Tucked away on a mostly active hospital site, is this 1950s research laboratory which was the world's first purpose built facility dedicated to the study of radiobiology - otherwise known as the study of radiation on biological tissue and thus vital to developing new and better treatments for cancer.

The hospital that contains this building is one of my favourite examples of late Victorian/early Edwardian hospital design, it was built as a Tuberculosis hospital before becoming a specialist cancer hospital when TB declined to the extent that big TB hospitals weren't needed any more. The original early 1900s buildings are a stunning example, to me, of that era of hospital architecture.

The institute moved out to a new premises elsewhere in 2008, and the old laboratory has been left ever since. The NHS doesn't have the spare funds to demolish this or many other derelict buildings on hospital grounds so for now it's just going to sit there. Whilst small areas of it had been a bit ripped apart, the top floors housed many wonderfully decayed laboratories and much of the interior was unchanged since it was built in the 1950s.

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28 - The chapel, later library and lecture theatre, very well secured.



29 - As a postscript, this is the fantastic eastern end of the original 1904 hospital. It's very much in use, for records storage and other things, with the original chapel of rest,and presumably the mortuary in the foreground attached to it. The western end has a similar room, however it has been swallowed up by extensions and more modern developments so is largely obscured.



Thanks for looking!

Cool spot man!

Thanks for sharing!

super creepy this is so cool !

Really love the pictures with this one. Great set, and great place!!

Lol, was there any ironically cancerous substances to be aware of? like asbestos?

Great spot! Glad you shared!

I love old hospitals like this. Great shots man

Good man, thanks for sharing

So many books! What an awesome find, thanks for sharing. Really enjoyed the subtle light/dark symmetry in #3 as well.

Look at all that old tech in there! That's really cool man!