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Report - - Cardiff City Asylum, Whitchurch - September 2022 | Asylums and Hospitals | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Cardiff City Asylum, Whitchurch - September 2022

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KPUrban_

Surprisingly Unsurprising
Regular User

Whitchurch Hospital/Ysbyty'r Eglwys Newydd

Introduction
After a half hearted attempt in the early months of the year, getting within a now decaying Whitchurch was a task worth putting on the cards.
Having not been within since the touring cluster bomb of visitors since late 2019 it felt right to get back within the walls of Whitchurch once again, even if it was only three years on.

History
It has been covered far too many times for an in depth flick through Whitchurches' past to be worthwhile so I'll keep this short and sweet.

As the growth of Cardiff's population more or less doubled by the 1870s from the 1850's, with this growth only pushing drastically into the 20th century, so did the number of patients who required the housing of an asylum. As the numbers of Cardiff-based patients began to become more prominent in cross-boarder asylums the need for a local asylum was soon seen as a need to allow local patients to be treated locally.
Cardiff reluctantly put forward the funding to construct their own asylum shortly before the turn of the twentieth century with the construction completing in 1908 at a cost of over £350,000. This left a building capable of hosting 750 patients across ten wards with these segregated by gender, built to a compact arrow design featuring the administration front and centre.
Overall the layout is comparable to similar facilities such as a Cefn Coed.

Throughout most of the hospitals' operating life it was comparable to other Welsh facilities of the time. Being used as a temporary troop treatment facility during the global conflicts before a brief period of grace until being amalgamated into the NHS and then seeing gradual patient number declines during the enactment of care in the community with wards becoming vacant.

Plans for closure would be put forward in 2010 when considerations were made for all local mental health services to be centralised at Llandough before the asylums total closure then came in 2016. Since then very little has and can happen with the Grade 2 listed status of the building leaving options of demolition far from reach.

The Visit
Having been invited along with another group as an extra I climbed out from the back of the car as we set about finding a way in. We sighted a potential ingress through the fence so I was swiftly dispatched over to confirm the route and then proceeded to wait around inside for the others to sort themselves out with the ladder.
It was fairly instant to see how the place had changed. Many windows now fail to hold themselves together and water ingress has accelerated the decay. Although the now rather protected, in comparison to 2019, security has allowed the building some time to crumble in peace which really compliments the design of this place.

The Stores
DSC_4154.jpg


Administration
DSC_4196.jpg


DSC_4179.jpg


DSC_4175.jpg


DSC_4191.jpg


Wards
DSC_4150.jpg


DSC_4145.jpg


DSC_4139.jpg


Showers
DSC_4103.jpg


DSC_4098.jpg


The Corridors
Arguably, the best bits of Whitchurch.
DSC_4163_4_5_6-Edit.jpg


DSC_4113.jpg


DSC_4108.jpg


DSC_4093.jpg


DSC_4077.jpg


DSC_4088.jpg


DSC_4123.jpg


Anyways, in summary, Whitchurch has settled beautifully with so much more potential.
That'll be all.

KP_
 
Last edited:

tumbles

Crusty Juggler
Staff member
Moderator
Yep defo decaying up nicely. No sign of it being sold anytime soon so it’ll continue to peel up
 

afrojay

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
One of my favourite explores ever! It's looking even better now. Hopefully get to go back at some point.

Great pics!
 

Fuzzball

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Maturing into a modern classic, this. It's seemingly being only accessible once in a blue moon makes it feel more special when seeing it again. Just like visiting the Titanic every couple of years yields new perspectives and decay, sad and thrilling in equal measure. Lovely photos.
 

tumbles

Crusty Juggler
Staff member
Moderator
Maturing into a modern classic, this. It's seemingly being only accessible once in a blue moon makes it feel more special when seeing it again. Just like visiting the Titanic every couple of years yields new perspectives and decay, sad and thrilling in equal measure. Lovely photos.

Access has always been there, for long periods of times ridiculously easy at that. New Security have been a bit better last 3-4 months but even then still routes in if you look hard enough.
 

TheWitchesCrypt

28DL Member
28DL Member
Whitchurch

Hospital/Ysbyty'r Eglwys Newydd

Introduction
After a half hearted attempt in the early months of the year, getting within a now decaying Whitchurch was a task worth putting on the cards.
Having not been within since the touring cluster bomb of visitors since late 2019 it felt right to get back within the walls of Whitchurch once again, even if it was only three years on.

History
It has been covered far too many times for an in depth flick through Whitchurches' past to be worthwhile so I'll keep this short and sweet.

As the growth of Cardiff's population more or less doubled by the 1870s from the 1850's, with this growth only pushing drastically into the 20th century, so did the number of patients who required the housing of an asylum. As the numbers of Cardiff-based patients began to become more prominent in cross-boarder asylums the need for a local asylum was soon seen as a need to allow local patients to be treated locally.
Cardiff reluctantly put forward the funding to construct their own asylum shortly before the turn of the twentieth century with the construction completing in 1908 at a cost of over £350,000. This left a building capable of hosting 750 patients across ten wards with these segregated by gender, built to a compact arrow design featuring the administration front and centre. Overall the layout is comparable to similar facilities such as a Cefn Coed.

Throughout most of the hospitals' operating life it was comparable to other Welsh facilities of the time. Being used as a temporary troop treatment facility during the global conflicts before a brief period of grace until being amalgamated into the NHS and then seeing gradual patient number declines during the enactment of care in the community.

Plans for closure would be put forward in 2010 when considerations were made for all local mental health services to be centralised at Llandough before the asylums total closure then came in 2016.

The Visit
Having been invited along with another group as an extra I climbed out from the back of the car as we set about finding a way in. We sighted a potential ingress through the fence so I was swiftly dispatched over to confirm the route and then proceeded to wait around inside for the others to sort themselves out with the ladder.
It was fairly instant to see how the place had changed. Many windows now fail to hold themselves together and water ingress has accelerated the decay. Although the now rather protected, in comparison to 2019, security has allowed the building some time to crumble in peace which really compliments the design of this place.

The Stores
DSC_4154.jpg


Administration
DSC_4196.jpg


DSC_4179.jpg


DSC_4175.jpg


DSC_4191.jpg


Wards
DSC_4150.jpg


DSC_4145.jpg


DSC_4139.jpg


Showers
DSC_4103.jpg


DSC_4098.jpg


The Best Bits
The Corridors
DSC_4163_4_5_6-Edit.jpg


DSC_4113.jpg


DSC_4108.jpg


DSC_4093.jpg


DSC_4077.jpg


DSC_4088.jpg


Anyways, in summary, Whitchurch has settled beautifully with so much more potential.
That'll be all.

KP_

DSC_4123.jpg
Beautiful photos! 😍 Do you know if Whitchurch is still accessible? 🙂
 

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