The East Essex County Mental Asylum opened its doors in 1903. It is built close to the small village of Hellingly, in South West England. The architect G.T. Hine designed the Victorian hospital on a very large scale, spreading the many buildings on a huge campus.
Isolated from everything, having only one single road and its own train line, the psychatric asylum remained self-sufficient for years.
Patients & staff used to live under the same roof in the many red bricks buildings linked by closed hallways, and offering "therapeutic" and relaxing views onthe surrounding quiet and green countryside.
The asylum closed its doors in 1994; since then it is decaying, forgotten and rotting in the middle of nowhere...
Hello i am off there today with some mate's sooo should be good ill let you know how it goes 1st time .......
hi peolpe that go to Hellingly i love that place usaly always up there have heard other people there but never seen any 1 but the thing that scared me the most was that i sor a dummy in a room with a scream mask on and mate that shit me up lol but other than that it is great but if u go to the tower and go to the bolted door on the 6th floor and listen u can hear little kids crying and that does shit you up just watch out for the floor and stairs cause its made out of bird shit lol if you go there soon leave a letter or somthing on the stage and i will read it and reply back but it is the best place to play manhunt there so thanks for reading peolpe for andrew
if u wanna chat about it add me on msn: scobbydoo5@hotmail.com
i always go here , alot to do my photography ect 1) on halloween we went in ther , thinking we were alone and there was 2 other groups of people in there haha was good 2)best way to get in , the field behind the old hospital , go threw that and the back doors are open , so u just walk in easy and simple. 3)iv been there , and neva seen a ghost but may have heard a couple but dnt get ur hopes up high , we had a bottle thrwn at us from no1! it was picked up form next to my mate and thrown at him! butt amazing for pictures and editing thm =D xxx woth going to see , best days wednesdays and sundays (wednesdays the guards have to work up at the main one but not many people know this , my mum works at the new one )
Me and my brother loved playing around the hospital visited it with school it was a beautifull place in the fifties.my dad had a wood yard up the road from hospital,we watched cricket,rode our bikes in the woods,fished in the lakes ,saw our first rabbit born there.i live in australia and i went back a shame to see it run down the gardens were great in the 50 60 70s whats going to happen to the hole place if anyone knows can you post it on the sight ,i am very interested as will try to go have a look when i come home for holiday.My nan and grandad met there and married.
I grew up in Hellingly and can remember the hospital both before and after closure. The long drive used to be so well kept and the grounds were fantastic. After it closed in 1994 it became a favourite place to play - there was so much to explore and so many things still laying around. Somewhere I think I still have several massive bunches of keys that we found. Before all the ground floor doors were boarded over they helped us get around as we had a key for almost every lock! The one thing I remember more than anything else though is the view from the top of the water tower - amazing(probably not safe to go up there anymore though). Not sure about all the ghost stories guys - I think you've watched too many films and your expectations are too high! I spent almost every day of the school holidays in that place for years. It's just a derilect old building. It was a hospital contating mainly voluntary mental patiens and had a general outpatients department. I remember my mum going there more than once for x-rays. It was also used by my school a couple of times shortly after closure for safety training. After that it was used for paintball before being declared unsafe. The site is currently owned by a development firm who intend to renovate some of the buildings and convert them to flats. The rest is to be demolished and redeveloped as housing. A dreadful shame really.
so, where is this place? how do i find it? we'd most likely be driving, from hastings.
thank you so mouch for the most amazing website! it's incredible how many of us are out there. keep searching, prying, dreaming!
A message to RT from East sussex, can i please interview you about your experinces at the asylum?
Hi,
all i am starting a research project on mental health issues such as borderline personality disorders, split personalities and am trying to find mental asylum hospitals in the uk, that i can visit to take pictures, or interview people relating to their experiences at an asylum whether it be working there or as a recovered patient, are there museums with info on the subject?
I also want to know why they all seem to be abandoned are there any that have been brought to be renovated? I think they should try and renovate some of these as they are historical building does anyone agree with me what can we do to stop them falling apart and being forgotten? I dont know much on the subject but am trying to learn as much as possible so if anyone has any info to share with me or is interested in starting some group to restore an asylum please contact me on victoria-hill@hotmail.co.uk
Thanks
Victoria
Hi Colin, I too am trying to trackdown the next of kin/family of Alan Jenson big Al'. Please contact me if you have any info. Thank you, Sham. hamfunk@hotmail.com
yeah i know the best way 100% but its not the quickest,but you will never get caught i can meet you there with a group im going to take or email you the map sunday is a good day anytime just your entry is important most people take the direct way and drive up there and climb through fences etc, which can be successful.but to get in 100% without trace my way is best.I havent been for a while but i went every week for about 3 months, i know the place like the back of my hand,security are pox they dont want to enter the building,so as long as your not detected then your laughing.emal me if your intrested ben181@btinternet.com
Does anyone know the best way to get in in the day? It will probably be a sunday coz I'm thinkin this would be quietest?? Do you know if the security guards are there every day?
Blueprints very hard to get my friend know one guy who has a few plans of the main buildings but ive been myself many times and are pretty familer with the place stayed overnight a couple of times but not been for a while might take a group out there on haloween not dodgy once your in its fine i have never been caught and ive benn at least 15 times,think be quite laugh because the only scary thing would be bumping into other groups of people(happened before funny as *uck.
could anyone get me a map or blueprints to the buildings as halloween there sounds like a wicked idea...and could i have some info on the number of guards?amyleeishot@hotmail.co.uk
When I was younger, my parents both worked at this hospital, and as many of the staff back then did, we lived there too. Unfortunately the horror stories are not true, it was mainly a voluntary hospital, and many patients, who did have mental problems, were there on a voluntary basis. If they were ill enough, and were dangerous, they would have been admitted to a much more secure psychiactric unit, not at this hospital. Also it was shut down due to the fact that the NHS has restructured how it cares for people with mental illness by having them live as much within the community as possible, and if in a unit they are much smaller. Hospitals as big as this are generally not used anymore it was too expensive to maintain due to its massive size and that it is over 100 years old. When it was a working hospital, it was self sufficient, and was supplied by a train which ran on a single line (hence the old railway station down the road), and ran to hailsham along where the cuckoo trail now is. It has been sold off and is prob going to be turned into houses and flats, although the developers are only allowed to build on ground that already has buildings on, so will sadly prob knock the victrian building down which is a shame.
I wouldn't recommend going there for halloween, simply because they security will be high for the obvious reason However as long as you are to enter the building/s quick you should be safe as the guards never enter the building themselves, only travel around the outside. Just keep away from the top end of the long drive... there is one cctv pointing toward the direction of the w/tower. If you need any usuful info mail me at (nhunt@hotmail.co.uk) & i'll get you in the safest & quickest way.
me and a few mates wanna go thee for halloween but lots of people told us security is really high and u wont b able 2 get in. Can some who has entered the house recently please tell me on how??
manty thanks jason
I went during the day,got there bout 2 and left bout 6 x
can u go during the day??
Thanks for this usefull information.im off to photograph hellingly this sunday,cant wait
There are plenty of ways to enter, all over fences. There is one fence lifted up but that is in view of security cams. Climb over infront of the Bunny run nursery, that's where i entered last night,then head left to where the security guards office is, (they come three times daily to cheak the grounds.) you can access all areas from here! Just don't get caught, i have twice. Best time to visit is after 19:30 when the security guards make their last visit. IF you are thinking of scailing the roof tops for some good photographs BE very careful as i myself have nearly gone through before! I don't advise it! look out for ladders, they can be very useful! there are a few about.
Hi, i went to hellingly today and only got in 1 of the buildings,which i have not seen photos of as yet,ive only seen the main building,anyway any tips on how to get in, as its pretty busy round there durin the day.
many thanks maddie
any chance of joining you when you go there again?
Me And some friends drove all the way from Portsmouth to explore this amazing structure. We couldnt get over how big it was!
We got abit lost on our way out. But we got there in the end. We are planning a few more trips there simply because we couldn't fit it all in in one day. Does anyone know why there were so many blank rooms. A few with pictures in. Also, why were there so many bibles?
Mark x
Hi does anyone recall the death of Alan Jensen? he committed suicide on land adjacent to the old railway track 200 yrd south of the old Hellingly railway station in 1985. i am interested in any information on him, he was also known as Big Al and use to own a record shop called the Disk Jockey. Thankyou for any information?
Just uploaded some mor pics heres the link s299.photobucket.com
Hi there, i have benn going to hellingly about twice a week for the last month,and a group of us slept overnight in the great hall,which i can tell you not as bad as i thought it would be once you get used to it.We waited till twelve midnight and walked round by torchlight,which was somewhat jittery.There is just so much to see there like i say i have been there many times now but still discover new room each time.If you click the link there are some of my photos,now im open minded about the whole ghost thing but look at my pics there are many with so called orbs in but one in particular has loads in and there is a face in the skylight,we took multiple pics of the same shot and no face or orbs,plus the room was freezing and like sarah says in her post we all felt sick,which was strange.We also gave calling spirits up in the the pitch black in the hall,but nothing really happend.but loads of orbs on my pics.The place really is addictive my advice is go before they knock it down,if anyone fancys coming along on our next trip feel free to email me you are more than welcome.If anyone has a pics of the place when it was up and running i would love to see them.
s299.photobucket.com
ben181@btinternet.com
1
yes , thre are also new bulidings close by , full of , phychatric men and women , and a womens psychatric thre very wierd , becuase wen we walked up there , if we went any further , we would have seen some clients walking round apprently , they are allowed out , for a serton time , ect , i was fraked that maybe one of them would follow us , but they didnt luckly
me and my mate went there today 21st june 08 , it was amazing , i was sooo freaked wen i first got there , we made a whole in the fence and climbed threw , no one stoped us , we went and looked around , we heard a women screaming and shouting im going to kill you , but no one was there, i was very scared , i also couldnt belive , that thre are loads of houses, with young kids living oppasite and along the road!!!, and no one stoped us getting in!!! go thre , take a chance , its amazing. also , when u walk threw , two massive double blue doors , the temputer drops , u feel things going threw u , and people crying , smells bad , but its worth it =D
Me and a pal went there a few weeks back. We had to scale a wire fence but that was about all. There was a nice patient sitting opposite where we parked next to the shop and we had a chat. Put up some pics on my MySpaz... if anyone interested...
The hospital is in hellingly EAST SUSSEX South East Englabd
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