Over the past couple of years I've payed a few visits to this huge former asylum, discovering parts that were new to us each time. The first few visits were cut short, either due to internal areas being locked up in the early days, or setting alarms off in some of the more secure wards, and there's also that time we had to run away from what seemed like an army of security guards on our first visit in 2016 when it was just entering its full decommissioning phase. On these early visits we rarely saw more than a couple of wards and a corridor or two.
Late last year, we turned up late one night after running out of leads to see if we could get inside, only to find a brand new palisade fence had been put in place, with new floodlights and rotating cameras complete with IR sensors. It definitely presented a bit more of a challenge than what we were used to, but it also presented the possibility that there could be no one based inside anymore, meaning potential access to all areas, which was mostly confirmed when we found our way inside that night.
In more recent visits, the fence has become increasingly obsolete, kids are near enough always hanging around inside the site, in the pavilions and in some parts of the building, smashing the odd window and making a lot of noise. We found this on our last trip here, where we decided to camp inside for three nights in one of the nicer and more furnished wards, which was a pretty fun experience. The power is still on in most of the building, which enabled us to cook using a microwave that was left behind in one of the staff areas, we even bought a cheap kettle for coffee in the mornings.
Because we got to spend so much time here, it meant we got to see a lot more of the hospital than he had seen before, and I'm glad we returned as we'd missed some of the best parts previously.
A Little History
Cardiff City Asylum was built in 1908, cost £350,000, and took ten years to build. It was built as a fully self contained institute, with a power house, water tower and farm.
During WW2 part of the hospital was used as a military hospital, treating US, UK and German military personnel. The hospital retained 200 beds for public use which enabled the early treatment of PTSD of military patients.
In the early 2000's a programme was put into place, which was to eventually phase out the current and aging building, and fully replace services, as the hospital was becoming unfit for purpose for the time.
Plans for residential developments on the site had originally been brought up in the mind 90's, and provisionally agreed in 2001. In 2012, the planning permission for this scheme as renewed of another 4 years, which brings us to 2016, when the last remaining services in the hospital left and were relocated, and the hospital scheduled to be "dismantled" and redeveloped.
Photos -
The few photos I got from my first visit in 2016 with @AndyK the morning after it had been published in the news papers, unknown to us:
That's pretty much the full extent of that visit. Shortly after we stupidly walked by a camera, and given the situation at the time with the newspapers and someone being arrested here days ago, the security (and extras) were hunting us down and pretty quickly too. So we dodged into a small staircase and watched them all march past. So we decided to call it a day there.
Then we have that time we were accompanied by @Ojay and @PROJ3CTM4YH3M when we managed to see a slightly larger section than before, with some nicer bits:
This visit was also sadly cut short due to a random alarm in another ward, so we decided to finish there and come back another day.
Late last year, we turned up late one night after running out of leads to see if we could get inside, only to find a brand new palisade fence had been put in place, with new floodlights and rotating cameras complete with IR sensors. It definitely presented a bit more of a challenge than what we were used to, but it also presented the possibility that there could be no one based inside anymore, meaning potential access to all areas, which was mostly confirmed when we found our way inside that night.
In more recent visits, the fence has become increasingly obsolete, kids are near enough always hanging around inside the site, in the pavilions and in some parts of the building, smashing the odd window and making a lot of noise. We found this on our last trip here, where we decided to camp inside for three nights in one of the nicer and more furnished wards, which was a pretty fun experience. The power is still on in most of the building, which enabled us to cook using a microwave that was left behind in one of the staff areas, we even bought a cheap kettle for coffee in the mornings.
Because we got to spend so much time here, it meant we got to see a lot more of the hospital than he had seen before, and I'm glad we returned as we'd missed some of the best parts previously.
A Little History
Cardiff City Asylum was built in 1908, cost £350,000, and took ten years to build. It was built as a fully self contained institute, with a power house, water tower and farm.
During WW2 part of the hospital was used as a military hospital, treating US, UK and German military personnel. The hospital retained 200 beds for public use which enabled the early treatment of PTSD of military patients.
In the early 2000's a programme was put into place, which was to eventually phase out the current and aging building, and fully replace services, as the hospital was becoming unfit for purpose for the time.
Plans for residential developments on the site had originally been brought up in the mind 90's, and provisionally agreed in 2001. In 2012, the planning permission for this scheme as renewed of another 4 years, which brings us to 2016, when the last remaining services in the hospital left and were relocated, and the hospital scheduled to be "dismantled" and redeveloped.
Photos -
The few photos I got from my first visit in 2016 with @AndyK the morning after it had been published in the news papers, unknown to us:
That's pretty much the full extent of that visit. Shortly after we stupidly walked by a camera, and given the situation at the time with the newspapers and someone being arrested here days ago, the security (and extras) were hunting us down and pretty quickly too. So we dodged into a small staircase and watched them all march past. So we decided to call it a day there.
Then we have that time we were accompanied by @Ojay and @PROJ3CTM4YH3M when we managed to see a slightly larger section than before, with some nicer bits:
This visit was also sadly cut short due to a random alarm in another ward, so we decided to finish there and come back another day.
