Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men. Ben had to give his pictures a location for the Independent's photo
library, and the caption editor, unaware of our decision, immortalized the location in print.
The Independent article appeared with the location fully revealed, despite the editor's and
Rhodri's good intentions.
The brass viewer of the padded cell was stolen a month later, the glass smashed for good measure.
The Independent article was blamed by some in the urban exploration community: too much was given away,
it was an open invitation, it lead directly to
the theft. I can understand this point of view; I have held of publishing pictures and items in tours for fear
of vandalism and/or theft. The
£8000 Adams Mirror in the Cane Hill Administration Block being a
case in point;
Grand Tour not being published until I'd confirmed that the mirror
had disappeared (which became
Spooks And Structural Failure).
But to connect a mention of the location in a middle class broadsheet which didn't even mention, nor picture,
the brass viewer, to someone finding West Park, finding a way in, and then locating the padded cell out of the
thousands of rooms in the hospital is utterly far fetched. It was far more likely to be the various other groups
of visitors, or vandals viewing other urban exploration websites which did picture the brass viewer in all
its glory. Such an assumption is more likely, as the owners of
St. John's discovered that vandals caught inside
their building had found out about the instituion from websites.
© Simon Cornwell 2005
Some of Ben's shots from the day
Rhodri's full unedited text
