Victorian Door Knobs Bronze Genuine Highroyds Asylum Kaye\'s of Leeds circa 1880
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Victorian Door Knobs Bronze Genuine Highroyds Asylum Kaye\'s of Leeds circa 1880:
$205.15
What can I say?
As impressive as any bronze sculpture (well to me)
125 years ago these were being screwed onto the newly finished Highroydsmental institution in Menston near Leeds.
Many of the original buildings were demolished but they did save quite a few including the superb building housing the iconic clock tower - a local landmark and the administration offices of the Asylum. Aptly \'Asylum\' the dark, atmospheric and erotic \'film noir\' starring Ian McKellen and Natasha Richardson was shot here and if you watch it carefully you can catch a glimpse of these century old classics.
The local company of Kaye\'s made virtually all the door furniture - they had already fitted out Stanley Royd Asylum in Wakefield several years earlier and they used the identical type.
Personally I think Kaye\'s were Britain\'s best manufacturer of quality door furniture with Gibbons of Wolverhampton a close second but Gibbons were a more prolific manufacturer and being closer to the capital got more orders. But best or not there are not many Kaye\'s knobs around.
In 2003 the old Asylum closed but many of the buildings on the site had been closed years before and some were already derelict and heavily vandalised. When the developers arrived they were very lax and seemingly out of their depth for such an historic renovation and consequently replaced lots of things that they ought to have conserved. They were equally casual (at first) when it came to internal security and even their own workers wereguilty of thieving scrap metal - especially lead from the roofs. I met 2 guys (at a car boot) who boasted that they were paid to work at the site during the day and then worked for themselves during the night. They had a big bag of doorknobs ready to weigh in - all but a few had been smashed off with a hammer! For several years the developers wouldn\'t allow anyone in - ostensibly for Health and Safety reasons but it soon became clear that the interior was deteriorating rapidly due to the ingress of water and the irreverent and irresponsible treatment by the developers themselves. Such criminal negligence was obviously an embarrassment and the developers, desperate to avoid criticism, tried to blame vandals and scrap thieves. Truth is the security was tightened before all this and it was obvious that the culprits were \'insiders.\'
The famous World War One bronze plaque situated at the confluence of several corridors was also stolen - such a sacrilegious crime was not even reported by the developers it was reported to the police by an urban explorer - who shall remain nameless! I think the unscrupulous Bradford piky\'s presented it to the equally unscrupulous Bradford scrap dealers and it was either melted down or it is hung with misbegotten pride in some piky caravan.
I have unashameably copied and pasted from Wikipedia (see below)
High Royds Hospitalis a formerpsychiatric hospitalsouth of the village ofMenston,West Yorkshire, England.
The hospital is located within in theCity of Leedsmetropolitan borough and was first opened on 8 October 1888 as theWest RidingPauper Lunatic Asylum. The hospital closed in 2003 and the site has since been developed for residential use, some of which is in the old hospital buildings.
Contents- Design and construction
- Facilities
- Decline and closure
- High Royds in popular culture
- References
- External links
The hospital was designed on the broad arrow plan by architect J. Vickers Edwards.[citation needed]The 300 acre (1.2 km²) estate on which the asylum was built was purchased by the West Riding Justices for £18,000 in 1885 and the large gothic complex of stone buildings was formally opened on 8 October 1888.
The administration building, which isGrade II listed, features an Italian mosaic floor in the main corridor which is intricately decorated with the Yorkshire Rose and black daisies - the latter of which provided inspiration for the title ofBlack Daisiesa television screenplay, filmed at High Royds, which took as its subject the experiences of sufferers ofAlzheimersdisease.[citation needed]
FacilitiesEditThe hospital was intended to be largely self-sufficient, and was provided with its own library, surgery, dispensary, butchery, dairies, bakery, shop, upholster\'s and cobbler\'s workshops and a large estate partly devoted to agriculture and market gardening. The patients lived in wards and if they were able, were expected to work towards their keep either on the farm, in the kitchens and laundry, or in various handicrafts. The hospital was formerly connected to theWharfedale railway lineby its own small railway system, theHigh Royds Hospital Railway, but this was closed in 1951.[1]
Decline and closureEditIn its final years of operation, High Royds had become outdated and unsuited to modern psychiatric practice.[according to whom?]As part of Leeds Mental Health\'s £47 million reprovision process it was closed, with the wards being relocated to various community mental health units within the city of Leeds in the three years leading up to its closure. These include the Becklin Centre inSt James\' Hospitalandthe Mountin the city centre. The hospital was closed in stages between 25 February 2003 and June of the same year.
As of 2011, the site was being redeveloped as a new village, also called High Royds, retaining some features of the hospital such as the ballroom and the clock tower.[citation needed]
High Royds in popular cultureEditSince its closure, the site has been used as a film set for the filmAsylum, as well as for the successful television seriesNo AngelsandBodies.[2]
The dramaDiamond GeezerstarringDavid Jasonwhich aired onITV1in March 2005 was also partly shot at High Royds.
Leeds bandKaiser Chiefshave written a song (\"Highroyds\") about the former hospital. Three of the band (Nick Hodgson,Nick \'Peanut\' BainesandSimon Rix) used to attendSt. Mary\'s Catholic High School, the school that faces High Royds Hospital.
The bandKasabiannamed their third album,West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum[sic], after the hospital after hearing about it on a TV documentary.[3]
ReferencesEdit- ^The Railways of Wharfedale, Peter E. Baughan (1969) David & Charles (Publishers) Ltd
- ^\"Martin Cook-Lights, Camera, Action\". Retrieved4 July2014.
- ^\"Sergio\'s track by track guide\". Retrieved4 July2014.
- High Royds Historical Archive
- High Royds Village
Victorian Door Knobs Bronze Genuine Highroyds Asylum Kaye\'s of Leeds circa 1880:
$205.15