At this time of year I usually give myself a few days off to explore personal projects. This weekends theme was “Abandoned” and few places can be as abandoned as Hellingly Mental Asylum.
The hospital, also known as East Sussex County Asylum or just Hellingly, was opened in 1903. Its architect was GT Hine, one of the great asylum architects of the era.
The hospital was so large that it boasted its own railway line, the Hellingly Hospital Railway, used mostly for transporting coal. The line led directly to the boilerhouse. The hospital also had a huge laundry, ballroom, patients’ shop, sewing rooms, nurses home, extensive grounds, and an advanced utilities network for its time, including a large boilerhouse and a water tower. It followed the compact arrow plan for the main hospital, with separate villas surrounding this.
The majority of the hospital closed in 1994, however, and to this day much of the 25.4 hectare site stands derelict and extremely run down, after suffering repeated vandalism and multiple arson attacks.
Demolition is now well advanced and this huge Victorian hospital will very soon be replaced with a housing estate.
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