Report - Severalls Lunatic Asylum – Colchester Essex – 1980’s – 2017

[The Man In Black]

top write up great report

 

[little_ boy_explores]

nice report and nice write up

 

[UrbanDoucheBag94]

*delete please!*I mucked up my post and i cant seem to delete it! D:

 

[UrbanDoucheBag94]

Fantastic report! Really enjoyed reading that. I'm really jealous I didn't get the chance to go and see Severalls in it's full glory... BUT I may try one look around what's left
I was looking up various Ordnance Survey Maps, but then I decided to look up Severalls. The website I was using can overlay old maps onto Google Maps, but the Google Maps they use on the website seems to be quite dated.
It's crazy to see how much over Severalls they have demolished.
ALSO - USE 3D ON GOOGLE MAPS. It's like a computer game!

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[DubbedNavigator]

Hands down the best severalls report I have seen, fantastic read from beginning to end,

The stories ring completely true with what I read in the madness in its place book, horrid times to be in really.

Had some great times dodging Michael, always had the utmost respect for him - seriously cool dude.

 

[UrbexGirl25]

Loved the report! Such a good read! Has anyone been recently its one place ive never managed to get to but would love to go. Is any of the main hospital still there/anything worth seeing?

 

[mockney reject]

Loved the report! Such a good read

Thank you

Has anyone been recently its one place ive never managed to get to but would love to go. Is any of the main hospital still there/anything worth seeing?

Funny you should ask, stay tuned

 

[surrey urbanex]

Sad i never got to this one they really have chewed into that havnt they?. severalls house at top in center is preserved isnt it as is the tower i think it has to be kept. Good report tho

 

[Cane]

This place was my first ever explore back in 1999. Visited a few times after & more recently flew my quadcopter over the site for some photos before it disappears forever.

Fantastic report. Will miss this place. Glad to say I was lucky enough to see the main hall before the huge fire

 

[DubbedNavigator]

This pic bring vack memories;

I think it was just before we found the way into the tower via the tunnells, we decided to give it a go via the front door, over the recently installed pallisade at the top of those steps.

Absolute fucker that was, of epic proportions. And we failed, the door was locked tight!

Never did crack admin either

 

[mockney reject]

So this little tale popped up in conversation with @UrbanDuck this week on our daily WhatsApp chat

It went along the lines of

“Mockney do you remember that day when we dressed up as …”

I’ll explain lol

See we had long since decided that we were done with Sevs, it was being pulled down, we had seen the best of it, so best let sleeping dogs lie.

But you know how it is, you get an idea, try to forget it and it just niggles and niggles away at you.

Well that’s kinda how this started.

At the beginning of April 2018 I had found myself over Sevs way for work and had a little wander over to look and see what was going on. I got chatting to the man on the gate who almost let me wander in, and would have if maybe I had the correct PPE on.

Now this got me thinking and again chatting to @UrbanDuck .

What if?

Then we did..

Maybe we could..

So a plan was hatched to see how much front we had and how convincing we could be.

We downloaded the Bloor Homes logo from their handy website and a friend of mine printed me out some very convincing stickers.

Screwfix provided a couple of their £3 hard hats and a couple of Hi-Viz vests and after some careful sticker application we were ready.

So that was it a week later on what was a scorching hot day we parked up near Sevs, dressed in sensible clothes, donned our hard hats and out Hi-Viz vests, stuck our cameras on their tripods and almost official looking we made our way up to the gate.

We joined a group of other workers and ghosted our way into the site.

The next ten minutes or so were a little tense but we were soon wandering around the site without a care in the world. Workers saying hello, even chatting to us about what they were up too and how much they enjoyed working on the parts they were restoring. It was great!

The front facade is the only part of the echelon system of the main hospital that has been kept. Its conversion to accommodation was well under way.

The site looked so much bigger with a lack of buildings

The tower looked every bit as menacing as always

We even managed a guided tour of Larch House, the Alcohol dependency unit.

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[mockney reject]

And were given carte blanch with Admin.

Was this the best blag ever, well it sure felt like it.

We finished our “survey” and headed off to the place we always frequented after a Sevs visit. The maccers over the road, giggling to ourselves like we had done many times in the past knowing that this was our final goodbye to the place we loved.

Well actually that’s a little white lie.

Later on that week we bumbled into the site late one night to have one final crack at the tower. An eventful evening that was, UD got bit by a leech, we both got stung, a ladder may or may not have detached itself from the scaffolding and it may have found itself leaning against the hoarding around the tower. But that was it, our final fling, sitting atop of the tower watching the various bully boys security roaring around in their VW trucks and having absolutely no idea we were looking down on them. A suitable ending to our long time and many visited favourite explore.

 

[UrbanDuck]

Mate, a fantastic write up of our final visits to Sevs brilliant memories! The balls of it...he who dares eh?

 

[mockney reject]

Mate, a fantastic write up of our final visits to Sevs brilliant memories! The balls of it...he who dares eh?

us rodders lol

 

[DubbedNavigator]

That sure does look different man, nice one for getting into admin and the alcohol dependency unit.