Visit Date May 2006
St Johns
Architect Hamilton and Thomas Percy
Opened 1852
Patients 944 beds in 1971
Closed 1989
Other Chapel built in 1869
Once voted the UKs worst regeneration site as 1000 houses have been built right up to the edge of the former asylum, from all around the hospital you can see the little box houses that must hate to be so near something that has been empty for nearly 20 years!
I had to wonder about how they marketed the houses "oh that....... over there?? Don't worry it'll be developed in no time!"
The interiors are showing the age that it has been empty but surprisingly 
despite a few scrawls and lots of smashed windows there is not that much vandalism.
The corridors all go extend one after another and seem to go on forever and the wallpapers in there are very much a throwback to the past! Parts of the 
structure have been breeze blocked up in the past but are now accessible which allows access to some of the less ruined parts and some of the original doors with their peep-holes are still in situ.
The main hall is one of the only places where I have seen it named a ballroom, apparently they used to hold dances and meetings for those outside the asylum. Just off the main hall is the amazing shield corridor.
The water tower is obviously a later addition as it is a concrete structure and doesn't fit in with the rest of the feel of the sandstone buildings. Although my 
legs lost their courage about 2/3 of the way up DocD assures me the views are fantastic!
As we left there was a planning application on the fence saying that a small part of the structure was due to be demolished, for a new development, I have been told that the rest of the former asylum is Grade II listed so hopefully the rest will not suffer the same fate.