Urban Exploring at Talgarth Mental Asylum (Mid Wales Hospital)

October 27, 2015 • 9 Comments

My job takes me to some strange places sometimes.

Whilst covering Cambrian patrol I visited one of the sites the exercise is being run on. It is set in a old mental asylum in Talgarth. I was tasked to cover a wreath-laying ceremony behind a derelict church to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of a soldier. Private John Lewis died on October 20, 1915, while being cared for at a military wing of a hospital in Talgarth in mid-Wales. However, his grave was left untended to for years until a soldier stumbled across it while walking his dog. The wreath was laid by Lieutenant General James Everard, Commander Land Forces.

Lance Corporal Koen Jacob, 1 Rifles bugler, plays The Last Post

Lieutenant General James Everard, Commander Land Forces, places the wreath at Pte Lewis' grave.

The headstone of Private John Lewis

For more on the story see here

Once the service had finished I spoke to one of the guys who was staying in the church there for the duration of the exercise. He had a key to get into the hospital grounds and asked me if I wanted to have a look round. I jumped at his offer and we went through the gates.

One of the hallways leading into the hospital

Most of the stairs leading to the upper levels had collapsed

The main auditorium

A ouija board in the auditorium

"The Bar"

I looked for a sell by date on this can but it was too rusty to find one.

Wonder what sort of entertainment went on here?

I love doing this urban exploring sort of stuff. It's great to find out about the history about the place then go and see what it is like now. I have visited a few different places over the years including mental hospitals in Bristol, an old quarry in the Midlands but the highlight was getting into the Tajbek palace in Kabul in 2011. I may do a post on that soon.

Thanks for looking!

Keywords: CLF, Nikon, army, black and white, bristol, british army, cambrian patrol, cambrian patrol 2015, cambrianpatrol, jonesmrjones, mental hospital, patrol, photographer, talgarth, urbanexploring, urbex, wales

Comments

Julie greensill(non-registered)

I was an inpatient here was a fantastic building ,it had a museum wing displaying treatments from the past ,not a pleasant experience being in there for 7 months ,some people had been in there years ,sad to see the building in such a state though could have been used for many things

Robert Smith(non-registered)

Yeh, these places are strange. You have captured very well.

Clipping Path(non-registered)

amazing post. useful post . i loke those pictures

sara smith(non-registered)

who do I need to get in touch with in order to take pictures ?

Jacqueline Jones(non-registered)

I would love to photograph this place and have seen a few blogs about people who have gone in (without permission). Is there somebody I could contact to gain access? I've got to do a photography project for my course and this would be ideal!

No comments posted.