Denbigh Asylum-April/2010.

[photophrenia]

Denbigh Lunatic Asylum-April/2010. Part 1

So far on my recent travels i think that Denbigh has to be the highlight. Although only 60-70% of the original buildings remain, and there is major structural damage and very few fixtures and fittings, the Hospital still offers a great insight into the scale and environment the patients and staff lived in. The surrounding scenery also just happens to be absolutely stunning, so well worth a visit!

The North Wales Lunatic Asylum was the first psychiatric institution built in Wales; construction began in 1844 and completed in 1848 in the town of Denbigh. The Gothic style hospital was built due to the spreading word of mistreatment of Welsh people in English asylums; The North Wales Hospital would be a haven for welsh speaking residents to seek treatment without prejudice or a language barrier.

Renovations and extensions were made at the hospital from 1867 until 1956, when the hospital reached its maximum capacity at 1,500 patients living inside her walls and 1,000 staff at hand. Physical treatments such as Cardiazol, malarial treatment, insulin shock treatment, and sulphur based drugs were used and developed in the 1920s and 1930s, and 1941-1942 saw the advent of electro convulsive therapy (ECT) and prefrontal leucotomy (lobotomy) treatments. The future of the site is still unclear, it was offered as a good site to build a prison on a few years ago, and more recently a large scale housing project. The current owners were ordered to carry out major structural works a few years ago on the grade II listed buildings to secure them. It doesnt look like they did, so probably faced large fines somewhere in the region of 4 million pounds. Part 2 of the project to follow



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[photophrenia]

Denbigh Lunatic Asylum-April/2010 Part 2
This is Part 2 of project Denbigh. For historical introduction and first set of photographs see part 1 in my previous post.




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