Nov 21: Home Front

This derelict chapel is one of the only buildings left of Stone Lunatic Asylum, which was 'home' for arround 550 patients in 1979. I thought I would visit this little chapel after reading the following article on the fantastic "28 Days Later" site: http://tinyurl.com/Stone-Asylum

The Buckingham County Pauper Lunatic Asylum was opened in 1853 and closed in 1991. The rest of the site was then demolished in 1994 and is now housing estate. :(

Rear view: http://365project.org/bulldog/365-additions/2012-11-21

[Jo]

Was it still called a lunatic asylum in 1979? Bleak sums up this shot.

[Sally Ings]

Beautiful looking building, so sad to see it going to ruin!

[monika]

beautiful pics and interesting building :)

[Alison Hewitt Bailey]

Nice shots, Graham. I know this chapel. It's such a great shame that it's been left unused for so long.

[📸 Bulldog 📷]

From what I can find out, it was originally called the Buckinghamshire County Pauper Lunatic Asylum in 1853, then Buckinghamshire Mental Hospital (1919) and finally St John's Hospital (1948)
It's am amazing place, worth the 30 mile round trip, but it such a shame that the whole area around it is a new housing estate.

@joluise @salza @monikasam @dulciknit

[Hazel]

I dread to think what treatment the inmates here would have received in its early days. It's a shame somebody doesn't do something cheerful with it.

[Fanny Brogden]

So scary how they used to lock people away.......for all their lives....too awful, good pic for home though!!

[Colleen]

Great old building

[📸 Bulldog 📷]

@quietpurplehaze - It make you shudder doesn't it...

@fannyb - I thought it was good for home, I'm just glad it was pulled down before I was put in it.

@httpgeffed - It is lovely, I would love to go inside.

[Danette Thompson]

I agree it is bleak and the sky helps that feeling. What a pretty chapel, though. A shame no ne will use it. Must feel tainted.

[Kathryn Marshall]

Great shot. I find this a bit eerie.

[waitingforinstant(kari)]

Oh, I dislike demolished:/ Love the pic tho:)

[Bankmann]

Fascinating building. Your title made me think: If it's no longer in use, someone should really try and turn it into a home...

[Phil]

What a pretty place, seems awful to see it boarded up and unloved like that.

[📸 Bulldog 📷]

Thank you all for your comments, I did read that there were plans to convert it into three houses but no-one has gone ahead with this.

@danette @daisy @justkariherself @bankmann @filsie65

[🐓 Patricia Fletcher]

Fascinating to look at the article and see inside the chapel. So sad to see it languishing here, your shot highlights its bleakness with the dilapidated railing adding to the mood.

[8yearson]

That is quite shocking to read that they still 'locked' people away as recently as the 1990's....... I'm glad society is changing it's perceptions of mental illness (a real battle for anyone suffering). This is a very atmospheric and poignant photo, and they grey day adds to that too.

[📸 Bulldog 📷]

Thank you both for your comments.
@tishpics @jackie8

[Dixie Goode]

It is scary to think of the people there, and to me, just as scary to think what happened to those people when they suddenly closed these places and they were turned out on the street with no skills of help. I knew a man who was abandonded on the door of an institution in montana as a child, and turned out in his 40ish year because the place closed, but he was deaf and could not speak, or read or write so he tried to communicate with a book of photographs

about this picture. On its own it is lovely and sad. Knowing the history makes it feel more sinister

[mittens (Marilyn)]

What an interesting and cool looking building. Great capture. I bet that building could tell lots of stories. I wonder if it is haunted.

[Therese]

Pity it goes to ruin! It's really gorgeous!

[❀ Lynn]

A lovely building if used for a necessary, but sad, reason.

[Sean O'Neill]

A building that has many stories to tell.

[Sharyn's Shots シ]

Very interesting building indeed. Well captured.

[Wendy]

If these walls could talk ... I'm not sure we'd want to listen.

[📸 Bulldog 📷]

Thank you so much for your comments and thoughts, I would have loved to have seen the orriginal building.

@pandorasecho @mittens @monkeykid @lynnb @seanoneill @sewsharyn @wendyhgill