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Urbex: Darbians Photography
Urbex adventures with my camera. Documenting hidden beauty in abandonment through photography.
North Wales Hospital AKA Denbigh Asylum: UK March 2014
Denbigh Asylum is a grade II listed hospital left abandoned in Wales.
Built between 1844 and 1848 and designed by the architect Thomas Full James to house up to 200 patients. It was a self sufficient site and comprised its own farm, gasworks and chapel.
Denbigh was getting over crowded and in 1899 a large expansion project was undertaken and increased the capacity to 1500 patients.
In 1949 the hospital was struggling with over crowding again and Pool Park was became a mental hospital to take some of the pressure away from Denbigh.
It slowly closed in sections between 1991 and 2002.
Since being abandoned the hospital has had a hard life. Planning permission had been granted to convert the site to houses and flats. Sadly during renovation works in 2008 the hospital caught on fire and the main hall was destroyed. The project was pit on hold and the planning permission eventually expired.
In 2011 the building was at risk of collapsing. The owners ignoring the requests the council stepped in to make structural repairs at a cost just short of one million pounds.
The council wished to go ahead with a compulsory purchase order in 2013. This was implemented in early 2014. As of November 2014 the outcome of this was still unknown.
Once again in 2014 shortly after my visit another fire broke out at the site.
The latest plans are for the original conversion plan to be carried out but planning permission needs to be granted again. Flats and housing to be built into the stunning façade of the main building is planned to be the first phase of redevelopment.