East Sussex County Asylum - Hellingy: November 2008

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LiamHW

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From County Aslums:

Date opened: 1903
Date closed: 1994
Location: Park road, Hellingly, near Hailsham, East Sussex
Architect: George Thomas Hine FRIBA, Consultant architect to the Commisioners in Lunacy
Layout: Compact arrow plan with villas

Designed by prominent asylum architect, George Thomas Hine, Hellingly was to be one of the most advanced county asylum designs at the time of its construction and can be seen as a smaller scale enhancement of ideas employed at the London County Council's Bexley Asylum. The site, forming part of Park Farm was located to the north-east of Hailsham a short distance from Hellingly village and railway station. The site sloped south and the northern area was bounded by woodland. A minor road was re-routed to maintain the security and privacy of the site.

I had a meeting in Brighton so took the opportunity to call in at Hellingly. I stopped of at the services, swapped the suit for something more appropriate and headed down the A27 over the rolling hills of the south downs.

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I've seen all the reports on Hellingly but somehow the sheer dereliction of the place had not sunk in. Pikeys, vandals, time and the weather have not been kind to this hospital; in fact they've been bloody awful.

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Barely a window has been left untouched and at various times in the past it has been an arsonists playground.

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I made my way round towards the estates department and caught my first glimpse of the water tower.

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Even though Hellingly is very stripped I enjoyed looking through some of the records that give an insight into the life that once was here.

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On to the Admin block, which I didn't realise has also been devastated by fire. The wall tiling in the corridor is outstanding.

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At this point I hear a dog start to bark... you can't do stealth in Hellingly - there is just so much plaster, roofing tiles glass etc on the floor which makes walking quietly almost impossible. I slipped into a nearby toilet and stop and listen. The dog barks, the building carries on making it's noises but no sound of footsteps.
I realise that I am near the car park for the live part of the site so hope that is where the dog is and move on.

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The flooring off the main corridors has suffered from the water ingress and given way in many places and for that reason I decided not to explore the wards. I made my way round to the laundry.

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And then onto through the female side of the hospital to the main hall. It's amazing the things you find moved around...

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Then the Main Hall. Entering here for the first time really took my breath away... it is really something.

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Even down to the mechanical means of opening the top part of the stained glass windows. The detail is superb.

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Round passed the hairdressers, I wanted to find the water tower and boiler room.

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I found what must of been a more recent restaurant, the curling floor tiles made it quite photogenic.

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The water tower... still full of 9" pipework and tanks.

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I couldn't work out what these cogs and chains were for - if anyone could enlighten me?

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After climbing through all the pigeon poo to get the aerial shot I desended into the bowels of Hellingly. Although I had signed off risk assesments for working in confined spaces during the final year at High Royds, I had never actually been in a service tunnel before.

It was a maze of pipework with somewhat worrying signs on corners saying " Nearest exit is .... --> " The stripping of pipework had not been left to tha above ground either.

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From here I could walk along and made my way to what once may of been a pumping station, but again not much was left.

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This then lead onto the boiler room. 3 boilers remained insitu, there substantial size a reminder of the heating required to keep both residents and staff warm.

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And once again one of the idiosyncracties of exploring asylums....

The room of exhaust pipes!

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Time was now moving on and I had to get to my next appointment.

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(The Administration block upon leaving.)

All in all I really enjoyed Hellingly. Despite the ravishes of time it holds it own speacial charm.


:thumb
 
Everytime I see those exhausts I wonder if they were dumped or being stored, as they dont look too bad. :confused: Usually castoffs are red rusty.
 
A great set of photo's Liam. Even with such severe dereliction there's always a surprise or three, and you captured it well!
 
From County Aslums:

Even though Hellingly is very stripped I enjoyed looking through some of the records that give an insight into the life that once was here.

:thumb


Hey, Do you have the documents by any chance? It would be most insightful to see!
Look forward to hearing from you!
 
No; I was refering to the maintenance records left in the Estates office. Water temperature checks, planned preventative maintence sheets ~ that kind of thing. It's my line of work so it gave me a feeling of how the place worked.

I think they are all still there if you wanted to have a look.
 

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