High Royds
Architect J Vickers - Edwards
Opened 1888
Patients Originally 840 with plans for another 600
Closed February 2003
Other Being converted into a residential village
High Royds was built on 300 acres of land bought from Farnley Hall for £18,000 and was originally called The West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum. The building cost £350,000 and no expense was spared in the construction of the hospital, with the administration building with its 129ft four clock face tower which was the primary focus of anyone approaching the hospital, quite an imposing site for anyone coming up the long drive way!
The building was based on the compact arrow plan with females to the right of 
admin and males to the left. In the centre of the complex along with the administration block was the hospital services including a grand main hall, which still contains the original fire places.... all four of them.
In October I ventured up north to see another location and having heard that this place was possibly accessible DocD and I met up with Spook and BenWRX yet again to see if we could take a look.
Conversion of the site into a residential village is well underway but luckily on the day we went they were mostly at the rear of the site so we entered quite unhindered apart from having to dive into a hedge to hide from a dumper truck.
The corridors are very wide with mosaic tiled floors and glazed ornate half wall tiling makes them looks extremely opulent, the main hall although missing part of its ceiling remains as I imagine it would have looked when it was built. I have never seen a Main Hall with its original fireplaces still in situ.
The other service parts of the hospital have been completely stripped, so we moved onto the wards passing through large corridors including one that split into two sections.
The wards still retained some original doors but the old spy holes had been 
covered up with boarding. The semi secure ward was interesting and had obviously been refurbished shortly before closure.
Lastly we entered admin to try to find the tower, which was actually surprisingly easy, unlike most clock towers High Royds had good solid staircase….. the kind I like ….. all the way to the top. From the outside all the clock faces look white but when you are on the inside you can see that they are all slightly different shades of blue pink white and yellow. From the clock level there are more stirs that allow roof access which gave for great views over the complex and even a couple of other explorers trying to get in!