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All the United Kingdom Wales Ruthin Pool Park Asylum
AO Edited

Pool Park Asylum

This abandoned asylum in Wales might look haunted, but it's still beautiful.

Ruthin, Wales

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Catherine Jackson
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Inside the Pool Park Asylum   Catherine Jackson Photography
The wooden staircase   Catherine Jackson Photography
The Pool Park Asylum   Catherine Jackson Photography
An abandoned corridor   Catherine Jackson Photography
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About

Pool Park Asylum at Clawddnewydd, near Ruthin, has stood abandoned since closing in 1990. Like any good abandoned asylum, it’s damp, dilapidated, and deathly silent.

The estate of Pool Park (spelled Parc in Welsh) began as a deer park for the nearby Ruthin Castle. Following its time as a hunting ground, the property was passed between a series of wealthy landowners. The elegant mock-Tudor style manor house that still stands today was constructed in 1862 for the second Lord Bagot.

In 1937, the house was sold to the North Wales Counties Mental Hospital, which was in need of a second location to house overflow patients from the nearby Denbigh Insane Asylum (the super haunted one with all the cages and lobotomies). Pool Park held 87 patients at capacity, but in times of need had as many as 120. For a brief stint of time during World War II, the grounds also held a prisoner of war camp.

Today, the solid wooden floors and intricate wood paneling have rotted due to water damage. The house has been looted for lead and copper, and its ceilings are dripping water and shedding plaster. You’ll be hard-pressed to find an intact window. However, a beautiful old staircase still remains, spilling down two flights of stairs into a grand entrance hall - a real pleasure, despite the debris.

 

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Abandoned Insane Asylums Abandoned Stairs

Know Before You Go

The road leading off the main road to the asylum is festooned with signs prohibiting access.

At the locked asylum gate, there are warnings that the land is private and covered by CCTV. 

Community Contributors

Added By

Catherine

Edited By

hana, Molly McBride Jacobson, AdamTKincaid, jooniur...

  • hana
  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • AdamTKincaid
  • jooniur
  • Ess Wingz

Published

October 15, 2015

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Sources
  • http://www.jarrelook.co.uk/Urbex/Pool%20Park%20Asylum/Pool_Park.htm
  • http://www.oblivionstate.com/forum/showthread.php/6459-Pool-Park-Hospital-Ruthin-Wales-(Jan-2011-)-2013
  • http://www.bcd-urbex.com/pool-park-hospital-ruthin-wales/
  • http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-16795922
  • https://www.flickr.com/photos/cathjackson/sets/72157644862519009/
  • http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2982467/Inside-asylum-Eerie-pictures-abandoned-psychiatric-hospital-patients-caged-lobotomised.html
Pool Park Asylum
Ruthin, Wales, LL15 2LW
United Kingdom
53.100362, -3.33496

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