17/04/2002 Entry: "Cane Hill Maps"

Quick one this, two new pics with some explanation. These are just temporary, I am going to do some proper cleaning up and higher resolution versions of these later.

First up is the original ground floor map. This is how the hospital was in 1883 when it was opened. You can see the curved corridor with the central administration and services block. Sorry if it is hard to read - the original is little better, and I am going to make a decent map before I waste 500k of space on a high resolution one.

The second map is slightly more interesting. Essentially I took a reasonably high resolution aerial photo of Cane Hill and then overlayed the original map - so it is easy to see how it has changed. Keep in mind that we don't have a full map of the place.

The letters on it are as follows (best to open the image in another window, right click - I'll give you the choice):

• a - these are the two concrete ward blocks which are well preserved, contain lifts, and possibly dwellers.
• b - This is the old nurses home, before it was moved to the entirely separate building in the sixties
• c - This is the huge chapel, much bigger than an average church, with stained glass windows and all the fittings. Just below this is the front entrance and magnificent clock tower.
• d - This is the auditorium, the large hall where films could be shown and plays performed. Just above it are the huge kitchens, with a walk in fridge and disturbing graffitti.
• e - This is the laundry which still has some equipment in it, washing machine 8 feet in diameter, a roller press 30 feet across, and some old patients clothes. Just below this is the stores, where you will find one of the most unsettling sights in the hospital (more of this another time).
• f - This is the boiler room, with it's chimney reaching almost as high as the tower, asbestos clad boilers, and entrance to the tunnels.Previously this was outside the fence, and we often visited, but the new fence stops this.
• g - Our much frequented entrance is in this area. Once we placed a voice activated dictaphone in the fireplace of the room you frist enter, to hear any other explorers (or otherwise). When we retrieved it a week later, the tape was used up. Sitting in the darkness on Lion Green car park, we listened. Again and again, all we heard was the distinctive noise of the passenger jets flying above - the dropping of undercarraiges, lowering of flaps, and throttling back. I had set the sensitivity too high. Fast forwarding, we jumped when we heard an ear piercing scream - which happened a few times. We put it down to the human like sound of foxes screaming, but hey, we could have been wrong....