A photographer has captured a series of photographs featuring the remains of a construction site that was once part of the Manchester Royal Hospital for the Insane.
Photographs show the devastation years of oblivion they have caused in what is called South House, a deserted component of the asylum complex.
The original hospital, one of the first asylums in the UK, was transferred from Manchester Infirmary in the city to the suburbs of Stockport in 1849.
Pioneers at the time, hospital leaders aimed to move away from the brutal and humiliating remedy that other psychiatric hospitals commonly used at the time, employing gentler strategies for others with psychiatric illnesses.
Located on the leafy Cheadle border, it was destined for the middle and upper categories of society and, unlike poor asylums, accepted voluntary patients; in fact, it’s the first known asylum to do so.
The call was replaced in 1902 to Cheadle Royal Hospital in order to stigma related to the terminology used in its former nickcall, and at this point it was one of the largest hospitals of its kind in the country.
South House built in 1937, originally used as accommodation for hospital staff.
And in 2010, most of the hospital’s main site was incorporated into priory Group, a personal hospital that provides comprehensive hospital care.
However, South House never joined the new site. He left on the outskirts of the hospital, the construction victim of time, the elements and the vandalos.
Evidence of the many nurses who once ran down the winding corridors disappeared a long time ago, with comforts and accessories torn over the years. Now, a popular position for urban explorers, the giant reinforcing space is nothing more than a shell of itself.
Stockport photographer Scott Bradley, who runs Phukin Photos, documented what’s left of the construction after the site for a session with a local group.
He said: “I went to do a photoshoot for a band called World Held Hostage. I didn’t have the concept that it existed even until the band told me about it.
“It was completely destroyed inside, many floors and ceilings had fallen and the giant portions were dangerous.
“Honestly, I was surprised by the number of other other people’s teams that were there to explore.
Very little remains on the surface of the old retirement home, abandoned for a quarter of a century.
Construction is closed to the public and on personal land, which means that access to the site is prohibited; however, Scott’s photographs give a rare insight into the old construction.
You can see more of Scott’s paintings here.
Known as the House of the South, it is only a shell after years of abandonment.
The abandoned construction component of a hospital with a pioneering history
All that’s left of South House is the building’s exterior envelope.
Nature recovers a giant from the building
A ruined corridor
The interior of the construction absolutely stripped through vandalos.
The design is in a damaging condition, with a roof missing and foliage seeping through the walls
Brightly colored graffiti now beautifies the walls of the old medical building
Large portions of the roof are missing
Some walls have disappeared
South House is out of reach of the public
Although some of the original tiles are intact, the windows are damaged and the floor destroyed.
Large portions of the floors have collapsed inwards, much of the design has been seriously broken over the years.
Graffiti on the interior walls of South House
Graffiti With Stencil
A scene