Visited August 2006-2008 with The Riddlers, Lillimouse, Markr, Spook and BenWRX
West Park Hospital opened in 1923 and was the last hospital to be built as part of the Espom Cluster, which included the other nearby hospital, Manor, Horton, St Ebbas and Long Grove
The hospital designed to hold 2000 patients has seen alot of additional buildings added over the years.
The orignal layout of a compact arrow plan remains with buildings such as isolations block, santorium, social club and staff residences added later.
The original chapel next to the mortuary has been demolished and a smaller replacement chapel incorporated into the main building. The Hospital even had its own railway on site. The Horton light railway was used to deliver construction equipment to a bay behind the water tower, but was finally stopped and the tracks removed by 1960.
The recreational hall was destroyed by arsonists in 2003.
The site was pretty accessible back in 2005 when i first visited, but with metal thieves and vandalism the site was secured with lots of security fences, boarding on all windows and cctv.
With 24hour on site security the site is harder to access, but metal thefts has still been known to occur even with all the security measures.
The hospital has some great features with the mortuary with xrays of brains and box's where the brain samples were kept, patients clothing left behind, lots of furniture, the body fridges and of course a padded cell.
With all thing the site is due to be redeveloped. A part of the site is still in use as a live hospital but will be closing when the site is developed.
The water tower and administration building are likely to remain with everything else being destroyed to make way for even more housing.
Asbestos removal teams will be onsite soon to take away any trace of asbestos, when that is completed it will not be long before demolishion starts.
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