Severalls Mental Asylum, Colchester, May 2011.

 I've been to Severalls on a few different occasions over the years but due to it's immense size I always found myself  pushing forward eagerly wanting to see as much as possible in the time available. Although the outcome was that I never found the time to stop and take photos. But during this visit I swore I would spend some quality time trying to do just that.

The first Asylum in essex opened it's doors in 1853 but due to it becoming increasingly overcrowded the demand for a new asylum to be built was called for.
This prompted plans for a new asylum to be built on 300 acres of land in the parish of Mile End to the north of Colchester. Building work started in June 1910 and by 1913 The Second Essex County Asylum officially opened it's doors for the first time, During this period the patients where devided by gender. The male wards were on the western side of the asylum and the female wards on the eastern side. However it was not long before this was rearranged so that they were seperated based apon the severity of the patients mental condition.
17 years later The Second Essex County Asylum was officially renamed to Severalls Mental Hospital, During its darker days Severalls got slated for heaverly drugging patients and overcrowding, It also saw the introduction of elecroconvolsive theropy (ESP) and some more controversial treatments such as Leucotomy and Labotomy. These so called treatments even resorted in the unfortuante loss of few patients lifes.

For more info on the history of Severalls visit http://severallsmentalhospital.co.uk