Cane Hill Lunatic Asylum

Urban Exploration uk

Designed and built by Howell Cane hill sits atop a lone hill in Coulsden. It is the third London County asylum and is the most famous of all the asylums left in England.

I have walked the perimeter of Cane Hill many times and had become infactuated with getting inside but it was proving to be harder than i anticipated with top notch security and police dog training on certain days, but we finally got in.

Cane Hill has always had its place at the top of the Urban Exploration target plinth. No one can really explain why, it just has a draw to it. Sitting atop of a hill in the quant not quiet London town of Caulsden the clock tower atop admin pokes out from the top of the trees like some kind of mystical building from a Hitchcock movie. As you approach the site you are greated with a daunting fence and the sound of dogs barking. Damn should have brought some sausages I think to myself as the morning dew seeps into my trousers, its 3am on a cold morning and I am stood contemplating how to get past the fence. The next minute I am in and my heart is pounding I make my way to one of the wards where I set myself up and grab a couple of hours kip on an old ward bed, I am surprisingly calm considering I am sleeping within a derelict asylum. My mind wanders thinking about all the patients that used to roam the corridors and even the room I am sleeping within. I wake and set my camera up, as I move through the wards I begin to realise why this asylum has such a stigma attatched to it, every corridor intertwines with another you become swallowed within its walls loosing all sense of location, I can understand why people begin to go even more mad while living within these walls.

The architecture still pokes its head through the peeling paint and moss which now inhabits the buildings. I make my way through the wards and the morning sun stretches its fingers through the windows spreading out across the buildings and drawing the colors out of the walls. I make my way towards the chapel my main target, as I round the corner the red bricks shine like a new building shines revealing the awesome architecture that lies hidden from the outside and the public and before me stands the chapel as splendid as the day it was built. My visit is almost over I now I head back making stops at the mortuary, the Asylum shop and various wards before making my way out, as I leave I realise that although its an intimidating collection of buildings they do provide a haven of calm.

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