800 Comments for Great Barr Colony (St Margaret's Hospital)

I spent a night in here with a few friends the once and i have to say ive never been so scared in my entire life, but i must admit whats left of the ceiling in one of the rooms is absolutley beautiful!

See i spent alot of my summer of 2004/5 here it creeped me out every time, we found the christmas cards, the old beds and wheelchairs, pretty eerie stuff tbh.

good work solomon92.walsall council have a lot to answer to regarding the state of the hall anyway, i guess we all would like to know , is it getting restored ???

amazing! although ive visited the site many times i never got into this building so its great to finally see it from the inside. Such a shame the site is now just full of awful newbuild 'shoebox' buildings!

wow expatbrummy - sounds like u actually were there when it was in operation?

i live nearby this place and remember in the latter days having a couple of characters who were often wandering around the area whom were said by local kids to be residents at 'maggies' .

I used to go and nose around often after the hospital closed. It was like time just stood still one day and you still felt like the resident of the room you were in would come and catch you any minute!

The damage was not to the extent shown or described here when i used to explore the place as a kid. Then it was eerie - Id find personal belongings, clothes, beds, wheelchairs etc i even found a collection of christmas cards and drawings.

I kinda gave up going when the security stepped up last went in around 2001/2002 - didnt fancy gettin chased by dogs! Shame i never thought to take a camera huh?!

Hi all, just a bit of a small update, I've managed to find out who now owns the hall and that Walsall Council are involved, I've been told the council are keeping a close eye on what is being done to the hall but only time will tell how close an eye!! I'm still on the case though and will carry on with the info hunt.

btw I love abandoned asylums, hope to see waverly hills (louisville Ky) on here soon. Motts 4 prez

to the fake a$s security guard wanna-be, I live in the US, (Va to be exact), but you make me wanna come over there and feed you to youre own dog (trust me I'am his pack leader). Youre such a joke I'd bet not even a real security guard, just a wanna-be talkin shite

it looks like a soap dispencer to me

Hi Blue Lamp, what David Salt wrote is correct. What you have to remember, although it was cramped, and horrible really. If you have ever seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest, well, it had a little authenticity about it, patients kept drugged to keep them quiet was accurate but not a lot else. Very few of the residents were sane enough or had the mental capacity to know anything was wrong and could not even dress themselves. Many would scream day and night like savage animals.

Dean t's comments were so accurate of the place. I felt compelled to go and help those helpless souls. Many were abandoned because of birth defects, hidden from society by their parents. It was a very sad place, but there were many people, including me, who tried to bring some joy to the lives of those poor helpless creatures, often left by staff to lie on excercise type mats all day, without ever talking to them. Some of the happiest and saddest days of my life. Thanks for your wonderful pictures.

This was one of several kitchen areas on the wards, all basically the same. We used to prepare some awful slop of weetabix and hot milk for the children who were incapable of chewing or feeding themselves, in these kitchens, your picture took me right back there and to the smell of that stuff which I hate to this day, almost 35 years later.

You are correct about the children's wards. I was a volunteer there for 9 years and this wonderful picture took me back to the many times I walked that exact path. The bitter sweet memories of many children no longer with us. Thank you for such evocotive memories of a place I loved to go

sorry , meant guard !

last time i went over there saw house covered in scaffolding and securitied up gaurd an all ! 3 months ago