High Royds Hospital

High Royds Hospital was part of a group of four that came under the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, as it was so affectionately known in Victorian times. Opened on the 8th October 1888 the hospital was intended to be self-sufficient with those who were able, expected to work within the grounds.
The grade II listed administration building features an intricate mosaic Italian floor decorated with the Yorkshire rose and black daisies, the latter of which would inspire the title of a tv drama filmed at the hospital. Famous bands The Kaiser Chiefs and Kasabian also named a song and an album after the legend. The gothic buildings are now nearly all housing.

I missed this visit the first time round as I'd really not seen anything interesting from the pictures I'd already seen of the place and hadn't been bothered, choosing another explore that day instead. Fast forward a year or so and I get a phone call one midnight from a friend saying he was in there and just how big it was. "Eh? It's just a couple of corridors isn't it?" was my reply, having been misinformed that it had all been converted to housing. So the following day I went with said friend and completely fell in love with the place. Sometimes the history, architecture, decay and tales of a place can really reel you in and all these things grabbed me and over the course of the next month I covered as much of what was left as possible. The strangest thing was a pure white ferral kitten that jumped out on us on most of our visits, which was very surreal/Alice-In-Wonderland-esque!