Comments on: Hellingly Asylum

By: miren

miren — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:45:16 +0000

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.

By: Casper

Casper — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 08:56:39 +0000

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.

By: sarah sims

sarah sims — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:01:47 +0000

We are due to purchse one of the houses being built on the Hellingly Hospital site – I have heard many horror stories, some of the patients hanging themselves in the grounds ?? do you know anything about this ?

Was this such an awful place ??

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:38:35 +0000

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

By: genconnatty

genconnatty — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 18:04:54 +0000

knowle hospital asylum near wickham was also extremely hard to find info on. almost like everything cencsored on the net apart from typically official type descriptions. particularly on the location of the cemetery where five thousand paitents were burried the latest being early seventies!curious to how the only tales i could find of life there was extremely rose tinted………the residents were all very happy there? this was an asylum where over five thousand people died! makes ya wonder!

By: Patricia Dean nee.Key

Patricia Dean nee.Key — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:08:43 +0000

I also went to Hellingly Infants School and then on to Hailsham Junior 1935-1940,my parents were both nurses at the hospital and we lived at 12,New Road.I would like to make contact with anyone of that era. Pat.

By: Anna

Anna — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:29:24 +0000

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.

By: Denise

Denise — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:10:42 +0000

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!

By: Patricia Dean nee Key

Patricia Dean nee Key — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:43:30 +0000

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.

By: anne Grainger

anne Grainger — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:27:07 +0000

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.