St John's Asylum, Lincoln - August 2009

[sqwasher]

Going through some pics from last year we realised we’d omitted to do a report from here so finally here it is....in glorious sunshine weather just to remind us how nice the weather can be at times. Enjoy....

St John’s Hospital or Lincolnshire County Asylum was also called Bracebridge Heath Asylum but it’s formal name was the long winded ‘Lindsey and Holland Counties and Lincoln and Grimsby District Lunatic Asylum! It has also operated under the name of Lincolnshire County Pauper Lunatic Asylum.

Opened in 1852 in the Bracebridge area of Lincoln originally built to house 250 inmates, it was enlarged in 1859, 1866, 1881 and 1902. The asylum grounds covered 120 acres, the grounds being cultivated by inmates to provide vegatables. Like most asylums it was ‘self supporting’ with, amongst other parts, it’s own chapel with a one and a half acre cemetery in it’s grounds.

Designed by the architect John R Hamilton of Gloucester assisted by Thomas Percy, surveyor to the County of Kesteven , in corridor plan layout. Opened 9th of August 1852, closed in December 1989. Parts of the outlaying buildings have been demolished or converted but the main buildings, although mainly stripped remain-for now unconverted.

Upon our arrival


The original admin block front...


and rear


The superintendent's residence and principal offices


Chapel


Converted laundry block


The female wings - Enderby/Navenby and Barrowby.


The male refractory block with water tower in the background.


That famous staircase


The main hall, towards the stage...


which was rather dodgy!


Another must see...those shields


and a more plain corridor


Got some weird shots in here!


The water tower, ventilation tower, south block and the male wings of Dunholme and Alford.



Curved ward but looks like a straight wall with fisheye lens?


The attendant's accomodation block with archway access to the stores yard


Childrens play area from the nearby nursery


That water tower close up


Randoms...

Stage switching


Standard patient room


Childrens ward door


One of the many, many corridors


Finally something dark to leave you with...


Lots more piccies on my flickr stream....
Cheers for looking.

[freebird]

Yet again another explore during which we had a close call. This time with the police who were trying to catch up with some chavs running amok within the building. We spent our time trying to avoid both parties and capture the beauty of the place photographically. Here are my pics from the explore:-

Externals











Now for the Internals



from inside looking out




The beautiful staircase




I love this pic


The water tower






This section had totally collapsed


The famous cat doorway




remnants of the past














Hope you enjoyed looking even though posted late!