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The History
HM Prison Bullwood Hall was originally built in the 1960’s as a female borstal, and later for adult females. Operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service, Bullwood Hall continued to serve as a women's prison until 2006, when it was announced that it was to be converted into a Category C male prison, due to a shortage of male prison places.
There were up to 230 prisoners at Bullwood Hall at any one time, and more than 800 passed through the prison between August 2011 and July 2012.
On 10 January 2013 it was announced by the government that Bullwood Hall is one of 7 British prisons to be closed. The prison closed on Thursday the 28th of March 2013. As of April 2015 the site remains unsold.
In 2002 Bullwood Hall was featured in a series of six 30 minute documentaries titled "The Real Bad Girls”. Although the series portrayed the prison in a positive light, a 2005 report condemned Bullwood Hall for still using the practice of slopping out. A year later the prison was singled out for its high levels of attempted suicides and self-harm amongst inmates
The Bullwood hall site covers a total of 48.2 acres this includes the prison, the original Bullwood Hall House, a hostel, farmland, a wood and various farm building.
The original Bullwood Hall House is a three storey 20th century building featuring a rendered and painted façade with exposed timbers to the first floor, a gable roof with intersecting gables topped with decorative ridge tiles, several chimney stacks accompanied by predominately flat roofed dormers.
This building is adjacent to Bullwood Hall prison. The Bullwood Estate was built on land sold in 1894 by Mr. Offin of Turrett House, Hockley. This building is of local importance and is considered to merit inclusion on the revised list and local authorities are hoping to have it listed to protect it from being demolished.
The Explore
Us Essex lads and lasses have had our eyes on Bullwood Hall Prison for some time now, we have visited this more than enough times hoping things have changed and it’s accessible but it’s always the same story. Have a wander around, take a few pics, have a chat with a very confused secca who thinks he is a Latino gangster from South Central L.A.
I have never really paid the Bullwood Hall House any attention other than a few snaps here and there. This time was different. This visit was with slayaaaa & urban diaries. We popped out on a Sunday afternoon for a mooch around Essex and ended up here. Had the dull, what are you doing here chat with the security and he sent us on our way. As we walked passed the House we started discussing if it was “doable” or not. After peering through the windows and deciding it was pretty interesting inside we thought we would give it ago. Luckily we soon found an entry point and clambered in.
It appears that a few rooms in the house have been used for storage and the rest is empty and in a scruffy state. It would have been awesome to have seen it in its heyday as it was still stunning in its derelict state. The ground floor had a bar area and a few lovely rooms, along with the odd smaller room being used for the previously mentioned storage. One of these rooms gave us our greatest find. It appears that at some point the Prison had stored not only lots of sensitive paperwork in here but had left a load of riot gear in the same room. As I’m sure you can imagine, we just had to try it on lol.
The rest of the house was pretty amazing too, with some great rooms, bathrooms and two pretty smart staircases.
As always please enjoy my pictures
HM Prison Bullwood Hall was originally built in the 1960’s as a female borstal, and later for adult females. Operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service, Bullwood Hall continued to serve as a women's prison until 2006, when it was announced that it was to be converted into a Category C male prison, due to a shortage of male prison places.
There were up to 230 prisoners at Bullwood Hall at any one time, and more than 800 passed through the prison between August 2011 and July 2012.
On 10 January 2013 it was announced by the government that Bullwood Hall is one of 7 British prisons to be closed. The prison closed on Thursday the 28th of March 2013. As of April 2015 the site remains unsold.
In 2002 Bullwood Hall was featured in a series of six 30 minute documentaries titled "The Real Bad Girls”. Although the series portrayed the prison in a positive light, a 2005 report condemned Bullwood Hall for still using the practice of slopping out. A year later the prison was singled out for its high levels of attempted suicides and self-harm amongst inmates
The Bullwood hall site covers a total of 48.2 acres this includes the prison, the original Bullwood Hall House, a hostel, farmland, a wood and various farm building.
The original Bullwood Hall House is a three storey 20th century building featuring a rendered and painted façade with exposed timbers to the first floor, a gable roof with intersecting gables topped with decorative ridge tiles, several chimney stacks accompanied by predominately flat roofed dormers.
This building is adjacent to Bullwood Hall prison. The Bullwood Estate was built on land sold in 1894 by Mr. Offin of Turrett House, Hockley. This building is of local importance and is considered to merit inclusion on the revised list and local authorities are hoping to have it listed to protect it from being demolished.
The Explore
Us Essex lads and lasses have had our eyes on Bullwood Hall Prison for some time now, we have visited this more than enough times hoping things have changed and it’s accessible but it’s always the same story. Have a wander around, take a few pics, have a chat with a very confused secca who thinks he is a Latino gangster from South Central L.A.
I have never really paid the Bullwood Hall House any attention other than a few snaps here and there. This time was different. This visit was with slayaaaa & urban diaries. We popped out on a Sunday afternoon for a mooch around Essex and ended up here. Had the dull, what are you doing here chat with the security and he sent us on our way. As we walked passed the House we started discussing if it was “doable” or not. After peering through the windows and deciding it was pretty interesting inside we thought we would give it ago. Luckily we soon found an entry point and clambered in.
It appears that a few rooms in the house have been used for storage and the rest is empty and in a scruffy state. It would have been awesome to have seen it in its heyday as it was still stunning in its derelict state. The ground floor had a bar area and a few lovely rooms, along with the odd smaller room being used for the previously mentioned storage. One of these rooms gave us our greatest find. It appears that at some point the Prison had stored not only lots of sensitive paperwork in here but had left a load of riot gear in the same room. As I’m sure you can imagine, we just had to try it on lol.
The rest of the house was pretty amazing too, with some great rooms, bathrooms and two pretty smart staircases.
As always please enjoy my pictures
