Hales Hospital
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Hales Hospital was originally called the Heckingham Workhouse later the Heckingham Institution. Built in 1765 by John Harris of Ipswich at a total cost of £8,300.00. The Workhouse was built in the shape of the letter H and was meant to accomodate 400 patients. The entire site stretched across 9 acres.
A year later an extension was added to the workhouse to house upto 20 smallpox or other infectious disease stricken patients. But in 1773 a putrid fever swept through the hospital resulting in many of the patients and nearby residents deaths.
Conditions at the workhouse where poor to say the least and in 1835 the workhouse as it was known then had gained a reputation as being the most disorderly, inefficient and corrupt of the Norfolk Hundred workhouses.
Scandal also followed with staff who worked there with the workhouse master being dismissed in 1842 after substituting cheese for the inmates diet with cheap broth as he lined his own pockets by selling the cheese on.
In 1927 the workhouse closed and was converted into an institute for "mental defectives". After 1930, it was renamed to the Heckingham Institution.
The Institute as it was now known operated until 1948 when the National Health Service was formed when it was renamed once more, this time it was named Hales Hospital. The name Hales Hospital stuck with the place until the NHS finally closed the hospital down in 1990, since then it has remained derelict and falling into disrepair.
This was never a site that has really stood out or indeed appealed to us, but on a recent visit to Norfolk to explore other sites it popped up on the way to another explore. So we decided to give it a quick look.
When jaff and myself arrived we looked at each other and just shook our heads in disgust. From the photos we had seen of the place it didnt look inspiring at all but in the flesh its even worse!
The building itself is ugly and looks more like a giant farm house. As we reluctanlty got out of the car we knew inside would be even worse. And guess what? It was!
Rotten floors, filthy smells, damp walls. It really was poor. Everything about the place was poor, every room stripped bare, it was actually worse than what we expected. Its only saving grace is that it has history but thats not to impressive either!
EXPLORED 2010
Heckingham Institution
URBAN ASSAULT
