Leybourne Grange Mental Asylum

Here is a video of photos i took on my recent visit to Leybourne Grange Mental Asylum. The site is only 10 minute drive from my house and is very interesting. The whole place has a very eerie feel to it and from what I read this was the case when it was in use also.

Here is a bit of History on the Hospital.

Located beside the M20 near Maidstone, sits a large 270 acre plot of land, very well hidden by trees. The trees are said to have been used to oxygenate the air making a better environment for the patients of Leybourne Grange Hospital. The hospital which once accommodated for a huge 1200 patients is now disused and left to decay. Some parts of the hospital have been demolished since it shut in 1996. The hospital had opened in 1936 and was used for sixty years. Also located on the site is a beautiful manor house. The hospital was built as a colony for mental defective persons by Kent county council utilising an existing estate and the manor house. In 1948 the National Health Service took ownership of Leybourne grange and it became known as a subnormality hospital for the mental and handicap. The site now sits dead and lifeless. The grounds are beautiful and would make a great national park but instead there is planning permission to build 700 new houses and convert the manor house. Some of the buildings had been demolished on this visit and all had been pretty stripped but there is still around 6 buildings standing, the main two being the manor house and the nursing block. There is also a very impressive clock tower.

From what I’ve read on varies website some patients there were mistreated. One example of this is a nurse who handcuffed patients to the radiators and left them for hours. Also a lot has been mentioned of patients going missing under “unexplainable” circumstances. I have read a lot about the basement area of the manor house about patients being locked in there and not always coming back out. Construction workers who are on site at the moment have said to seen ghost, so much so they have named one.

I have another better quality video with a different sound track on Vimeo. Unfortunaly wordpress doesn’t support there coding though so follow the link bellow.

http://vimeo.com/11464706

Ultimate Dubs 2010

Once again the Ultimate Dubs didn’t disappoint as the show season opener. The quality of the cars inside were as good as ever. I felt the outside stands were lacking a little. Don’t get me wrong there were some excellent cars outside, but as a whole the standard had fell slightly from last year. The amount of outside stands was also disappointing with a lot of spare room towards the back of the small carpark directly in front of the international centre.  (very annoying for all of us at Torque VW as we missed out on getting a stand and was told all spaces had gone)

The weather was good and we were able to enjoy a nice cold pint on the terrace with brief spurts of sun shine whilst looking out over the car park full of Dubs. Next year I defiantly want to say the night in the hotel to get the full Ultimate Dubs experience along with a nice hangover for the Sunday.

Have to say a big thanks to Chris for picking me up and giving me a lift,

Now I will let the photos do the talking. A picture is worth a thousand words after all.

Maths

After getting bored of doing some maths revision, decided to get the camera out and take some random photos in my flat at university.

Coventry Pt2

So after going out last night with my camera, decided to get some more today when there was more light, I forgot to pick up my tripod though. Heres the best shots.

Coventry

A few shots from around coventry this evening.

Turtles

These are my turtles called Leonardo and Michelangelo, I was bored one evening so decides to take some photos of them in their tank.

Go Karting

A mate asked me to photograph him whilst racing his go kart at Bayford Meadows go karting circuit in Sittingbourne.

Dubs in the snow

So early last month me and a friend decided to go out so I could get some photos of his Corrado before being joined by another friend in his R32 when it started to snow. After we decided it was to cold to be standing out in the wind and snow we retreated to the pub for a pint. End to a perfect afternoon i think.  Here’s the photos.

British Grand Prix 2009

These are my photos from the British Grand Prix 2009 at Silverstone,

Alias

Photo’s from Kasbah January 2010, This is my friends band Alias, taken whilst they were doing a sound check for their headline gig that night. This was one of my first time taking pictures inside a night club environment. The lighting in kasbah wasn’t good, but managed to get a few shots. I wanted to try avoid using the flash to give the photos more depth.