West Park was built by William C Clifford Smith between 1912 and 1921. It was closed in 2005 and the site has fallen into disrepair and dereliction at an almost shockingly fast pace. You can see Dangerous Dave in this set. We were simply walking through one of the wards when he fell through the floor. Luckily for him, it was only about 4 feet.
Security for this site was notoriously hot at the time of writing. Windows are boarded very fast and many corridors are blocked part way down with breeze block walls. Doors are nailed shut and security will eject anyone they find on the site. They are not afraid to give chase. A successful visit relies on some lateral thinking and unusual methods of getting around the site...
My first visit was on the 22/11/2008. It was my first asylum visit. Unfortunately, out trip was cut short by security (who we successfully evaded) just as we were about to visit the padded cell, so no pictures of that. We left soon after that, not wantin to push our luck (also, it was getting dark and we had to be in other places for the evening... A return trip, however, is on the cards :)
This image from our trip was taken by Patch and is used with permission.
