St Luke’s Mortuary - Bradford
We found ourselves in the center of Bradford one bitterly cold morning, the plan was to explore the vast ‘Beck Valley’ drain system, But first we decided to check out a pin we had for a recently abandoned Mortuary. It resided on a live hospital site and despite it being an early Sunday morning the place was teaming with NHS workers and contractors, we parked up down the road with the place in sight and watched as a constant steady flow of people made their commute one after the other. It seemed as though the foot traffic would only get busier as the morning continued to pass, the only option was to just go for it and hope the passing people were too busy looking down at their phone or eager to get to the destination to notice two blokes looking at a derelict building.
After a few laps around the perimeter it seemed as though the place was sealed tight, we re-grouped away from the site and noticed there were sky lights on the roof. We went back to the car and got the ladder out and in full view of the surrounding area both climbed onto the exposed roof and noticed a gap in one of the sky lights large enough to squeeze through that had presumably been moved by contractors. This would have been more convenient with some Hi Vis jackets as demolition work had already begun so to most passing folk it would just look like some early start contractors at work but unfortunately due to our original drainage plans we didn't have any to hand.
The speed and efficiency in which we gained access was quite good but knowing we'd definitely been seen by people we decided not to hang around. Once inside there wasn't any immediate response to our shenanigans so anxiety did lift slightly. It was clear that demo work had recently begun with smashed ceiling tiles littering the floor. Remnants of its past use were still present, the mortuary cabinet vacant of its racking, a hydraulic trolley and morticians tools yet to be cleared and a detailed catalogue of dissected body parts with personal information were enough to make us both uneasy.
It's a bit sad how something like this can just be left behind with such disregard for its sensitivity, I didn't take any photos of it due to its nature. The chapel of rest was quite intact but very dark due to all of the natural light being boarded up. After around half an hour we were sure no one was coming but on the off chance that contractors could be working on a sunday we decided to leave before finding out.
History
“The main hospital opened in 1870 as the new Bradford Union Workhouse then re opened in 1898 as a mental institution called 'The Cleveland asylum'. During the first world war the hospital had around 1700 beds and would only increase with the second world war becoming more apparent. During the battle for Dunkirk 192 seriously wounded soldiers were brought to the hospital straight from the front line. The modern hospital is smaller in comparison to the 19th century, There was a separate mortuary for patients who died within the mental institution. Attempts to list the building in 1995 and 2009 failed and it has stood derelict since 2010. After years of complaints from locals the council recently decided to demolish the building after numerous complaints of theft and arson.”
