP's question:
an asylum museum in a disused building is good idea in principle, but there is unlikely ever to be the money or financial incentive to a site owner to allow this to happen. Additionally, many hospital buildings are now in such a poor condition now that only a developer or other wealthy organisation can provide the cash needed to preserve them, and only then when they will see a return on their investment, usually by converting and selling them off. Charities, local authorities and history societies don't usually have the money to buy, convert and maintain these buildings and most site developers aren't willing to put money toward such schemes as it might endanger their sales figures.

In addition, it would be difficult to present a balanced and/or accurate view of such a divisive and still partially taboo subject and do it well. It can be done, but would need a lot of careful thought. Unfortunately, I don't think this sort of thing is ever likely to have majority appeal.

Would it lose its appeal to me if it were a managed site?

No. I visited Glenside Museum in Bristol and found it to be one of the most interesting museums I've ever been to. It was staffed by former hospital staff and helped me to understand a lot more of the story behind mental health and what these places were like when in use. These are things which no derelict building can provide and no written history can show you. I'd definitely visit other mental health museums if I had the opportunity or if more were opened. Personally, I find urban exploration and visiting museums complimentary to each other, each contributing in different ways to the bigger picture.

Do you think exploration of other abandoned asylums and hospitals would decline if there were a museum on offer?

No. Not at all. To me at least, a derelict building is different from a museum. Certainly I explore for the history, but also for the subtle change and decay as well as the thrill of discovery, things you'll never find in any museum. Again though, to me the experiences compliment each other.

In conclusion, I'd say good idea in theory, but difficult to do well and almost impossible to find funding for.

Apologies for rambling, I'm tired.

A.

my 2 cents

I did have the misfortune of spending time in an asylum in my early teens, The hospital I was in is now boarded up and I have been saying I will go for months but it fills me with a strange trepidation.

I'm not bothered if it gets demolished but I do want to head in to see the room I spent 13 months in.

I'm not a nut case just had issues as a kid that didn't get resolved by 13 months in hell and large doses of Valium.

krela said:

I can't wait for them to be completely demolished and I've never been a patient in one.

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You might feel that way but the people who lived in Cholsey certanly did not, they wanted Fairmile kept. it has been part of the village for over a hundred years, employed most of them and we still have a few patients liveing in special houseing. Many people still have a fondess for the place and no doubt will be sad to see how it has change when the finaly get the chance.

night crawler said:

You might feel that way but the people who lived in Cholsey certanly did not, they wanted Fairmile kept. it has been part of the village for over a hundred years, employed most of them and we still have a few patients liveing in special houseing. Many people still have a fondess for the place and no doubt will be sad to see how it has change when the finaly get the chance.

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Aaah, my point of view was tongue in cheeck and is purely so that I don't have to keep seeing the same thing posted over and over again on here.

The points I made above were real however. I don't see how it is financially viable. I agree with the points about records being kept and the development of mental health treatment though, I just don't see why this needs to be done in an actual real asylum building.

Abo said:

Why the hell would you want to preserve anything to do with asylums etc? They weren't exactly happy places. I should imagine anyone who was ever a patient in one would be happy to see it completely demolished!

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I thought it might have been but I ment to quote Abo as well.
One thing I forgot to say was before Farimile was started on there were a couple of patients from th eplace who had been moved down the road to one of the two houses they use now. They used to go up to the site and sweep round the roads and keep the place tidy even though it was closed. Not sure what happend to them.

Thanks all for your responses - it's really interesting to get the Urbex PoV on this x

I for one love hospital & asylum sites. They have always fascinated me. I know they had some sadness but they also have some niceness. The architecture is usually very amazing.

id rather see a report on a hospital than some huge report on a lame ass lump of world war 2 concrete.
its what got me into ue seeing images of cane hill

Most hospitals are pretty boring and stripped out, Cane Hill was an odd exception.

asilums

i worked in one of those hospitals a long time ago so did my mum & dad also met my wife there
and yes some bad things happend but the residents could walk around the large grounds their were activites to do sports .

Now they are in small homes unable to go out in case they get run over and when they do go out they get abused by scum

Due to goverment funding its changing back to large homes / units & under funded & staffed
ps most of thease hospitals have beeb knocked down sold for building land
the on i worked in has its now a mini estate for large houses £500,000