West Park Asylum.

West Park Asylum was designed by William C. Clifford-Smith, Architect to the London County Council and made up one of the five mental hospitals and asylums in the Epsom Cluster, the others being St. Ebbas, Horton, Manor & Long Grove.

It was the last mental hospital of the Cluster to be built and was originally planned in 1906 but didnt start construction until 1912 and open until 1916 due to the Canadian military taking over it during WWI.

West Park finally opened its doors to its intended patients in 1923 and at full capacity could house upto 2000 patients at any one time.

Sometime in the 1950`s Later additions to the site where added including a large nurses home between the isolation hospital and female sanatorium, as well as temporary structures such as the patients social club, and various small units in grounds.

Staff residences were constructed close to the parole villas during the mid 1970's with additional units close by in the mid- late 1980's, the Chapel that once occupied the site has since been demolished and the site has been subject to arson attacks over the past few years.

West Park finally closed in 2003 after being slowly run down over a 5 year period.

The Asylum itself has a rather attractive appeal to it and boasts some impresive looking buildings and a rather imposing water tower, the thing that was most surprising though was the amount of things still in situ.

The usual beds and various bits of equipment you would expect to find in such a place where evident but the most startling thing was the amount of former patients belongings still lying around all over the place, everything from luggage to clothing littered certain rooms.

Hospital records where also in abundance and lined hallways and various rooms within certain sections of the site.

West Park has long had a status of being one of the hardest Asylums to explore, with high security, and even laser grids to stop people entering the grounds, along with this though it is certainly is worth seeing due to its condition.

Inside is now riddled with decay and some sections have become unsafe, but the place has immense character and is extremely photogenic it also has more items and things still in situ than any other asylum I have visited to date.

West Park may be derelcit and slowly rotting away but its condition really leaves a lasting impression, you can almost imagaine what it was actually like when it was open due to the things still in situ.