Denbigh asylum was built in mid-1840s. Over the years it expanded to house more and more patients, reaching a maximum capacity of 1500 in the 1950s.
This asylum lasted roughtly 150 years when it closed in 1995. It is situated on over 100 acres of beautiful Welsh land (sheep, cows, hills, trees etc).
And by cows, I do actually mean cows.
Chapel
The first building we came accross was the Chapel. It looks delightful from the outside but everything, including the floors have been removed from the inside.
Main buildings
We finished in the chapel and moved onto the main complex.
It looks just like something you’d see in a scary asylum-based film. Pointy rooves. Tall imposing buildings. Tall imposing towers. Etc. I’m informed that it’s of a “Tudorbethan” design, rather than the more de-facto “Gothic” designs of the period. To be honest, I can’t really tell the difference. I think Gothic is more pointy and elaborate.
Corridors & Rooms
Inside is dark. Very dark. Out come the torches.
Sadly the last 12 years have not been kind to the asylum. Machinery has been stripped. Rooms smashed up by kids. Trees and nettles growing in the damp patches on the fourth floor. That sort of thing. It’s quite hard to think that people once resided here.
Main Hall
There was a nice glitter ball on the ceiling, but the rest of the hall was rather un-inspiring.
A real gem was the projection booth. This would’ve been used to show films to the patients. Sadly some prick had graffiti’d it 
The Tower
Nearly everywhere we look, we can see the main imposing tower. It would be rude not to get into/onto it.
We made our way through the maze of corridors to roughly where it was. There was no obvious entrance. Lots of cupboards though. One of these cupboards wasn’t a cupboard though – it was a tiny secret staircase! Ascending it, we nearly got to the top. The wood was totally rotten so we ventured no further. Instead, we popped out of the window to sit on the roof for a bit of lunch.
More mooching around the corridors ensued.
Slabbed
On the way out we passed a small building. Inside we could see something. Something rather chilling…
Sadly it is smashed
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I also have an interest in this asylam, although I haven’t visited I have browsed through many photographs.
My great uncle was taken there when he was about eighteen years old, he had few visits as his family lived in Wrexham and couldn’t afford to travel.
His father was killed in 1915 in France, he was a minor and spent just six weeks in France before being blown up.
At age twenty two my great uncle commited suicide at this asylam, he hanged himself while in a ward with twenty seven other patients. This was in 1927.
I believe it was intolerable for him to imagine spending the rest of his life there.
Ite sue, your stories are incredible.
a group of 5 of us managed 2 gain entry 2 the asylum last wkend ,very easy 2 get into ,while wandering around we came across 2 young men with cans of lager and crow bars who were ripping the place apart (even more than it already is) ,its a beautiful place but i can honestly say that all 5 of us didnt feel spooked at all ,it didnt feel spooky or eery ,i was more scared of the bats ,i dont know if there have ever been any sightings in there ?? ,we were there 2 hours ,could have stayed longer but had work the next morning .
eversince me and the otherhalf went in sept iv been bewiched by the place. i find myself feeling very lucky that iam one of few that have seen inside before anymore decay or”mysterious” fires occur. amazeing that sutch a place with somutch interest can be left to decompose. we need to keep this building as a memorial to the past, and reminder to the future. mines morbid obsession? im not sure, respect to the history and all involved in the place over the years i supose. everyday i feel i need another visit soon.
i went the other mouth and we got throw to the big yard and then the farmer had his light so we ran. but then 2 weeks later i went an he let the dog bite me dick head all we where doing was looking around thinking wat dicks have smashed a nice place up. dus any one know how to get in with not getting the farmer kick the crap out of your mates ?
Anyone been up there recently .Id like to go and have a look,but it sounds like there is a crazy farmer and a security guard to consider first….. they should have turned it into a museum years ago ,or atleast have tours available! Let me know.
Kate
Hello, me and my mom took a treck up there today.. sadly its all fenced off with signs all over the gates saying tresspassers will be … ect and guard dogs beware.. so we both decided not to even try and climb over. you can see how big and beautiful it looks through the gates but thats basicly it. there are a few buildings around it aswell that look just as old so maybe they were part of it aswell, but they were all boarded up and locked . but yes , i would love to go inside and i agree they should do tours.. i did read on a website they are thinking of re-doing it. so i think if they did do tours they would soon mount up enough money to help with the prices… hoped that helpd.
I agree the main hall does look rather uninspiring, but it’s also possible to see how the ceiling has been considerably lowered over time – such is the way of modernity! However, I would not be surprised to find that behind that false ceiling, the old one remains in all its glory. That’s assuming, of course, that the vandals haven’t got to it yet…
looks like something major has happened there 2 nights ago as a few of my mates went up there at 1 in the morning and it was crawling with people with torches and security was increased loads, no idea on whats happened but if anyone hears about it please let me know!!!!!
Was In there today, gates wide open, yeah signs everywhere about trespassers, but some things you just ignore….
Camera at the ready got inside was there for about 20mns and got caught by a rather angry security guard, and a tail wagging guard dog.. a bit of a give away!!
So feeling like naughty kids we were escorted off the property, with threats of confiscating our camera images.. just like to see him try… the building has had some mindless grafitti and vandalism, but apart from that it is in a very dangerous state, got home, told my daughter and she told me off…. we, being a couple in our late 50′s, having parked the car just outside the gates, neve thinking we would be caught!! and to top it off, told off, by my daughter who has been there on many occassions… if u can take a sneaky peek inside, its well worth the effort, a very spooky but beautiful set of buildings…..
Exciting place. I am a Norwegian Urban Exploration person and have planned a trip to England. Some general tips you can give? Is guarded places in England, police beats down on this?
Went up there earlier on in the year its an amasing place did not get to the main building got caught by the mad security guard who informed the police they had blocked our cars in such a thing over a derelict building what are they protecting there want to go again if anyones interested Dave
Hi. Me and and a friend of mine went in last month.
The man with his dog is called Elwyn and he’s fairly famous amongst urban explorers there. He spotted us, but we escaped his angry dog in the vastness of the building.
He called the police and gave them details of our car (?) which was parked on a nearby road. So i’d park further away if you’re travelling in a vehicle. The police took our details but accepted that we were ‘photographers’ and not there to steal anything or do any further damage.
Well worth a look, the main building with the clock tower is the best place to start.
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i went up about a year ago, didn’t geet in past the gates as the mad security guard was grumbling around so instead we walked the perimeter and on the way came across a dead slown worn in the footpath behind a beheaded squirrel near the road and a dead cat (which actually looked quite peaceful). these animals were just around the perimeter so i was feeling a bit spooked and as we came out of the footpath the security guard waiting for us with a van and threatened us with the barking dogs inside and told us he knew were our cars were. by that point we had already decided not to go in as he had seen us standing at the gates for a while just looking and discussing the building, reading about this place i can’t imagine it being too creepy as it is not a really old assylum and human rights will have protected any patients but the cirle of dead animals makes me kind of glad we didn’t go in with my overactive imagination. Beautiful overall site though
i spent time in denbigh hospital in the last of its days although most of the wards had been closed by then i spent alot of time in diffrent wards and in the grounds and knew it like the back of my hand such a beautiful place of which i have fond memories of…i walked the corridors late at night all the time and never felt creeped out maybe because it was still a working hospital…it breaks my heart when i see what has happened to it today…who owns it now? whats going to happen to it? isent it listed? last i heard it was going to be a heath farm then flats… i hope it dosent get knocked down i know im not the only one that fell in love with this magnificent building with such a fasinating history..