Stafford County Asylum
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St. Georges Asylum was originally called Stafford County Asylum and opened in 1818. Designed by architect Joseph Potter the asylum was meant to originally house 120 patients but by 1879 a large detached wing was added to the south-east of the site, adding room for an extra 90 patients.
In 1884, the asylum once again expanded. This time to the north west , at a cost of £40,000.00 the new expansion included workshops and a bakerie. By the end of the expansion the asylums capacity was enlarged from its original 120 beds to approaching 900 now.
During the 1950s the asylum was renamed to St. Georges Hospital and suicide cages installed after a female patient jumped from the fourth floor.
The asylum closed in 1995 and the remainding 145 long term patients were relocated within the local community, although one half of the site is still in use by the NHS.
The focal point to the site really is the 350 metre long admin building with wings sprouting off from it, sadly though its suffered over the years from vandals, arsonists and nature alike making some sections extremely dangerous.
Inside virtually nothing remains, some sections have entire roofs and floors missing making navigating the place some what treacherous.
Some of the seclusion cells still possess there original doors and the infamous suicide cages still sit in the stairwells, the main hall is so dangerous that scaffolding is in place to support the roof in case it collapses.
The only room that stands out really is the Pharmacy or whats left of it having still got the original pill machine still in situ, the only other room worth seeing was the chapel but even that is in poor condition and stripped bare.
We have put off exploring this place for years mainly because it looks less than inspiring and we wasnt wrong, in a lot of ways its like Denbigh, rotten to the core and not a lot to see. The only difference is Denbigh has character and looks visually appealing where as this place doesnt.
The main problem we found was actually photographing this place. It really is a hard task to do, its the lack of anything really interesting that causes the problem as the majority of the site is really no more than an empty shell.
A strange one to do this place and very hard but I suppose its done now and one more of the never ending list.
