Denbigh Asylum

1st January 2012 – My 2nd and probably last trip to Denbigh Asylum. The first visit back in 2010 went without a hitch, it was a random unplanned visit as we were driving through Wales so I was unprepared and not carrying my SLR. I bagged a few shots with the compact and we pretty much had free roam of the entire site, not really struggling to access any areas. This time around was much different, the area we had previously entered the site was now occupied and the site itself was much more tightly sealed off. I managed to get into the main compound but found every single building that I checked to be recently reboarded and very well secured. Heavy plant vehicles are on site and notices confirm that restoration and conversion into flats is currently underway.

Before being escorted off the site by the local security guards (the white haired farmer) to anyone that has met him. He was extremely aggressive and confrontational despite me calmly offering to leave the area and proceeded to threaten me driving beside me as I walked out.

This beautiful built in 1848 was originally known as the North Wales Lunatic Asylum and was the first psychiatric institute built in Wales. Closed in 1995 it has been abandoned ever since awaiting redevelopment.

A few more external shots from my visit of the Church and Nurses quarters:

Denbigh Asylum Church

Denbigh Asylum Nurses Quarters

The final shot above is the only none HDR of the bunch and was taken as my submission for a little mini photog competition I have running with my father. We are each submitting a single shot every week for the whole year and mutually deciding on a winner each week. I’m incredibly jealous though because whilst I spent the first day of the new year in Wales my father was living it up travelling in Sri Lanka. So unbelievably jealous and I think its a given that he’ll be winning the first 3 weeks

Next up I have a bit of a shout out to friend and fellow Yorkshire Photographer Peter Marfleet. Please check out his site, titled Photographer York | Family & Commercial Portrait Photographer and the sooner the better as he is currently running a competition to win a free Nikon Coolpix S9100 camera

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and enjoyed their New Years celebrations. All the best for 2012.

Oooo one last thing for anyone who enjoys a good Urbex story check out this link from the daily mail about some girl who managed to get into a missile plant!!!: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2083556/Meet-girl-blogger-sneaked-inside-Russian-missile-factory–security.html

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Location: Newlands Estate, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Canon 17-85mm IS EFS USM

Exposure details: HDR 3 Exposures – 1/125 sec  @ F/10 ISO100

Processing: Merged with Photomatix, Some minor edits to vibrance and clarity in Adobe Lightroom

This odd little abandoned village on the outskirts of Normanton  was probably my first Urbex Experience. My old Landlord asked if we wanted to join him for a walk and he showed me this place just a mile or 2 from the main road accessed via a small dirt path next to some woods! While trolling the internet looking for information on this place i found links to several UK Urbexing websites and there began the addiction .

The Newland estate was a small township on the outskirts of Normanton and lies on the north bank of the River Calder. Existing since 1213 when it was established by King John of England as a preceptory of the Knight’s Templars, it was later transferred to the similar organisation, “The Knights Hospitallers” in 1256. The property belonging to the Hospitallers was dissolved by King Henry VIII who bestowed the property upon himself. The earliest known preceptor of the Knights Hospitallers was Simon Paccable in 1313. Newland was once held by the Levett family, and William Levett, who was lord of the manor, was admitted tenant of the Knights Hospitallers on October 2, 1447.

The estate changed hands of ownership a number of times since King Henry VIII sold the land in 1544, with final ownership landing on The Warmfield Company Limited in 1926, who ran brickworks until the mid-20th century.

Newland today is kept as a nature reserve, with the crumbling remains of the Estate overgrown with shrubs and plant life. A small fishing area just outside the Newland Estate remains popular with local fishermen.

Here is an external shot of this particular building where the picture out of the window was taken. I’m not normally a heavy sepia user but I liked this preset on Nik’s Silver Efex Pro. This building is not one of the older buildings on the site but a Farm House a stones throw away from the old stone town buildings

All rights reserved full copyright please contact me for licensing and prints are available on request.

Please visit my flickr profile to see more of my work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuckerphotography/

Follow me on twitter:  http://twitter.com/bentucker

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Location: Random Mill, Mirfield, United Kingdom

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Sigma 10-20mm

Exposure details: 30 sec @ f/5.6 ISO 100

Processing: Adobe Lightroom – Increased Clarity +100, vibrance +61

Following a failed attempt at an Urbex visit to a textile mill my fellow explorer and I set off back to Yorkshire when driving we spotted a potential abandoned building. Further investigations which involved walking the entire perimeter lead us inside a reasonably sized mill in Mirfield. After snapping a few shots of the details inside our focus changed to light painting with the torches we had available. Several hours, and lots of great shots later we made our way home at around 12:30am. Great little explore.

All rights reserved full copyright please contact me for licensing and prints are available on request.

Please visit my flickr profile to see more of my work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuckerphotography/

Follow me on twitter:  http://twitter.com/bentucker

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Whittingham Mental Asylum Urbex

Location: Whittingham Mental Asylum, United Kingdom,

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Canon 17-85mm IS EFS USM

Exposure details: 5 exposures merged into a single HDR shot using Photomatix, 1/100 sec at f/9.0 ISO 100 +/- 1 stop and +/- 2 stops

Processing: Nothing other than processing via photomatix of the 3 exposures.

Associated posts: See more photos and read my visit write up from Whittingham on my Urbex page: http://www.benscamera.com/urbex/Whittingham_Asylum_Urbex_01.html

All rights reserved full copyright please contact me for licensing and prints are available on request.

Please visit my flickr profile to see more of my work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuckerphotography/

Follow me on twitter:  http://twitter.com/bentucker

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Derby Mental Asylum

A good little explore, place was pretty much stripped bare and in the process of being demolished (too many of these old asylums have bitten the dust over the last 5 years). Best find was the morgue, although only small with room for 6 bodies it was still my first and I’m glad to have popped my morgue cherry now if I could just make it to the padded cell at West Park before that’s gone…

Full story and more pics to follow on my Urbex page: http://www.benscamera.com/urbex/ so keep an eye out!

Kingsway Hospital Rowditch, Derby, Derbyshire
Derby Borough Asylum
Date founded: 1884 Date opened: 1888
Postcode: DE22 3LZ

DERBY Borough came late to mental health provision, although a private asylum for paying patients was up-and-running in Green Lane, on the site of the Hippodrome, by 1820.

The county authorities managed to provide a splendid new lunatic asylum (as they were then known) for the rest of Derbyshire, on the western edge of Mickleover, to a design by Derby-born architect Henry Duesbury, in 1849.

What’s left of it is now a housing complex called Duesbury Court.

But the poor unfortunates from the borough, if diagnosed as insane, were sent to existing hospitals at Leicester or Nottingham.

In 1863, the authorities recommended that the borough build an asylum for 200 inmates but it was only in 1871, when Leicester, Mickleover and Burntwood Asylums refused to accept new Derby patients, that something had to be done.

The site all agreed on was at Rowditch – part of that still occupied by the current hospital – but the 24 acres there were considered to be insufficient.

Unfortunately, Miss Trowell, who owned and lived at Thornhill, the elegant Regency villa adjoining the site to the north, understandably refused to sell any of her 26 acres. The project stalled for another decade.

By this time, Miss Trowell had died and the Thornhill estate had passed to her cousin, Lord Belper.

He had no use for either the house (which he let) or the parkland, so he sold the grounds to Derby Borough Corporation in 1883 and, the following year, a competition was launched to design the new facility, now required to house 300 patients.

The competition attracted 150 entries and was adjudicated by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

The winner was Hull-based Benjamin S. Jacobs, an asylum specialist. The contractors were William Walkerdine and Co who quoted £31,100 for the job.

It was finished in two years, opening for 27 patients, transferred from Leicester, in November 1888.

The building, in red brick, was in a neo-Jacobean style – then still much favoured for public institutions – and was a colossal structure, grouped, approximately symmetrically, around four internal courtyards.

It boasted three monumental water towers, with steep pyramidal roofs like church spires, a central capped tower and a tall chimney.

The main elements were an administration block to the north

The much more elaborate central block was finished in darker brickwork and contained an assembly hall, with a chapel above it, which boasted a fine, openwork, trussed roof.

These were connected by a central north-south block inside the complex containing the services, like the kitchens.

This was extended by the same architect in 1891, glassed roofed verandahs were added in 1901 and further additions were made in 1902 to cope with the increase in the borough’s population resulting from boundary extensions the previous year.

From 1899 to 1902, a separate building was erected – later Albany House – for 30 female private patients, the result being a plain pile, the proportions of which were spoilt by the last-minute raising of attics to create an extra storey at the rear of the crosswings.

Architect Jacobs’s finest contribution was the Isolation Block, 1895-1897.

It was later ruined by the borough who removed the chimneys, built an awkward two-bay extension on the south-east side and added a vast porch on the south-west side, the whole being painted a most unsympathetic battleship grey by the NHS who neglected it consistently from the end of the 1970s.

After the war, in 1948, the entire complex passed to the NHS, which made additions, generally in an unsympathetic style, and demolished half the farm buildings, leaving the rest for storage.

The Isolation Block and Thornhill were bulldozed.

For more historical information on Kingsway Hospital visit bygonederbyshire.co.uk for more pictures keep an eye out on my Urbex Page at: http://www.benscamera.com/urbex/

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Location: West Park Mental Asylum, United Kingdom

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Sigma 10-20mm

Exposure details:  1/60 sec at f4.0 ISO 100

Processing: Increased Clarity, Sharpness and Vibrance using Adobe Lightroom 3.0

View the full write up and more photos of my west park trip click here

West Park Asylum (or West Park Hospital) was a large psychiatric hospital in Epsom, Surrey. The hospital was designed by William C. Clifford-Smith (architect to the London County Council), who was also involved in the design of nearby St Ebba’s Hospital. The hospital had been in planning since 1906, and by 1917 it was largely complete; however, the outbreak of war postponed opening until 1923.

When complete the hospital could cater for around 2,000 patients of mixed class, and hence the site had extensive boiler houses and plant rooms, a large laundry and a substantial water tower. There were enormous kitchens located behind the canteen, and in turn this was behind the main hall/ballroom. However, the main hall suffered an arson attack on September 30th 2003 and is now a burnt out shell. The asylum also boasted its own railway but this was removed in 1950, and no trace remains except around the central engineering block. The main stores and sewing rooms were also located here, but other services, such as the mortuary and chapel, were located by the entrance road, along with two lodges for the matrons and a large manor for the superintendent.

All rights reserved full copyright please contact me for licensing and prints are available on request.

Please visit my flickr profile to see more of my work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuckerphotography/

Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/bentucker

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Location: West Park Mental Asylum, United Kingdom

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Sigma 10-20mm

Exposure details: 3 Exposures merged into a single HDR shot via Photomatix software. 2.0 sec at f4.0 ISO 100 +/- 2 stops

Processing: Merged 3 exposures through photomatix pro software that’s pretty much it.

View the full write up and more photos of my west park trip click here

West Park Asylum (or West Park Hospital) was a large psychiatric hospital in Epsom, Surrey. The hospital was designed by William C. Clifford-Smith (architect to the London County Council), who was also involved in the design of nearby St Ebba’s Hospital. The hospital had been in planning since 1906, and by 1917 it was largely complete; however, the outbreak of war postponed opening until 1923.

When complete the hospital could cater for around 2,000 patients of mixed class, and hence the site had extensive boiler houses and plant rooms, a large laundry and a substantial water tower. There were enormous kitchens located behind the canteen, and in turn this was behind the main hall/ballroom. However, the main hall suffered an arson attack on September 30th 2003 and is now a burnt out shell. The asylum also boasted its own railway but this was removed in 1950, and no trace remains except around the central engineering block. The main stores and sewing rooms were also located here, but other services, such as the mortuary and chapel, were located by the entrance road, along with two lodges for the matrons and a large manor for the superintendent.

All rights reserved full copyright please contact me for licensing and prints are available on request.

Please visit my flickr profile to see more of my work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuckerphotography/

Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/bentucker

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Location: West Park Mental Asylum, United Kingdom

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Sigma 10-20mm

Exposure details: 3 Exposures merged into a single HDR shot via Photomatix software. 0.4 sec at f4.0 ISO 100 +/- 2 stops

Processing: Merged 3 exposures through photomatix pro software that’s pretty much it.

View the full write up and more photos of my west park trip click here

West Park Asylum (or West Park Hospital) was a large psychiatric hospital in Epsom, Surrey. The hospital was designed by William C. Clifford-Smith (architect to the London County Council), who was also involved in the design of nearby St Ebba’s Hospital. The hospital had been in planning since 1906, and by 1917 it was largely complete; however, the outbreak of war postponed opening until 1923.

When complete the hospital could cater for around 2,000 patients of mixed class, and hence the site had extensive boiler houses and plant rooms, a large laundry and a substantial water tower. There were enormous kitchens located behind the canteen, and in turn this was behind the main hall/ballroom. However, the main hall suffered an arson attack on September 30th 2003 and is now a burnt out shell. The asylum also boasted its own railway but this was removed in 1950, and no trace remains except around the central engineering block. The main stores and sewing rooms were also located here, but other services, such as the mortuary and chapel, were located by the entrance road, along with two lodges for the matrons and a large manor for the superintendent.

All rights reserved full copyright please contact me for licensing and prints are available on request.

Please visit my flickr profile to see more of my work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuckerphotography/

Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/bentucker

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I am a Fan of Urbexing

Location: Eastmoor Secure Unit for Children, Leeds, United Kingdom

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Canon EF 50mm F1.4

Exposure details: 5 seconds at f14 ISO 100

Processing: Adobe Lightroom adjustments to RAW file – Increased exposure darkened shadows and added some more clarity and sharpening.

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Haus Digital Interview

Obviously I jumped at the chance to offer my thoughts on the subject and to provide a few photographs to be displayed on the Haus website. Howard asked some good thought provoking questions about attitudes of explorers and about the dangerous aspects of my hobby and I’m really happy with the final article.

Please have a look at the full article / interview and let me know what you think

Leave only footprints, take only picture – The full article.

Thanks again to Howard for emailing me about the story.

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