North Wales Lunatic Asylum | Denbigh Then And Now
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- čas přidán 9. 09. 2024
- Denbigh Asylum today...
At peak, there were over one hundred thousand patients within over one hundred mental institutions around the United Kingdom.
Denbigh opened its doors in 1848 and by the mid 20th century it housed 1,500 patients.
In the last decades of the asylums, psychiatrists attempted to cure patients, some of these procedures were simply barbaric.
From electrotherapy, to lobotomies, these were times before science had even began to understand the workings of the brain and people were being treated like test subjects.
This asylum, like many others, had grown to such a size that it made sense for it to provide for itself, with a full working garden and farm, the food provided was fresh and there was plenty to go around.
The patients who were able would contribute to the work load, out on the fields, in the kitchens and with the laundry.
The impetus to close asylums began in the 1960s but large-scale closures did not start until the 1980s.
Denbigh closed its doors in 1995 and has been left rotting ever since.
The closing of these institutions was a monumental change for Britain and many patients had a chance at a brand new lease of life on the outside.
This place really was a town of its own.
Some will say these places really did serve as true ‘asylums’ for those who would of otherwise had nowhere to go, others will agree these places are better off put far behind us and forgotten.
Whether they have been renovated, bulldozed or simply abandoned, the ‘madhouses’ will always remind us how far things have come.
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I like the way you incorperate old footage & photographs. Thankyou for doing that.
It’s crazy how we just let beautiful buildings with so much history go to ruins. Image how beautiful it would still b now. And I wish the kids would stop vandalising
So true, places like this are something from a time gone by, never to be again! And the parts we have left are being destroyed, its crazy. Should of been kept up together since it closed! Would make a fascinating museum now.
We here in the UK are surrounded by history...but places like this are left to die as a way to bury the awful truth of what we as a nation did to our mentally ill. once this place is no longer standing history can be white-wasted over...I know first hand what went on in places like this having worked in the 70's in one ...
Heartbreaking to see the damage caused by vandals. Imagine if they had kept her as a historical museum for schools to visit. Its the procedures that were barbaric not the buildings. It reduced us to tears when we visited over 10 years ago.
Stunning. What a beautiful place. So quiet and serene unlike how it would of been. Priceless.
i know it would be a massive undertaking, but the iconic parts of the building should be restored
Guys loved the video. I worked there for 10 year and can share info on places you filmed. Interesting that the areas you found spooky were run of the mill for me. Yet areas that were spooky you didn't know about, like the morgue by the chapel. Great video
As a kid I lived nearby... I was threatened with being sent to Denbigh when I was misbehaving.. happy days
Such was its reputation, that was a common threat.
I find it funny how you stomp around with no regard for how much sound you are making but then whisper when you talk like you are afraid of being heard
Great intro Sam& Jess .i lived in North Wales for 20yrs not far from Denbigh. Remember the times in the paper about closing it down. Ty for sharing seeing the mountains brought a tear to my eye PEACE ✌🤘❤❤🦋
When it closed, they sent all the patients to England, and called them "School Teachers"!!!!
And to work for the BBC
Used to play here as a kid this is where my love for the abandoned started. Great times here. Shame its going. Great vid guys
That's an awesome stomping ground 🤣 Asylums actually got me interested in abandoned buildings first of all too!
Really is sad to think it won't be there for people to see forever. Glad you enjoyed the video 🙏
It reminds me of Charn in 'The Magician's Nephew'. Jess has a great eye for atmospheric shots. Away from the sound of voices the feel of the old asylum prevails.
Great stuff guys. You are rapidly becoming my fave explorers !!!
Thank you Pete that is awesome to hear 😊🙏
“I’ve always been mad, I know I’ve been mad, like most of us have, very hard to explain why you’re mad, even if you’re not mad. Hahaha.” (Pink Floyd)
A tip : watch movies on KaldroStream. Me and my gf have been using it for watching all kinds of movies lately.
@Jorge Gregory Yup, I have been watching on KaldroStream for since december myself :)
When they closed the doors to the asylums, all they did was take them underground.
Care in the community wasn't much of a good thing was it?! Look at the ho,else's situation now & mental health on the streets. Asylums are not the answer, but more care is needed.
Great video guys, amazing drone footage what an incredible building. I love how innocent Jess is bless her
Honestly I would be concerned about you going back at night. Too many ways to get hurt.
But the vid is stellar. Liked the way you brought in the historical examples. Drone footage was told. Also liked Jess video style.
Very true, might be a bad idea after all.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Yes we will get her behind the camera more often!
Cheers Ben!
Funny we went yesterday and my son found you and this. Thank you for showing us.
Alot of my friends used to go when it was still open. For a dare,said you could see figures in windows.
Its an incredible building so thank you.
I hope the investor keeps at least the front when he builds the 300 houses that are planned x
in the mid 80's I worked with ambulance patient liaison .. we would have to transport day care patients to & from the Denbigh hospital .. I remember those long, arched, tiled corridors .. it's very strange seeing it now .. was such a creepy place back then when it was operative, actually looks less creepy now lol. Thanks for the explore guys :)
wow the tunnel downstairs where you say the walls are bleeding is very scary - very scary at night
Wicked commentary. Love it.
I worked in this hospital as a young chaplain back in the early 1980’s and remember it as a busy institution, full of patients and staff. Hard to imagine now, it seems to be in a sorry state.
Hello there Jess and sam hope ur well ... I watched last night but I had to watch again this morning lol 😆 I’m so sorry I’ve not been about much lately ... it’s not through choice I’m afraid I’ve just been diagnosed with lupus sle ... it’s a rare auto immune disease no cure ... it’s awful as nobody knows a lot about this so most the time u suffer alone in silence ... anyway u have been my lifeline ... my adventure while been so poorly ... watch8ng you explore gives me hope that one day I may feel alive again and be able to go exploring myself ... I found you through Matt he truly is a legend ur in such good hands and he is super funny 😁 lol 😂 I love you all .... ur a big family to me ur all wonderful people and I just love watching you ... much love to you all ... 💜💜💜p.s October is lupus awareness month ,,,and Purple Heart is the colour ... 🙏❤️🙏🥰🥰🥰💓💓💓 xxxxxx
Hello Princess!!!
Your comment made us feel lots of emotions!!!
Sad to hear you are having to face this but you are certainly never alone! So chuffed to hear our videos help in this way and it really makes us appreciate things even more.
Your heart warming comments always give us a lift and we appreciate it so much.
I am certain you will get out and explore again!!!!!
It's so great to have you here on the channel, the community that has formed around exploring is truly amazing.
Sending lots of healing, peace and love to you 💜💜💜💜
@@Samandjessexplore awwww thank you happy tears are flowing lol that’s so lovely and kind of u to say .... it means so much 🙏❤️🙏🥰🥰🥰💜😆😆 xxxxxxx
The madhouses pre dated the asylum, hence the madhouses act of 1977, they were a different thing to lunatic asylums which came about almost 100 years later after with the county asylum act. They were never called 'mental' asylums only lunatic asylums or later(around 1930 onwards) mental hospitals. That terminology is one from America.
I found a button at Middlewood hospital Sheffield buried really deep it says Wadsley asylum Sheffield, still got it with holes too 👌
Cheers lads for doing this and jess
Sam, that laugh in the intro sounded like it was right out of the bowels of hell. 😁👍 Keep it up and stay safe.
The timing of the truck at the end 😂 on to the next one.
Research you guys have done really brought the place back to life . Well done guys
Glad you enjoyed the video Richard! Thanks very much 😃❤
There s an old mental asylum by my house but it's been converted into council buildings so it's still in great condition, it's slowly being abandoned by them now but I imagine it will be bought up as it's in quite a prominent area with a university right opposite. Worked there as a cleaner for a few years and it was fascinating to think what had happened within the walls
Denbigh is supposed to be in the process of redevelopment. I'm not sure if the current developer has gone under, because of Corona, or if the virus complications have caused delays. For the past two years it has been purchased by a company to turn the place into apartments. Some of the buildings on the estate have been torn down, they want to keep the facade of the main building (which is mostly what remains of it) and also have sworn to keep the Chapel.
Will be very interesting to see what they do with it, I do like the idea of keeping the front & certainly keeping the chapel.
I wouldn't want to live here though, that's for sure!!!
Thanks for sharing 🙏
Excellent work guys..
Hello, awesome history, aerial, outside, and inside footage again. Gee, nature has taken over here compared to some abandoned sites. Ninja Jess shows once again how easy it is to jump huge fences, that I couldn't even think to climb and cross, not even when I was young - she is so great, so are you, Sam.
Amazing that you can still smell the hospital smell in an area after it's been abandoned for 25 years. Yes, it would be interesting to return here at night with some ghost hunting equipment. Cheers, from Australia. xx
Thanks so much Gaye 😊❤ Glad you enjoyed the video!!! This was an awesome explore.
No! Please don't encourage ghost hunting videos. There are plenty of other channels out there that do that sort of thing. Spoiler alert: ghost hunting videos are fake and/or staged and very redundant. Please don't fall for that sort of nonsense!
Women who were pregnant out of wedlock had the baby taken from them and the women were locked up for the rest of their lives.Also if you had/a breakdown the same thing but their teethwere. Removed to avoid biting themselves or others
Hard to think about such a time now 😢 How far we have come... thankfully!
New watcher. Love the video. Such a shame its been left to get in this condition. X
Jess was great with the camera she's a natural at it well done jess and sam
What an amazing place, it was like a whole town unto itself. Jess you should use the camera more often, your amazing with it and thank you for the history at the end of the video. Another awesome video, loved watching it, thank you both.
@18:00 turn playback speed on 25% and keep your eye on the right in the crack where the door connects to the frame. What do you see?
Could possibly make out a few things, the peeling wallpaper behind is messing with my eyes! What do you see?
@@Samandjessexplore I saw the side profile of a face and then it turns and looks.
I can also hear something at 8:48 after Jess and they show the mirror
Looking forward to seeing this beers in the fridge ready to go 👍
I'm stuck in the American Midwest (St. Louis, Missouri, to be exact), and I adore these UrbEx vids from the U.K., including your work with Karl.
Thank you for taking the time to produce them. This stuff is amazing.
That's awesome! Glad you enjoy the videos and thank you for the support :)
Hi Sam & Jess, as per normal an excellent and fascinating video with superb documentary history off the asylum. When you two do a video you make sure all the research is done to a high standard. Thank you for taking me to places I will never be able to see being disabled again thank you and hope there are many more amazing places to visit in the future.
Glad you enjoyed it Adrian, great to have you along and appreciate your comment 🙏❤
Sweet video thanks…
I know this was a while ago but it was a great video. Beautiful architecture. The chapel was amazing and the roof still intact with the beautiful wooden beams. Thank you for showing us this place.
Wow, what a place. It looks beautiful and sad that it was used as an asylum, but lovely video, especially the drone footage 💕
I worked for the reformed mental health care systems in the United States. There are still places where nightmares are being made.
Another awesome banger guys , can’t wait to meet you guys 😛
Cheers Taffy appreciate it man 👊 You too, gonna be great fun 😂
@@Samandjessexplore hahaha sure will ive got something planned very soon see you there 😛
Great video. Big part of our area. The burnt areas, remember that the Asylum has been victim to a number of arson attacks
I remember when they closed St. John’s hospital in Lincoln and many of the patients were put in b n bs left roaming streets all day as they had to get out in mornings : I worked in an old folks home and we had 40 year olds as patients in there after the hospital cLosed as they had no family and couldn’t look after themselves . Awful
Can't wait for your video to start . 😎
Stunning...I now I shouldn't say this but that graffiti is amazing ✨
Very late, but I told my grandfather about there being an old asylum near us after I saw it near the 50s museum, his first reaction was 'There's alot of nutters in Wales' 😭
I love ancient architecture and anthropology. Glad to see another lil hidden gem. 👍🏾
Banger of a video Sam an jess thank you 🙏
Wow, so interesting to see this place and the history and old footage of it. Totally absorbing explore.
Glad you enjoyed the video! Appreciate it 🙏
Excellent explore Sam & Jess and Living it Urban. Beautifully filmed and narrated Well done.
Thanks very much Liam! Glad you enjoyed it 😁
Thanks for an awesome explore.
Enjoyed Thanks Sam Jess ;-)
this place is mental no pun intended,,, great video guys
Thank you both once again for the great video I must say that yours are no 1 the best and you take a lot of pride in your findings xxx
Another awesome explore guys 💪💪❤️❤️
Just started watching your videos,love the Hobbit house ,, I'm watching on TV on my Roku ,so had to get on phone 📱 to like it and subscribe,, love your videos,,❤️❤️🙏🙏, y'all stay safe, from Granbam in Jemison Alabama,USA
Thanks so much Evelyn, so glad your enjoying the videos! And we appreciate you taking the time to like and sub, it means a lot to us! Glad to have you on the channel 😀❤
The reason security is so high is because of vandalism,theft and the fact that the place is toxic and dangerous.it seems like 5mins since it was up and running.Had you asked permission you would have been given a tour.one of the things that were stolen was the beautiful clock at the front of the building. behind the main building are new apartments.One of the workmen was removing a beautiful marble slab used for dead bodies,it was to be utilised as a kitchen worktop in one of the new flats.The place is extremely haunted and has an awful history
That's very interesting, always good to utilise things but that sounds questionable 😆 So sad people take things from places, especially places like these with so much irreplaceable history.
I live in North Wales and this video was breathtaking to watch
Such a beautiful building gone to waste , it should have been saved years ago and turned into a hotel which would have been cool 😎
why are the most beautiful buildings filled with such tragedy and horror, so much pain.
Help! My home is infested by giant demonic pigs with glowing red eyes!!
So glad I found your channel. Going back to earlier videos, loving all of them. You find such great places to explore.
Thank you for your upload 😊 really pleased you have your own channel as found you through secret vault years ago. Jess I think you are very good at filming 🎥
That was an excellent explore!! thank you both and Luke too!! I've seen quite a few of Karl's stuff from denbigh but was fascinating seeing it all in the daylight and getting so much history! Proper Job! xxxxx
I have seen loads of videos in this place but i must say this is the best
My Nains sister was one of the Matrons here..... she would never really speak about what went on etc.... she'd always change the subject.... and at times seemed very sad.
great vid
Absolutely loved the video , amazing chapel
Wow that place is incredible, its enormous lol, great explore guys, love the history you guys put into these vids, and it's great to see you both input. Awesome stuff well done guys.
another great video! i love the place. It's amazing what they did in those days. and the 'crazy's" went there to be cured ? lol,,, you two are great,,,
Love seeing this old place, loved the history behind it, (it remined me a bit of the American film 'one flew over the cookoos nest ' ) Once again another awesome explore 👍💗 I believe it's famous for being haunted 👻 would love to see you back there at night with Karl from Darkarts.😀 On a ghost hunt 👍👻😬😲😀 stay safe guys xx xx
Been told to watch that film by multiple people! Will have to find it and give it a go. That would be very interesting 😁 Glad you enjoyed it Lou Lou ❤
It's good to read too.
Great work loved it!🐺
What a great video, your best so far! Really enjoy the back history and archive footage combined with the urbex footage. Nice one.
And yes, night video please!
One of my friends who does exploring Ste G has come across a new electric security device which stands 4 foot high when you get near it it triggers a recording. Be careful guys
Cheers Baz! Pesky robots 😅
It is starting to look less like an old hospital & more like a ruined castle now. I hope someone can make something good from it.
Thank you for sharing, it is a great explore!
Wow!!..fantasting!...did you spot any cctv camera at all......i. asking at im wanting to explore it soon x
I think that place would be too dangerous at night. The day visit was hazardous enough. My gosh that place is so huge.
this is a building that has been a great interest of mine and I have seen a lot of videos on it but I have to say I found this one the best yet great work sam and jess x
Wow Tracey that is a wonderful compliment, thank you so much! So pleased you enjoyed it.
This asylum and the others that remain are fascinating, I do wish they could have been kept in better shape, would make for a fantastic museum today.
Back in the 1970s, when I lived in Anglesey, my dad gave a lift to a young lad who was hitchhiking from our local town to visit his girlfriend, who was incarcerated in Denbigh. It must have been a good 60 miles at least, god knows how long it would have taken him. (We were only able to take him to Bangor, just 20 miles on.) Clearly no help from the social services for friends and families of patients in those days. I remember my dad saying, 'I feel sorry for anyone who has someone locked up in there'.
Loved it, love all you share with us xx
I bet those walls could tell some frightening stories - if only. Could it be that by demolishing the buildings - we see it as a way of wiping the history - forget it - and start anew?
IF There was 4 Floor's. That Caved in What happened to the Roof ?
Looked like you had a Clear Path to Walk Through 💖🇨🇦
There was an abandoned mental institution near my town about an hour from Chicago. It was self-sufficient with its own water treatment and fire station. But much smaller, even though at its peak, housed the same number of people. Overcrowding and understaffing was a huge problem and when it closed, everything inside was either burned in the back and/or buried. There was still equipment inside. It wasn’t set up as one huge building though. There were several cottages in a grid-like pattern!
It’s called manteno state hospital in Illinois. You can look up old newspaper clippings and so many of them read something like “escaped mental institution patient found dead in field”… they’d escape and get lost in the corn fields surrounding the place and when they’d die in the fields, farmers would…. Accidentally “find” them when driving their huge tractors. It’s very disturbing among other grizzly things being practiced behind the walls.
amazing video
If the government put as much money into restoring these buildings as the waste on boring new ones the country would be transformed 💕
My grandfather was in combat in ww2 at only 20 and came home a raging alcoholic from the war. Back than they treated alcoholism in mental hospitals. They gave my grandfather a lobotomy to help his alcoholism recovery and it killed him
Cindy I am so sorry 😰😖 That is absolutely barbaric.
What a brave man, I hope he is resting somewhere easy now.
How times have changed! 😤
Awesome video guys love the way u tell the history Sam awesome work
That place is huge
An nocturnal visitation would be most agreeable
Let's hope jess don't crack open the Budweiser like last weekend
fantastic ❤S&J❤
I just subscribed to your channel.. you guys di such a great job. It's so weird and scary but I could hear whispering at 16:50 , I could swear it kept saying to get out. I swear I get chills. Good job and be safe out there
Thank you
Yummie rosehips! I miss picking rosehips, so delicious 😋
Please don't go at night guys.....! With the state of the place you could all have serious accidents... If you must go, be careful.
Very true, not such a wise idea after all! Bit too far gone. Such a shame!
Its a massive set out i wouldn't fancy being their cleaner. Very impressive all over, i wonder what exactly went on in there. Creepy vibe.
Nice 'out-tro', Jess...
Amazing vid once again guys. 💪Jess with the cam
Thanks very much David! Glad you enjoyed it 😁 She's at it again 😆