A ward at Surrey County Lunatic Asylum at Cane Hill Hospital (Picture: Mark Davies/Guzilian)

With names such as West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, it doesn’t take much to imagine of the suffering within Victorian psychiatric hospitals.

But a new book showing the derelict interiors of the buildings that once housed forgotten and wretched souls adds a fresh and creepy perspective.

Called simply Asylum, the book is the work of photographer Mark Davis, who has spent over six years travelling to abandoned former mental institutions, which some have since been demolished.

Apart from the West Riding hospital, Davis also visited the Staffordshire County Asylum, North Wales County Pauper Asylum and West Park Mental Hospital.




His work led him to research each venue and their histories.

If you thought dentists’ surgeries were scary enough… (Picture: Mark Davis/ Guzelian)

How is this table being supported at the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum? (Picture: Mark Davis/Guzelian)

He said: ‘These buildings and its patients were often hidden from the public. What is most shocking about these places is the fact the people actually seemed quite normal.

‘You only hear of the most grotesque of cases but many people committed to asylums were in there suffering from illnesses such as depression due to loss of a husband or even there job.

‘To make these situations even more harrowing to hear is that once a person entered one of the asylums, it was very likely they would not come out even when cured.’

A common area at West Park Mental Hospital, Surrey (Picture: Mark Davis/Guzelian)

A grand room at the East Sussex County Pauper Lunatic Asylum at Hellingley Hospital (Picture: Mark Davis/Guzelian)

According to Mr Davis, many of the patients were kept in the hospitals if they had useful skills, such as tailors or builders – because their work was free labour.

In 1914, there were 102 asylums across Britain, and Mr Davis said many were beautifully designed.

From the roof of Eglington Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Cork, Ireland (Picture: Mark Davis/Guzelian)

The grounds of North Wales County Pauper Lunatic Asylum at North Wales Hospital (Picture: Mark Davis/Guzelian)

Mr Davis said: ‘Many of the patients at these asylums came from poor backgrounds, so when they arrived in such places as West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, who really went to town with the design and mosaics, they were humbled by being there and would do as they were told just to stay.”

The book, which is published by Amberley and also written by Mark Davis, is now available.

A record player at North Wales County Pauper Lunatic Asylum at North Wales Hospital (Picture: Mark Davis/Guzelian)

A corridor bath at East Sussex County Pauper Lunatic Asylum at Hellingley Hospital (Picture: Mark Davis/Guzelian)

A wheelchair at North Wales County Pauper Lunatic Asylum at North Wales Hospital (Picture: Mark Davis/Guzelian)