West Park and St. Ebbas exteriors

Today when i woke up, it was snowing hard - i hadn't planned to go out but didn't want to waste the opportunity to get some snowy shots of abandonment. I chose West Park as i hadn't been round there in a long time ...but by time i got there most of the snow had disappeared.

I continued round, keeping an eye out for sensors and cameras - many of the buildings had barely changed since i last saw them in early 2006, but i did notice that many of the roofs had been stripped of tiles and lead :icon_evil






















I didn't hang around too long as i didn't want to tempt fate, but moved on to West Parks most neglected area - Hollywood lodge, destroyed by fire in 2004/2005?







Hollywood lodge has a security horse



the whole lot had been grafitti'd up to add to the sheer trashed appearance of the building, however some boards were missing and i got a sneaky view of inside.



I then proceeded to St. Ebbas hospital (5 mins round the corner) and just stuck to taking external photos. I spoke to a very friendly guard there who told me that much of the site was going to be demolished by the new owners to make way for....guess what.....housing

I love all the different tower pics. And really like the one of the front entrance at West Park, with nature reclaiming the pillars. That looks great. The shelter looks lovely through the willow trees. Love the outside of Hollywood House, that looks like it was a lovely building in its day.

Like the Tower again, but the St Ebba's one. And the lovely curved roof on the 4th pic.

Its a shame that the St Ebba's buildings are going to be demolished for housing. Soon there won't be anything left around the Epsom Cluster to indicate that there were ever any hospitals there.

Cheers Mr B, great pics as always,

Sal

Yes, it snowed hard down here in the afternoon. I too went out to take some pics but I didn't get very far as within seconds I looked like a snowman...very blizzard-like!

Such a shame about St Ebbas. I like seeing exterior photos here as the buildings are rather quirky and have a bit of a Dutch look about them. Liking the security horse at Hollywood Lodge, btw!
Always enjoy your reports Mr Bones, as you have a different take on things, which is most interesting. This one was no exception so thanks for sharing that.

Thankyou Sal, Foxy and King Al for your replies - i wasn't sure how well this report would go down as no internal exploring was done (despite having the odd opportunity). You've put a lot of thought into your replies -cheers.

Very good shots Bones..it certainly is good to actually see what a hospital looks like from the outside..I understand it can be iffy doing externals if one is trying to be stealthy,but its nice to get the blessing off a guard cos it makes you less nervy and on edge.We did Cane Hill externals,and I get loads of views on my webpage over a year later.Well done.

I like externals personally, so thanks

Thankyou Chelle, very kind words and glad you liked them too, Krela!

I think too many people concentrate their efforts on getting interior pictures, I nearly always forget to take exteriors myself.

Nice one, I like stuff like this.

TnM

Cheers TnM, i must admit - i am not very good at taking exterior photos on a normal visit either, thats one of the reasons i made this trip.

Far too often we concentrate on the interior shots, these are excellent and a lovely record..

silverstealth said:

Far too often we concentrate on the interior shots, these are excellent and a lovely record..

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I am guilty of concentrating on interiors too much of the time, too! Your comments are much appreciated.

I like exterior shots I'm trying to concentrate on exteriors a bit more now...I have realised I have a lot of folders of photos from explores which only contain a few exterior shots but hundreds of interiors!

Lovely security horse! Was he just roaming free??!!

RA

RA181 said:

I like exterior shots

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Yes, me too. In fact I often prefer them as it's the architecture or outside dereliction that I'm more interested in. I feel that the interiors don't always mean a lot if there's no reference to what the building actually looks like or where it is in connection to it's surroundings. And also, if I can't get into a site, then I'm just as happy to explore around the outside.
That's my tuppence worth, anyway!

RA181 said:

Lovely security horse! Was he just roaming free??!!

RA

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he had the field surrounding hollywood lodge and the next one along so more or less!

Son...see any of the 'dobermans'? Hee!

I'm also extremely guilty of forgetting to take exterior shots, that and taking shed loads of pics on weekend trips, then not having a clue where some shots are from!

Will catch up with thee soon, just enjoying a nose round the forum, thought it was time to catch up!

Valan said:

Son...see any of the 'dobermans'? Hee!

I'm also extremely guilty of forgetting to take exterior shots, that and taking shed loads of pics on weekend trips, then not having a clue where some shots are from!

Will catch up with thee soon, just enjoying a nose round the forum, thought it was time to catch up!

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Hiya son, good to see you on here again No Deerbermans i'm afraid!

anything happened at St Ebba's?
is it all gone now

Think it's still there - will have to have a look sometime