Pool Parc Asylum - PIC HEAVY

Not a lot of point doing the full history thing here, everyone knows it by now, so this is a precis instead...

House built way back and then "modernised" to a mock Tudor style late 17 - early 1800s. House and estate lost on a "bet at the races", estate split and sold off but house never sold. Let to Henry Tate of Tate and Lyle fame. Bought by local area health authority as convalescent home in 1934 for 80 male patients, upped to 120 for war. POW camp also built in the grounds at that time.

Change of use to asylum overspill for nearby Denbigh Asylum, but with Care in The Community it was run down in the 80s and abandoned late 80s. Still in very good condition at the beginning of this year (see other reports) but now decaying exponentially. The upper floor corridor is rotten and through in holes where as it appeared to be fully intact and quite sound in January!!! The magnificent oak staircase is being stripped of all it's carved decoration and the entrance hall is also being stripped progressively, presumably to sell the carvings etc off.

We visited on a week day and although we did a huge circuit to get around the back because we saw what we took to be a security hut on site we saw no one whilst we were there except for a couple walking their dog. Little or no internal vandalisation apart from windows and grafitti is also conspicuously absent! All in all a very worthwhile explore AT THE MOMENT.

But it won't last...


Exterior front view at main entrance...





Within the kitchens...





Industrial sized Magi-Mix!!!





Telephone/intercom in kitchen area...





Paging Mr. Davies, Mr. Davies please...





Dining room?





Wonder what happened? The other piece of crime tape we found had the same spiel in Welsh as well as English... *sighs.





Water ingress is bad in the kitchen wing but elsewhere AT THIS TIME it is not so severe and the damage is correspondingly lighter...





Lets desecrate the fine oak panelling with a coat of cream gloss! Gotta love the NHS for their sense of aesthetics!





The first floor corridor is still relatively safe as the water ingress hasn't rotted the floor boards yet. But it's getting rather spongey under foot.





One of many upper floor bedroom fireplaces...





"That" chair!





Undoubtedly photogenic (hello Jen! ) and clearly with a mind of it's own, this chair seems to move from room to room of it's own free will...





Quite a visual impact despite the water damage. The second floor corridor was in a much better state earlier in the year.





Many old Victorian houses, ours included, had a system of signalling bells so that the servants could be summoned by tugging on a small handle in say a bedroom. Here you can see the bell pull wires descending the wall and turning through 90 degress on pulleys to run off under the floor boards!





View from an "attic" bedroom window across the adjacent farm land which was originally part of the estate linked to the house.





One of many ornamental spires on the roof.





Seen in another attic bedroom, I'm not at all sure what this was all about!





It would be a brazen explorer that gained entry via this fire escape even though it's perfectly possible. The adjacent buildings are a working farm.





Attention to detail Victorian style!





Up on the roof...





That's quite some mushroom! The smell of this thing was really strong and I wonder just how wise is to inhale the spores? In future we will both carry a rezzy when we're exploring!





At the top of the main stairs, now sadly denuded of most of their magnificent carved wooden panels...





One of the few remaining panels...






They are even robbing the posts and hand rails, these though give an idea of how it once looked...






The staircase seen from the entrance hall...






Behind the front door...






Peeling wall paper here but it's still impressive...






A theatre, however small, seems to be a feature of every asylum...






Drug store...






Old beds and stacking chairs stored in the cellars...






Week (or month?) end catering bills for the staff are scattered over the cellar floor...






Alarm panel?






The back of the building has almost been swallowed up by the overgrown rhododendrons...






On the corner...






...and finally, our parting "shot"...

Hope you enjoyed our take on this popular site! Thanks for looking... ​

Wow this looks amazing I love the staircase pics. Nice one

I love this place and Im glad to see the old chair is still there But the tape at the bottom of the staircase is new not seen that before still well done and great pics

The Cat Crept In said:

Im glad to see the old chair is still there

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Cheers! Have you noticed how the chair migrates around the building dependant upon who's been taking photographs?

Great pictures really enjoyed them thanx

Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant, thats all i can say...............

Nice stuff, shame such a building is left to go to waste

Pincheck said:

Nice stuff, shame such a building is left to go to waste

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Amen to that!

Nice pic..

Friend of mine used to live in the bungalow adjacent to the farm over 25 years ago...when Pool Parc still had patients.....every summer day when the sun was out one of the patients would go out sunbathing naked in full view of the road approaching the house/farm/bunglaow....

not an attractive site i am told

Lovely architectural details both inside & out. Well captured TJF

You have some really nice pics there,
I just can't believe how downhill it has gone, in such a short period of time too.

ceejam said:

I just can't believe how downhill it has gone, in such a short period of time too.

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Thanks for your kind comments.

The reason it has deteriorated so quickly has probably got a lot to do with the fact that the top floor has been opened to the outside elements very comprehensively. We saw pix of the top floor corridor in the early part of 2011 and it was in a good state albeit dirty but by the time we visited in the middle of the year water had been pouring in through broken sky lights and through where the lead has been removed. The odd thing is that the lead was stashed in a cupboard - now pykeys tend to rip and run, not remove and hoard. Add to that all the cast iron fireplaces were stacked ready for removal and you have what's been happening to the wood panelling on the Bishop's staircase... so it looks to me on the basis of those facts that someone wants this place to rot and fall down.

How often do we see this with Grade II listed buildings? That and "mystery fires" which causes the place to deteriorate to "beyond economic repair".

But having spoken to the architect in charge of listings for Denbigh and the surrounding area he told me that the owner is not allowed to do the other things he is planning for the site UNLESS the house is restored so it would appear it would be the owner's loss if it gets much worse. Nothing really makes sense but at least the architect has been warned something fishy is afoot and has been to the house to see for himself.

We went on the 2nd Jan this year...at that time there wasn't even access to the roof.

ceejam said:

We went on the 2nd Jan this year...at that time there wasn't even access to the roof.

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What? Not even up that tiny, narrow staircase which opens out to the roof through a small door?

Night Mr Davies! Night John boy! Night Mary-Ellen!

I went there after going to NWH a few weeks ago. I'll get round to doing my report this weekend.

I want to go!!! now!!

TeeJF said:

What? Not even up that tiny, narrow staircase which opens out to the roof through a small door?

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No that was kicked through after we were there, unfortunately this hobby attracts dick head glory hunters who just want to get unseen shots at any cost, then wonder why places get locked down or they get nicked.

Flaxington said:

I went there after going to NWH a few weeks ago. I'll get round to doing my report this weekend.

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Had anything been done to prevent access? This is the place I contacted the local council about after finding strong evidence of it being opened up to the weather and listed stuff being ripped out systematically and obviously illegally.

ceejam said:

this hobby attracts dick head glory hunters who just want to get unseen shots at any cost.

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Amen to that!!! Though I'm wondering if the roof access was opened in the process of making the roof porous, by who ever has done it. It makes no odds, now the roof is open the building is on borrowed time. So bl**dy sad.