I used to work in the laundry during the summer holidays between 1970 and 1972 when I was a student. Brings back find memories of the place and people I worked with: Harry, Garth, Ron, Elsie and many others ...
finding this hard to believe but its 7 years since i had a wander round Severalls, the difference between this video and what i saw was hard to believe, it's so sad its just been left to crumble
Great videos Sam. I used to work in another mental hospital which looked very similar Any chance you could tell us what type of patients were in each ward?
i used to play football for Serveralls in the 70's & the grounds were always lovely & the football pitches were perfect,my Nan was a nurse there in the war when it got bombed & she was one of the Nurses who identified the bodies of the women who were killed who are laid to rest at Colchester Crem,she always used to tell me a story that there was a mile long corridor under the grounds & the entrance was concrete capped after the war & grass layed over were the entrance used to be & it was a long corridor lined with cells for nutters who could'nt be controlled in the main Hospital,true or not maybe they will find it when they dig up the grounds & put loads of houses on there to grid lock with traffic that part of Colchester
This is a fantastic record of something that's now absolutely gone! i'm making a model of a psychiatric hospital complex and several sections are recreations of Severalls. One in particular is Squirrels Boutique. Was this the hospital shop as referred to at 7:11 in the video? Does anyone know about the the 'Boutique or have any pictures of it in use?
Thank you - yes, it is indeed an amazing historical record made by Patricia! I believe that you are correct, the Hospital Shop was around the same area as Squirrel Boutique.
@@SeverallsHospital absolutely! It's crazy to think that this record simply wouldn't exist if the decision hadn't been made to just pick up a camcorder and capture it all one day. So what did Squirrels' sell? Patient clothes?
I was taken to have a look at the place by my late grandmother, Kath, who was the librarian at the hospital. I remember eating a bread roll, fresh from the onsite bakery. I hope the place is sympathetically converted to housing.
I always used the library there as it was quiet and they were super kind. Beat ARU Chelmsford tbh so some journals weren’t UTD but get me any book from over ARU in 2000-2002. Adored the staff there :-)
Looking at photos taken in 2019 that are the same shots as the admin lobby with the stairwell and the mural corridors. The difference is just stunning, the decay compared to this trim, painted, and lit place with its polished floors.
such an beautiful hospital. it truly was, and in a way still is, but until they got their hands on it, and soon there will be nothing left expect houses and the admin (if they dont trash that too)
OK. After 1960 in British mental institutions, we were not in the "Suddenly Last Summer" or Janet Frame great threat of lobotomy type situations, but who can deny the role of social control these establishments played? Why didn't they take into account the pioneering work of then modern pyschologists like R. D. Laing? Because his work was socially subversive, i suppose. Why did they use ect - that is electroconvulsive "therapy" and masses of drugs? Did they really think the cups of tea and kindness offered on such occasions could help the violent "medicine go down"? Was there any work ever done in these hard places on the extreme weight of the social stigma of being branded "mentally ill"? If you read Foucault you will learn that in the past "madmen" were considered part holy, part seers. It was only with the industrial revolution that these "threats" to society were rounded up and put in "madhouses", most of which were unsurprisingly built in the nineteenth century - population growth cannot account for such a great increase in mental illness. Mental health policy had then obviously become a quesiton of policing and social control. Was that so in Essex?
@@conniethomas4753 Chestnut Villa was a Laboratory, offering Services for the nearby Colchester General Hospital (from the 1980's until it closed around 2016). This Ward was original for Children.
I used to work in the laundry during the summer holidays between 1970 and 1972 when I was a student. Brings back find memories of the place and people I worked with: Harry, Garth, Ron, Elsie and many others ...
WOW thank you very very very very much for these videos give me a insight of the place beofre the locals prats trashed it thank you
finding this hard to believe but its 7 years since i had a wander round Severalls, the difference between this video and what i saw was hard to believe, it's so sad its just been left to crumble
Great videos Sam. I used to work in another mental hospital which looked very similar
Any chance you could tell us what type of patients were in each ward?
i used to play football for Serveralls in the 70's & the grounds were always lovely & the football pitches were perfect,my Nan was a nurse there in the war when it got bombed & she was one of the Nurses who identified the bodies of the women who were killed who are laid to rest at Colchester Crem,she always used to tell me a story that there was a mile long corridor under the grounds & the entrance was concrete capped after the war & grass layed over were the entrance used to be & it was a long corridor lined with cells for nutters who could'nt be controlled in the main Hospital,true or not maybe they will find it when they dig up the grounds & put loads of houses on there to grid lock with traffic that part of Colchester
Thanks for sharing your memories / connection.
This is a fantastic record of something that's now absolutely gone! i'm making a model of a psychiatric hospital complex and several sections are recreations of Severalls. One in particular is Squirrels Boutique. Was this the hospital shop as referred to at 7:11 in the video? Does anyone know about the the 'Boutique or have any pictures of it in use?
Thank you - yes, it is indeed an amazing historical record made by Patricia!
I believe that you are correct, the Hospital Shop was around the same area as Squirrel Boutique.
@@SeverallsHospital absolutely! It's crazy to think that this record simply wouldn't exist if the decision hadn't been made to just pick up a camcorder and capture it all one day. So what did Squirrels' sell? Patient clothes?
@@thetelegothika5327 I believe it sold a mix of sweets and other Items (presumably similar to what Hospital Shops sell in Today's Modern Hospitals?
I was taken to have a look at the place by my late grandmother, Kath, who was the librarian at the hospital. I remember eating a bread roll, fresh from the onsite bakery. I hope the place is sympathetically converted to housing.
I always used the library there as it was quiet and they were super kind. Beat ARU Chelmsford tbh so some journals weren’t UTD but get me any book from over ARU in 2000-2002. Adored the staff there :-)
it's beautiful.
Looking at photos taken in 2019 that are the same shots as the admin lobby with the stairwell and the mural corridors. The difference is just stunning, the decay compared to this trim, painted, and lit place with its polished floors.
It looks like a big site, like a maze. Excellent video well done
I wud love to visit this hospital
visited here last year returning soon can't believe when this was fimled i was 5 and now the hospital is in a very bad state
Haunted sounds you can hear whilst you’re walking through! I can hear faint screams and loud bangs! This must have been a scary experience
such an beautiful hospital. it truly was, and in a way still is, but until they got their hands on it, and soon there will be nothing left expect houses and the admin (if they dont trash that too)
Where did they do the labotomy?
I believe this procedure was carried out where the Operating Theatres were located.
@@SeverallsHospital That was one of the first places to get smashed up.... evil place! And the electro shock "therapy"
OK. After 1960 in British mental institutions, we were not in the "Suddenly Last Summer" or Janet Frame great threat of lobotomy type situations, but who can deny the role of social control these establishments played? Why didn't they take into account the pioneering work of then modern pyschologists like R. D. Laing? Because his work was socially subversive, i suppose. Why did they use ect - that is electroconvulsive "therapy" and masses of drugs? Did they really think the cups of tea and kindness offered on such occasions could help the violent "medicine go down"? Was there any work ever done in these hard places on the extreme weight of the social stigma of being branded "mentally ill"? If you read Foucault you will learn that in the past "madmen" were considered part holy, part seers. It was only with the industrial revolution that these "threats" to society were rounded up and put in "madhouses", most of which were unsurprisingly built in the nineteenth century - population growth cannot account for such a great increase in mental illness. Mental health policy had then obviously become a quesiton of policing and social control. Was that so in Essex?
Haunted & Old Nursing Homes & Mental Hospitals
Do you mean Chestnut Villa?
@@grahamreeve5209 chestnut is as a lab I’m sure?
@@conniethomas4753 Chestnut Villa was a Laboratory, offering Services for the nearby Colchester General Hospital (from the 1980's until it closed around 2016). This Ward was original for Children.