Severalls Asylum revisited

Photos - 67.
Where - Colchester, Essex.
Visited - 29 October 2006.
Posted - 30 October 2006.
Categories - , , .

A return visit to Severalls Asylum was on the cards after last month's slightly short trip. Went back with Abo for quite a successful little trip.

Nurses' Block

Our first stop was the nurses' accomodation. This is where the nurses would have lived (!) and their rooms were quite luxurious compared to those of the patients. They had fireplaces! Which I stupidly didn't take a photo of. Oh well - next time...

Corridors

I had my tripod with me this time, so my corridor pics are slightly better...

Rooms

The corridors naturally lead somewhere. Rooms usually. Or the demolished hall.

Inside the rooms, there are usually some random items such as sinks or toilets. I was quite shocked to see an un-smashed sink.

Kitchen

Some corridors also lead to the kitchen area.

Operating areas

It's a given that a hospital has some sort of operating areas. Saw quite a bit of it last time but some pikeys had "opened up" some new bits.

Romantischer Schwarzwald

"Dear Rose. Well here we are, sitting outside the caravan, glass of wine in hand, only trouble is we have to sit in the shade. The sun is too hot if thats possible, but who's complaining. Not us. Love Carole & Dave. X X."

We found this postcard in, yes, the X-Ray department. It was sent in 1996!

Water Tower

You can see the tower from nearly everywhere at Severalls. It is rather imposing.

A trip to Severalls wouldn't be complete without going up the tower. The day was fantastically sunny, which made the tower even more worthwhile (except for the pigeon smell).

Coming down from the water tower I saw a shadow moving around near the exit. I thought that we had been busted by security. Alas, it wasn't anything like that, just the Severalls Cat...

Not sure who Cari Yaxley (Carl?) is, but he/she is soo so so brave.

Through the windows

Glimpses of what the patients may have seen...

Some views

The grounds of Severalls must have been amazing when they were kept tidy.

Other stuff

I mainly went around taking arty shots. I say "arty" - I mainly mean that I took a few macro shots of some items.

I love random little items - the box of matches had a competition with a closing date in 1988!

More?...

So that's now two visits to Severalls. There is so much left to see. Some little villas in the grounds, a lot of upstairs areas, the chapel (currently seemingly impossible) and some underground tunnels.

Stay tuned for "Severalls Asylum revisited. Again"...

Your Comments

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  1. Posted 31 October 2006, 13:20 From Lightbuoy

    Hi!

    Just stumbled across your website. Was also in Severalls on Sunday (29th.), from about 11am till 3pm. Spent ablout half an hour running from someone I assumed was Security, driving around in a blue car! Did you see him? After that, I made a hasty exit!! Can be funny if the "did you hear someone else?" turns out to be fellow Urban Explorers!!! Some brilliant "recces" so far -keep up the good work, but keep safe!

    P.s. -will be adding a link to your site from mine soon.

    All the best, Lightbuoy.

  2. Posted 7 November 2006, 14:50 From DAB

    Thanks Lightbouy - we saw that someone had been in or out whilst we were in! Didn't see any security though

  3. Posted 12 April 2007, 01:50 From James

    • Severalls Asylum photo thumbnail

    haha... i know carl

  4. Posted 13 June 2007, 12:30 From Catherine

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    This takes me back. I spent a happy, if drunken year in the nurse' home. Shocking to see how awful it looks now.

  5. Posted 29 October 2007, 19:10 From essexmole

    i want to visit it really badly now looks so interesting

  6. Posted 28 February 2008, 23:40 From ros doble

    I spent 6 weeks at Severalls in summer 1984, nervous breakdown. Yes the grounds were beautiful, the staff wonderful, and without the hospital god knows how I would have coped at the worst time of my life. I remember severalls fondly. It is such a tragic shame it closed and I fear for the people who need this place so badly.

  7. Posted 4 May 2008, 01:10 From Ingrid Kramer, nee Sewerin

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    What a strange feeling - deja vu! I did my nurses training in the 1970s at Severalls Hospital, when it was full of people, very much alive and lively, yes, a lot of the patients used to be lively and lovable too, just like the staff! I`ve met very original and eccentric people there, and I think it is so sad to see how a place once filled with life, pain, sadness, consolation, creativity, love, comedy, tragedy, is now empty and hollow, skinned to the bone, and either the subject of photographic explorers or the future commercial promise for business people. Dear Severalls, I greet you from the past and all your ghosts I once used to know and cared for and cared about. To the unknown readers of my comment: I once used to live in the Nurses Home - look at the pictures, some traces may have remained.

    Good bye to an old friend

    with love to the spirit of the seventies at Severalls

    Ingrid Sewerin from 1973/1974, postgraduate nurse, RMN, now living and still working in Psychiatry in Germany.

    Auf Wiedersehen!

  8. Posted 15 June 2008, 18:30 From Unknown

    Hey. i was down severalls a couple weeks ago, just to check it out, as loads of people talk about it..

    But wen ever i go there,, i always see a blue van sayin "van hire" on the side.. usally does not even look at us,, but the ohter day.. he decided to follow us,, with full beams on.. he then started chasin us,, i would like to know,, y?? and who the people in the vans are...

  9. Posted 11 August 2008, 13:40 From jason

    Hey everyone. I was just wondering whether anyone had any stories of, or have heard of ghosts at severalls? Its a creepy place at night i can tell you!

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