Had a little trip down to Hellingly Hospital in East Sussex (formerly known as East Sussex County Asylum). It opened in 1903 and closed in the early 1990s.
Weather and vandals have taken their toll on the hospital, but it was one of the most atmospheric places I’ve been. There were quite a few bits left, like chairs and curtains. This shocked me!
Boiler room
Our first stop was the boiler room. This wasn’t as impressive as the one at Leybourne Grange but still quite good. There were 3 little boilers.
Water Tower
The tower can be seen from everywhere. There was a door in the boiler room which led to the water tower. Underneath were a few tunnels which went off under the hospital. Didn’t really explore these though.
Main hall
The next stop was the main hall. This was impressive, except for a few failed fire attempts on the floor.
Someone had also drawn a huge pentagram on the floor of the hall with salt. The salt drew moisture out of the atmosphere and stained the wood.
Salon
As you can see in the hall, there is a chair that looks as if it has come from a hair salon. It’s true. Next door is a salon. It’s recently been trashed though 
Corridors
Guess what – there’s corridors in this place too! A few of them have collapsed though due to fires and wet.
Wards & Rooms
Also, there are wards (and other rooms). One thing that reall struck me is how much stuff is left here. There are curtains, chairs, coat hooks, bottles and all sorts of other things
Admin Block
The admin block had been damaged by fire a few years ago and has been sealed up. There is a tiny way in though. The stairs had burnt down meaning you couldn’t get upstairs. Downstairs was nice though, with ornate tiles in the corridors, toilet roll in the toilets (!), and a dentist chair in the corridor.
Kitchen, Laundry & Stores
One or two photos from the kitchen, laundry and stores. I did climb into one of the huge washing machines – that was quite a task as the drum kept moving!!
Some buildings
…from the outside…
Other bits
A few other sights I saw, including a room full of dentist’s chairs…
Twitter
RSS feed
Hellingly was not that strange a place. It helped many people.Care in the community is not always good
It is a crime that the developers have got holdof it
at last but also a crime that the hospital was left
to be destroyed over the years.
My parents worked At Hellingly in the 1930s until 1942. and my childhood was spent in a Hospital House in New Rd. I would love to contact anyone who has memories of that Time. Both my Mother and Father were in the Hospital Choir and I have pics. of that I have also progs. of concerts that were held in the theatre.My Dads name was Joe Key.
It should be remembered that this was a mental asylum. My mum was forced to spend many months in that hell hole. She suffered electrc shock treatment and was given drugs that have caused her to have some dreadful health problems in her old age, all of which would not happen under the current health service. As a constant visitor to her when I was younger I CANNOT see why anyone would have any fond memories of what amounted to nothing less than a prison with barbaric treatment of the inmates! Though, I am sure some of the staff were well meaning, the “system” was all wrong See the film “one flew over the cuckoos nest” to get some idea. I hear the place just burned to the ground – good riddance!
Your message sounds so sad and angry and reflects what must have been dreadful experiences for you as a young woman. As for your poor mum….. well , we can hardly bear to think about all this. And yet something drives us on. I have discovered in the last year that my father’s brother was a patient in Hellingly from 1937 until his death in 1977. His name was Donough Adolf Button and none of us had ever known of his existence. The chief motivator in my research is that my own daughter has been hit by mental illness and this has somehow driven me to try to find out all I can about the sad links we have with this condition in our family history. As both my parents died over 30 years ago so there is no-one left in the family to talk to. It is for this reason that I would be very interested to hear more details of your Hellingly memories, if you could bear to repeat them.
Sincerely, Miren Chandler nee Button.
This place looks absolutely beautiful.
Everything about it is just so broken.
I’ve never actually been but I would absolutely love to.
I love places like this. They’re so poetic.
Hi! im desparately trying to find my grandads brother and i believe he was put into hellingly as a teenager or maybe slightly younger. I would be sooo grateful if anyone had any information on where the patients went when hellingly was shut down, or if anyone can remember him at all? His name was John Sleigh, apparently he had speech problems and he would probably be in his 70s now if he is still alive, thats all i know about him as he was sadly not spoken about in the family so that is all anyone knows. My email is allen.rebecca@hotmail.co.uk
Great site. For those wanting further details of the History of Hellingly and Staff, patients details please take a look at http://hellingly.blogspot.com/
Hellingly Remembered.