Another installment in our series on abandoned places in the world.
1. High Royds Asylum, Menston, United Kingdom
The High Royds Psychiatric Hospital first opened its doors on October 8th, 1888. Designed by architect J. Vickers-Edwards, High Royds is one of the last surviving hospitals built using the broad-arrow echelon-plan (e.g. the arrangement of wards, services, and offices built within easy reach of each other via a network of interconnecting corridors). Before closing in 2003, the site operated like a small self-contained village and included a library, butchers, upholsterers, a ballroom, a dispensary, cobblers and a railway. A number of the buildings are slowly being converted into posh residences.
2. Ship Cemetery, Nouadhibou Bay, Mauritania
If you ever wondered where ships go to die, then look no further than Mauritania’s Bay of Nouadhibou. The stockpile of over 500 crumbling ships was decades in the making. Owing both to the city’s widespread poverty and ship owner’s hankering for alternative (read cheap) ways of off-loading obsolete fleet, Mauritanian habour officials were easily bribed with cash payments. In 2008, an EU-funded depollution effort began with the aim of removing 55 wrecks.
3. Land of Makebelieve, Upper Jay, New York
Land of Makebelieve in Upper Jay, New York was owned and operated by park pioneer Arto Monaco. Opened in 1954 and based on Mother Goose rhymes and Aesop’s fables, the park’s buildings and rides were sized for children. Built on the flood plain of the Ausable River, the amusement park was closed in 1979 and destroyed by Tropical Storm Irene on August 28th, 2011. Many thanks to Lastcigaretteme for this discovery.
4. Castle Wolvenhof, Belgium
Nicknamed by urban explorers as “Château du Loup,” Castle Wolvenhof was designed in 1913 by Jules Vercoutere for industrialist Gaspard Vanden Bogaerde. Overlooking a large park near Izegem, the castle and nearby caretaker apartment building were declared as protected monuments in 2001.
5. Kayakoy, Turkey
Kayakoy, Turkey was once home to an active Greek community with two schools, two churches, and over 1,500 homes. However, following the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922, an agreement between the Turkish and Greek governments was signed providing for the simultaneous expulsion of Muslims from Greece to Turkey and Christian Orthodox from Turkey to Greece. The abandoned town, which dates back to the 15th century, has since become a major tourist attraction protected by the Turkish government.
For previous entries, please click here.
