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last week we decided to explore one of the few remaining relatively modern asylums in England that has yet to be demolished. Aston Hall Mental Hospital is located on the edge of the pretty village of Aston-On-Trent just outside Derby and is in fact one of two mental hospitals that served the city, the other being the Derby Borough Lunatic Asylum, a large, rather aged Victorian red brick classical asylum. The hospital is built in a villa layout on a site of some 3.2 acres though the grounds looked considerably larger than that when we got there. Originally the land which had been part of the Aston Hall estate was bought in 1924 and the hospital was opened in the 1930s. Each of the villas housed up to 50 patients but as the years passed the number gradually declined, especially with the advent of "Care In The Community". By the nineties the writing was on the wall for Aston Hall. The last 58 long term, chronic patients were farmed out to other hospitals in the surrounding area and the doors of "the village" as it was known locally, were finally closed in 2004. It is unclear as to what is on the cards for the site though it seems likely that they will demolish the buildings, none of which are listed, to make way for an extension of the housing estate which currently butts up almost to the front wall of the services block.
The villa layout of the hospital means it is unusually spacious and airy, and the south facing bedrooms on the wards - which appeared to be predominantly singles - are bathed in the most glorious light. But even the rooms on the north sides of the villas benefit from loads of natural light. At the back of the site there is a large area of open playing fields together with a small building which we took to be a gym or sports hall of some kind. At the front end of the site a large kitchen block made the food for the hospital but an uber abundance of Aston Hall catering tray lids litter the grounds hinting at central prep of micro wave "TV Dinners", with micro-wave re-heating in each of the villas; the catering department may also have provided food for other hospitals and medical facilities in the area, though that is only our as yet unproven guesswork!
Having seen other explorer's photographs taken over the years since the closure we thought the place would be a great explore as it has not been abandoned all that long. But sadly we were in for a serious disappointment when we arrived and saw just how much damage has been inflicted by random occupants of the moron-o-sphere. Rampant chavvery, at times reportedly committed by children as young as nine or ten, together with blatant and hard faced theft of metal and fittings, has left the former hospital in a very sorry state. In the ward villas there are very few studded partition walls that have not been kicked through, and of course all the window glass and pot sanitary fittings have long since been reduced to little more than crunching under foot or a hazard to the hands. There has also clearly been a fire very, very recently in the theatre area of the central leisure block, and the structural integrity of one of the most interesting areas of the hospital has been seriously compromised as a result. It's sad that this building has suffered so badly because it contains a very large theatre with a stage, and a pretty polygonal hydro-therapy swimming pool, which apprently was the only one of it's kind anywhere in Derbyshire. An imaginative developer could very easily have converted this building into a superb leisure facility for the housing estate but of course it is probably beyond economic repair now, especially as much of the roof has collapsed in already. It is my suspicion that the fire was set by school age youths because we found a maths work book with childish hand writing partially burnt close to the seat of the fire.
We rocked up on site and wandered through the woods on the western edge looking for a discrete route in - to be frank though we needn't have bothered. In the distance up by the services block we could see two blokes in high viz and hard hats and naturally we took them for demo workers or possibly security. It was immediately clear that they had seen us so we made no attempt to hide, preferring the direct, amiable approach. But something seemed a little odd about their mannerisms and conversation, especially that of the younger of the two who seemed very nervous, but only a little later did the penny drop - they were metal pykeys using the "in your face" approach to have it away with radiators, two of which had been stashed against the wall just short of the closest point of access for a vehicle. I only wish I had twigged a bit sooner so that I could have phoned the dibble!
Anyways, that's enough of the history of Aston Hall Mental Hospital and of our musings after visiting the site so I'll post the photos now. I only hope you'll find something here worth the effort of looking! We both tried very hard to exclude the damage and wanton vandalism in as many of our shots as possible but it was an uphill struggle, so the photos we took perhaps show the hospital in a better light than it actually appears to the visitor on the ground.
And it's only going to get worse before it is finally demolished.
The villa layout of the hospital means it is unusually spacious and airy, and the south facing bedrooms on the wards - which appeared to be predominantly singles - are bathed in the most glorious light. But even the rooms on the north sides of the villas benefit from loads of natural light. At the back of the site there is a large area of open playing fields together with a small building which we took to be a gym or sports hall of some kind. At the front end of the site a large kitchen block made the food for the hospital but an uber abundance of Aston Hall catering tray lids litter the grounds hinting at central prep of micro wave "TV Dinners", with micro-wave re-heating in each of the villas; the catering department may also have provided food for other hospitals and medical facilities in the area, though that is only our as yet unproven guesswork!
Having seen other explorer's photographs taken over the years since the closure we thought the place would be a great explore as it has not been abandoned all that long. But sadly we were in for a serious disappointment when we arrived and saw just how much damage has been inflicted by random occupants of the moron-o-sphere. Rampant chavvery, at times reportedly committed by children as young as nine or ten, together with blatant and hard faced theft of metal and fittings, has left the former hospital in a very sorry state. In the ward villas there are very few studded partition walls that have not been kicked through, and of course all the window glass and pot sanitary fittings have long since been reduced to little more than crunching under foot or a hazard to the hands. There has also clearly been a fire very, very recently in the theatre area of the central leisure block, and the structural integrity of one of the most interesting areas of the hospital has been seriously compromised as a result. It's sad that this building has suffered so badly because it contains a very large theatre with a stage, and a pretty polygonal hydro-therapy swimming pool, which apprently was the only one of it's kind anywhere in Derbyshire. An imaginative developer could very easily have converted this building into a superb leisure facility for the housing estate but of course it is probably beyond economic repair now, especially as much of the roof has collapsed in already. It is my suspicion that the fire was set by school age youths because we found a maths work book with childish hand writing partially burnt close to the seat of the fire.
We rocked up on site and wandered through the woods on the western edge looking for a discrete route in - to be frank though we needn't have bothered. In the distance up by the services block we could see two blokes in high viz and hard hats and naturally we took them for demo workers or possibly security. It was immediately clear that they had seen us so we made no attempt to hide, preferring the direct, amiable approach. But something seemed a little odd about their mannerisms and conversation, especially that of the younger of the two who seemed very nervous, but only a little later did the penny drop - they were metal pykeys using the "in your face" approach to have it away with radiators, two of which had been stashed against the wall just short of the closest point of access for a vehicle. I only wish I had twigged a bit sooner so that I could have phoned the dibble!
Anyways, that's enough of the history of Aston Hall Mental Hospital and of our musings after visiting the site so I'll post the photos now. I only hope you'll find something here worth the effort of looking! We both tried very hard to exclude the damage and wanton vandalism in as many of our shots as possible but it was an uphill struggle, so the photos we took perhaps show the hospital in a better light than it actually appears to the visitor on the ground.
And it's only going to get worse before it is finally demolished.
The pix...
As you arrive at the site there is only a row of Heras fencing seperating the hosuing estate from the hospital so it's no wonder it's getting so chavved up.
One of the ward "villas"...
Virginia Creeper all over the buildings makes it quite photogenic...
A heating control room, part of the boiler plant...
Quite modern control gear smacks of a refurb late in the life of the hospital...
A stairwell leads up to the upper storage area over the workshops...
Skylights and windows everywhere are smashed...
The workshop lift motor...
The workshop roof is accessed via the lift motor room and it affords great views across the hospital. But beware, you are in clear line of sight to anyone in the back garden of the adjacent OAPs home!
A ward "villa" close to the workshop block...
Is this a child's toy or a "Make-Ladies-Happy-O-Matic"?
...
A disabled patient's bath. There's one of these at another famous asylum. Answers on a postcard please...
Diesel engine to drive an auxillary generator?
the floor of the kitchens and most of the surrounding countryside is strewn with the lids from "TV DInner" style food cartons all sporting an "Aston Hall Catering" logo...
Down to a storage area beneath the kitchens which is remarkably dry considering it is under ground and has been abandoned for seven years...
What you might expect to find stored here...
...and what you definitely would not! Putting Green flags???
...hair dryers...
...a lifting chair for disabled patients...
A roll of unused patients belongings bags...
A completely different lifting machine...
Going into a ward villa now...
Peely paint and wallpaper on a villa staircase...
The ward bedrooms all appear to be single occupancy rather than the "cram 'em in" approach found in in the old asylums...
...and decorated in individual colour schemes too...
Giant Lego!
Plug the gap in the window to stop the draft?
Why chavs wear DMs...
Peeping through the Creeper...
Who is Ian?
The Leisure Complex roof has been badly damaged...
In a villa day room...
Anyone remember Blue Peter's "Bleep and Booster"?
The Leisure Complex houses the hydro-therapy pool which has been badly trashed like everywhere else in the hospital...
Inflatable swimming aid...
Don't nick the towels!
The spiders in this place are huge!
The theatre is still standing despite a fire recently on or under the stage...
This kid thought so much of his maths homework he used it to light the fire...
This service tunnel runs off towards the boiler house, presumably under thr road...
Looking back into the auditorium from under the stage. Note the fire blackening...
And finally, a nature study! I did not mess with the colour of this photo in any way, the drain pipes actually looked that colour presumably from something reflecting on to them in the bright sunshine, though I haven't a clue what!
Hope you found something worth looking at here! Thanks y'all...
As you arrive at the site there is only a row of Heras fencing seperating the hosuing estate from the hospital so it's no wonder it's getting so chavved up.
One of the ward "villas"...
Virginia Creeper all over the buildings makes it quite photogenic...
A heating control room, part of the boiler plant...
Quite modern control gear smacks of a refurb late in the life of the hospital...
A stairwell leads up to the upper storage area over the workshops...
Skylights and windows everywhere are smashed...
The workshop lift motor...
The workshop roof is accessed via the lift motor room and it affords great views across the hospital. But beware, you are in clear line of sight to anyone in the back garden of the adjacent OAPs home!
A ward "villa" close to the workshop block...
Is this a child's toy or a "Make-Ladies-Happy-O-Matic"?
...
A disabled patient's bath. There's one of these at another famous asylum. Answers on a postcard please...
Diesel engine to drive an auxillary generator?
the floor of the kitchens and most of the surrounding countryside is strewn with the lids from "TV DInner" style food cartons all sporting an "Aston Hall Catering" logo...
Down to a storage area beneath the kitchens which is remarkably dry considering it is under ground and has been abandoned for seven years...
What you might expect to find stored here...
...and what you definitely would not! Putting Green flags???
...hair dryers...
...a lifting chair for disabled patients...
A roll of unused patients belongings bags...
A completely different lifting machine...
Going into a ward villa now...
Peely paint and wallpaper on a villa staircase...
The ward bedrooms all appear to be single occupancy rather than the "cram 'em in" approach found in in the old asylums...
...and decorated in individual colour schemes too...
Giant Lego!
Plug the gap in the window to stop the draft?
Why chavs wear DMs...
Peeping through the Creeper...
Who is Ian?
The Leisure Complex roof has been badly damaged...
In a villa day room...
Anyone remember Blue Peter's "Bleep and Booster"?
The Leisure Complex houses the hydro-therapy pool which has been badly trashed like everywhere else in the hospital...
Inflatable swimming aid...
Don't nick the towels!
The spiders in this place are huge!
The theatre is still standing despite a fire recently on or under the stage...
This kid thought so much of his maths homework he used it to light the fire...
This service tunnel runs off towards the boiler house, presumably under thr road...
Looking back into the auditorium from under the stage. Note the fire blackening...
And finally, a nature study! I did not mess with the colour of this photo in any way, the drain pipes actually looked that colour presumably from something reflecting on to them in the bright sunshine, though I haven't a clue what!
Hope you found something worth looking at here! Thanks y'all...
