Chilling photographs have exposed a rotting hospital ward where baths and beds lie abandoned amid crumbling walls and flaking paint. The spine-tingling snaps were taken inside Scott House, one of the final derelict structures at the former West Park Hospital in Epsom, Surrey.
Its deserted rooms are filled with corroding medical equipment, patient beds and a large therapeutic bath, while nature has started to reclaim the exterior.
A Historic Institution's Decline
West Park was constructed by London County Council as the fifth and final facility in the enormous Epsom Hospital Cluster. Building work commenced before the First World War but was halted when the partially finished complex was commandeered by the Canadian military. It officially opened as West Park Mental Hospital on 20 June 1924 and was fully finished two years later.
The vast 83.5-acre site housed 45 wards, 1.5 miles of service tunnels and accommodation for 2,096 psychiatric patients. Its population is believed to have risen to roughly 2,500 during the Second World War following the transfer of hundreds of patients from nearby Horton Hospital.
Inside the Decaying Scott House
Scott House initially formed the male wing of an isolation hospital treating patients with tuberculosis and dysentery. It was subsequently used for physiotherapy and ultimately became a storage facility during the hospital's closing years.
An urban explorer known online as SeanUrbex ventured into the dilapidated building and discovered much of its medical furniture still inside. Sean noted that portions of the roof and adjacent walls had already given way. He was especially taken aback to discover patient furnishings still present despite the building's advanced state of decay.
Closure and Redevelopment
West Park became part of the NHS in 1948 but started to decline as Britain shifted away from large, long-term psychiatric institutions towards care in the community. The principal hospital shut its doors in 2002, though certain healthcare facilities carried on operating in other areas of the broader site.
Clearance and redevelopment commenced in 2010, with a number of historic structures preserved and transformed into residential properties as part of the Noble Park scheme. Scott House survived the primary demolition but has steadily fallen into further disrepair in the intervening years.
