During the 1960's attitudes to mental health were changing again and for the first time the very existence of the large mental hospitals was questioned. Increased use of drug therapies allowed Enoch Powell the then Minister of Health to outline plans for the closure of the dedicated Mental Hospitals and there replacement with smaller units attached to general hospitals. Although a lack of finance and political will meant these changes never materialised on a national scale, at Menston the spirit of change brought the hospital its final name when in 1963 it became High Royds Hospital, along with the new name the ward numbers were abandoned in favor of the names taken from villages in the Yorkshire dales such as Norwood, Burnsall, Litton, Beamsley, Clifton and Denton.

Although the 1960's plans never came to fruition the following decades saw the slow decline of the Mental Hospital system. in 1970's the farms were sold off bringing an end to patents opportunities to work out side the hospital. A series of scandals concerning patient mistreatment at other hospitals during the decade cast a shadow over the entire mental health system. Attitudes to the treatment of mental illness began to shift resulting in the move towards care in the community with patients supervised by community psychiatric nurses and social workers, supported by a network of clinics in health centers, day centers and sheltered housing schemes along with acute psychiatric wards attached to general hospitals. These changes brought about the closure of many of the large victorian mental hospitals. High Royds itself survived this first wave of closures but the writing was on the wall.

Since the end of filming at the former hospital a major redevelopment project has been underway to transform the site into High Royds Village a complex of luxury Apartments. By December of 2007 the first phase of this development was complete involving the transformation of two ward blocks, the lull in building work presented the ideal opportunity from myself and many others the chance to visit the grand buildings. In the weeks leading up to my visit High Royds had been heavily covered by other urban explorers so i was quite familiar with sights to be seen within the hospital. My trip to High Royds came on a chilly day early in December in the company of two fellow explorers from the Leeds area. I had already had a sneak peek of the hospital the evening before on a drive around the perimeter with my host but in mist of morning the hospital was even more impressive.

Arriving on site we quickly made our way to the perimeter fence we easily slipped through and made our way to the nearest unconverted block of wards in side the four wards had been stripped of their furnishings and the few remaining hardwood doors were lying around detached from the walls. The amount of light pouring in through the south facing windows even on a dull winters day made them feel warm and homely. Although the wards we were standing in were among the first to close and stripped out some of the paper work from the ward's last year was found lying in a corner.

From the ward block we made our way on to the main corridor system, at first i was slightly disappointed by this first corridor it's walls covered in thick yellow paint with a false plastic drop ceiling and lino tiles were a far cry from the fantastic mosaic floors and tiled walls i knew lay ahead. Turning a corner in the main corridor we came across a flight of steps changing the level of the corridor divided by a central cast iron and mahogany hand rail. this was first time i realised the hospital is built on a slope to the east the various ward blocks lay at three different elevations. At the end of the corridor a locked set of double doors lead into the central admin complex linking to the famous gated corridor. It was sad to see that some previous visitor has gained access to this area by bashing a panel out of this quality oak door, Especially as the whole admin complex can be accessed easily and discretely without vandalism by another route. As the damage has already been done we did take advantage of this access point and moved through into the gated corridor where i was to get my first view of the fabulous tiles and mosaic i had expected, although in this corridor your attention is immediately drawn to a arch shaped cast iron gate across the entire corridor still locked with a padlock today. This Gate is reminiscent of images from a contemporary prison but it is not there to lock patients in but simply to keep those on route from the east side wards into admin away from a store rooms. Just on the other side of the gate is a small store containing harmful chemicals and sharp gardening tools used in maintaining the grounds.

From the gated corridor we moved on to a T junction of corridors where the full splendor of the decorations in Admin begins small marble fragments in black gray and white decorate the floor in a bordered crazy patching pattern now and again featuring a black daisy motif. The walls and door frames decorated by fine glazed tiles in terra cotta, lapus blue and sea green. While the ceiling is vaulted in painted wood, the only disappointment in this part of the hospital comes from the vandalism it has suffered. The pause in conversion work han not only made it easier for the explorer to visit but also for the lead thief to steal form the hospital's roof. One in particular has all but stripped the lead for the roof of the administration building leaving rain water pouring in through the roof collecting in puddles on the mosaic floor. this area of Admin contained the former union offices which were lined with wooden book shelves and filing cabinets some still containing health and safety and union booklets.

Briefly leaving the corridors of admin behind we moved through the kitchen out into the stores building a modern sign told us that these had been recently used as a gymnasium although the main room on the first floor was bare a small side office contained a file draw full of the hospitals engineering and maintenance records. We had to pause for a little while in this area workers out side the window using Hyman to move new plumbing pipes around cause me hit the deck and crawl from the room to avoid detection. Down in the basement of the stores building we found hundreds of replacement tiles of the all shapes and colors used to decorated admin they may have laid here deep in the basement since the hospital first opened awaiting a time when they might be needed to repair some damage to the corridor walls. The basement also lead through to and sealed section of the hospital along side the kitchen area, a sign told us that this was once the male changing area its rooms were thick with cobwebs and dust it had obviously been undisturbed for some time. On its floor laid some abandoned patient art dated in the late 90's along with out of date surgical supplies. Leaving the basement we moved up in to the first floor main store room, its wall lined with deep blue shelved the labels marking out where every thing from drug records and restrain forms to christmas trees and toilet brushes were once stored. the store room was dominated by two large skylights in the vaulted roof which let a great deal of day light beneath these in the floor were cast iron grids holding thick glass tiles which allowed light to flow to the floor below.

From the stores building we again returned to the admin block this time we made straight for the main hall. Entering from the back of the stage i made my way down on to the floor of the hall, ever since i saw the first photos of the main hall taken by Dweeb and Turk over a year ago it has been one of my favorite Asylum halls, and in real life it exceeded my expectations. even though some of the ceiling panels are missing i love deep yellow color with its dark blue and white lining. From the Main hall it was out in to the main entrance corridor where the damage done by the lead thief is even more obvious a high cupola skylight has been totally stripped of its lead and water is pouring though this area, the lonely war memorial was under a torrent of rain water pouring over its surface. While in this area we visited the main office which still contained the switchboard equipment and the phone numbers of the various wards and doctors during the hospitals last days. Next door was the board room with its marvelous plaster ceiling in its dated 70's wall papers you can make out the faded impression where a oil painting of the hospital once hung it is said it was placed there to remind the hospitals administrators of the original ideals the Asylum stood for.

The next stop was clock tower ascending the magnificent main stair case we moved past the doctors and medical directors offices to a small back room through a non descript door and we were at the foot of the first of many stair cases which would take us up to the clock mechanism. after a few bare and empty floors we emerged into a brightly lit room illuminated by the four great clock faces inset into the walls. we stayed here a little while having a quick snack and i took the opportunity to spend some time investigating the clock mechanism. The original cogs and shafts for driving the four sets of clock hands simultaneously was still in place along with the frame work of the original clock, although this had been replaced by a compact modern clock mechanism some time in the 1970's amazingly this was made by the same clockmaker as the original mechanism fitted in 1885.

From the clock tower we made our way out of admin back it to the cold and rain, our next destination was the double corridor where two of the link corridors converge at a dramatic angle this part of the hospital was featured prominently in the film Asylum. we soon discovered that the way into the double corridor had been secured to we moved on to cover some of the remaining wards on the west side of the hospital. The first ward we entered was completely stripped again but had obviously been used in one productions filmed here part of the ward was fitted out as general hospital ward while another featured a mock children's ward complete with boxes of drug samples presumably used as props. We then moved on it the secure unit ward which had a completely different feel where the Nightingale wards benefited from wide bay windows bathed in light the secure wards had a series of small secure private room built across the windows leaving the ward and the seclusion rooms feeling dark and oppressive. Each of these rooms were fitted with heavy duty doors each with a small glass window with enclosed Venetian blind operated from the out side very similar to the door i had previously seen at Cardiff Royal Infirmary.

Leaving the wards we were back on to the main corridor system passing through some i recognised from No Angels, we made our way back towards the double corridor although a sealed internal door meant that the junction could not be reached from inside the hospital we could see though the internal door that some of the boarding on the corridor had been removed during the time we spent in the wards we immediately made the decision to head back there. Stopping on route to visit the almost intact pharmacy along with a small office and anti room nearby which we assumed could once have been the dentists, Some dental equipment remained in a cupboard in the corner and there was a small waiting area in the corridor outside.

Once back outside we our way back round to the double corridor finding the removed bored left lying on the ground, we took advantage of the opportunity to pop inside for a few photos before replacing the boarding. The final stop of the day was the mortuary we had to carefully make our way around the outside of the hospital by this time the light was failing and we only had short time to view the mortuary due to the coverage it has received i know exactly what was waiting in side but the large marble slab is the first intact one i have seen in person and made for quite an experience viewing it as the sun rapidly set through the mortuary's large windows.