Sunderland County Borough began construction of its own asylum during 1893, completed in 1895. The site chosen consisted of sloping land outside the village of Ryhope, with views across to the North Sea. George Hine was chosen as Architect and produced a compact arrow layout consisting of six blocks of wards and the usual facilities including combined recreation hall and chapel in the centre of the south elevations.
Other accomodation included a nurse’s block to the west, lodge cottage, terraced cottages for married attendants, a Superintendents residence, Isolation Hospital, and a villa block which was added in 1902. The administration block is notable for it’s unusual triangular plan. The building was designed on a compact arrow plan and constructed from red brick with stone dressings and slate roofs with distinctive caps over the bay windows, characteristic of Hine’s early commissions.
The main bulidings of the hospital closed in 1998 but some exterior buildings remain. The site has recently been protected by new fencing and metal bording. It’s only 10 years too late.
hi i met some folks who were patients a long time back and reported that they had an awful time at cherry knowle… from my experience though it was the same in St Mary’s and other similar hospitals… probably down to lack of understanding and lack of staff though… it scares me to think the government cut backs will affect the lives of people with mental health problems as there are some extremely vulnerable people and when staffing is cut it results in short cuts…
Hi am just wondering where abouts cherry knowles is I would love to go and have a look I just cant find anywhere on th internet that will tell me where it is x
my father, Kenneth Devlin, was kept in the so called cells, I cant remember too much about it but basically came out a hundred per cent worse than when he went in. After reading all the stories on this log i believe that there is still information about past patients undercovered on this site. In the near future i will be investigating and retrieving any relevant information possible…..watch this space !!!
Access was before the fence went up and security arrived. It’s much, much harder now.
some fab pics- How did u get access- Im gonna have a go. I grew up in Ryhope and remember cherry knockers very well. We used to sneak into the pictures, (they had film screenings on friday nights for the patients), I remember seeing psycho and Easy Rider there! we used to walk/sneak through the grounds regularly when we played in the dene, or going up to burden, often stopping to antagonise the pigs on the patients farm.
My Great Grandfather was a master stone mason.
I have a walking cane presented to him “By the Masons of Ryhope Asylum” in 1905. Could anyone throw any light on this?
Many Thanks
Paul.
it is true there is a underground passage underneath cherry knowles it was bluffed by staff as a service tunnel when i went down doing work on gas pipes in the late 80s every hair on the back of my neck stood up when i realised i was looking at a old types of cells i heard the real disturbed inmates were kept underground
in 1961 trained as a psych nurse at cherry knowles, and i,m pretty disappointed to the the remarks that the place was evil. i have nothing but fond memories of the patients there. i have worked in psych.hosps all round the world and have seen good and bad things,but at cherry i saw nothing but kindness and compassion.
George.
Hi,
im just enquireing about how you went baout getting permission to take your wonderful photos as i am having difficulty getting that information as this hospital is a wonderful place to take some Alt. shots.
please e-mail me thank you
nikki
The likely hood of a tour is next to zero. HSE for starters and secondly the whole derelict section is boarded/steal plated up.
I am very intrigued in the whole history of this institution and my curiousity is eager to be satisfied. I tried to go and visit the grounds yesterday and found that I could only go a fraction of the way in before getting restricted and having to turn back. As soon as I neared it though, I definately felt malicious eyes on me and, also, I heard whistling that I first presumed to be the wind, but as soon as I left, the whistling disappated as well. Whether Cherry Knowle is haunted or not is open to subjective interpretation, but I would love to have a tour of the remaining parts that are opened to make that interpretation for myself. Can anybody enlighten me as to whether a tour is possible? It will help in my Psychology course a lot. Thanks.
I live not far from the hospital and until the fence went up it was our favourite blackberry picking place. I know the grounds well and know members of staff who previously worked there at different times in the past; a secutity guard, an audery and a groundsman. They all say that they believe the place to have an attmosphere but that may be more due to the assosiations people make with old institutions and with what went on there. There are some ghost stories and there have been (fairly recently, since the close of the hospital) suicides in the grounds but there are a large amount of local kids who have been in and still find their way in (kind of a rite of passage round here) and no evidence or proof of any hauntings has really come to light. They do like to scare the bejesus out of each other though!
Jackie swift: as I remember there were a lot of records left at the hospital when it closed. I remember seeing them still in filling cabinets but that was a long time ago. Maybe if you contact the authority in charge of the hospital they may be able to help, however, there are strict rules on confidentiality and I’m not sure what the time limit is on opening medical files. Hope you find what you need.
If anyone wants to hear the stories I can put on the ones I know.
i visited there today, i didnt get in but it was quite foreboding, it looked haunted to me
to steve preece I wonder if you could help me ? i want to know if anyone can tell me how to get hold of records of patients of cherryknowles in the early 1900s i believe my grandfather dingwell bailry tate spent some time there you have scared me now if it was bad whenyou where a boy what was it like then ?
i remember cherry knowles . for the most as a young boy i use to visit my mother there ,who sufferd from bouts of mental illness most of her life , i remmember playing in the grounds as i was only around 8 years old at the time collecting acorns from the trees . if only i had known then what i know now about this evil place ,not that i could of done much about it at the age i was but now a grown man i fully understand what whent on there , my mother passed away 3 years ago now from cancer , carnt say this place did her any good at all . i understand some of the staff still practice the doctors and so called specalists if you can call them that you should all be shot , for what you did in that place , but at least my mother is at rest now god bless her .. .. {{ rest all you whant now mother }}
It’s just an empty building, like many other I explore. I don’t subscribe to the theory of buildings being haunted. It has a certain feel to it, but no more than any other building I’ve been in.
i have been told this place now is haunted i just want to know if it is or not will anyone tell mee pleasee??? x
I am currently writing a screenplay to put to a UK studio in the new year and was hoping to get in contact with anyone who has been staff or a resident (of the asylum part of the hospital).
I would massivly appreciate anyones help, my email is forthecraicproductions@live.co.uk
Thanks
Davey
hi suzanne
i was a patient and used to attend the old farmhouse in cherry knowle where you were based.
Derick harland will be a familiar name to you.
Some of the artwork that was done in your care still hangs on the walls of what is left of the hospital(willows etc)
I remember you saying you were leaving for new york and i hope good things happened and are happening for you 22 years on.
for others reading this ,if you think cherry knowle looks spooky
it was an evil place where staff caused much suffering to patients.i would say it was a concentration camp.
Lived in male nurses home from 1964 to 68 which was in the centre of the main block above office of CMO Robson.sad to it it so delapidated now.
hi suzanne, do you have any pics from when you were there. many thanks.
Thanks for the comments Suzanne, I have some more shots of the murals which I’ll send across to you.
I did the church and swimming pool murals in 1985-6 when i was artist in residence, i am now in the US since 1991, I had no idea the hospital had closed, these are great photos especially for me as i didn’t have a record until now,
Suzanne