New homes are being built on the set of scary movie
THEY say buying a home can be a scary commitment - well what about moving into the set of a zombie horror film?
A 25-year mortgage isn’t the only thing with the potential to spook new residents at Barnes Village, a 155-home conversion of the Gothic, Grade II listed Barnes Hospital in Cheadle.
The building, which once topped a list of the ‘15 creepiest abandoned places in Britain’, has a colourful past that includes being the location for 1970s movie Let Sleeping Corpses Lie.
Ironically, it was built in 1875 as a rural setting to help people convalesce away from the industrial smog of Manchester.
But now it is sandwiched between the M60 as it meets the M56 and the A34 Kingsway, meaning thousands of people drive past it every week without knowing its rich history.
The latest chapter is the £12.5m redevelopment by Henley Homes, who are creating 39 apartments inside the hospital building and 117 family homes in its grounds.
Currently the first of four phases is complete after the site stood derelict for years when it closed as a hospital in 1999.
And it seems there is no fear factor for prospective buyers with more than half the 155 homes sold and some people already having moved in.
The site has come a long way since it was described as, ‘a very bleak place indeed, full of sinister quietness’, by critics who praised film director Jorge Grau for his choice of location.
In 1974 his film crews descended on Barnes Hospital and turned it into a fictional Manchester Morgue to shoot Let Sleeping Corpses Lie.
The Spanish-Italian flick has a classic B-movie plot - two overseas tourists in England are harassed by the local police, who think they are involved in a series of killings that are actually the work of zombies.
The zombies themselves had been brought to life by a mishap with farming pesticides designed to kill insects. Original if nothing else.
Cheadle and Gatley councillor Iain Roberts said: “Barnes Hospital has a great history and it’s fascinating to discover we had killer zom-
bies here.
“Cheadle residents are hardy folk and I’ve no doubt any modern-day zombie attack would be seen off.
“But, as new families move onto the Barnes Hospital site, I look forward to meeting much friendlier neighbours who hopefully won’t try to eat my brains.”
Among reviews of the film is one by internet blogger The Film Connoisseur, who says: “Let Sleeping Corpses Lie should be considered amongst one of the most important and influential zombie movies ever made.
“It turns into one hell of a gory flick. The film is so beautifully shot.”
Exposure on the small screen also came the way of Barnes Hospital when it featured on paranormal reality show Most Haunted Live in 2005.
It also appeared in a national newspaper’s list of ‘the 15 creepiest abandoned places in Britain you’d never spend a might in’ in 2015.
Origins of the hospital can be traced back to the 1860s when Florence Nightingale’s work saw awareness raised of how important convalescent care should be considered.
In 1869 cotton-magnate and philanthropist Robert Barnes made the first of donations that totalled around £26,000 to build such a ‘rural’ facility on behalf of the Manchester Royal Infirmary.
A report by heritage consultants Turley included in the Henley planning application detailed the thinking behind Barnes Hospital being built.
It said: “The countryside setting around Barnes Hospital was of particular importance to the building when it was constructed in the 1870s.
“The site of the hospital was purposefully located in the district of Cheadle, which had a reputation as one of the most pleasant and healthy districts in the neighbourhood of Manchester.
“It was thought that the fresh air and open countryside would aid the recovery of patients from the inner-city Manchester Royal Infirmary, as well as those from hospitals in the cotton district.”
Four years of construction began in 1871, during which relics including a Celtic cross dating back to the 10th or 11th century and two others dated as being Anglo-Saxon were found.
Once up and running it became a place for patients to recuperate as well as treating injured soldiers in World War II and being used to isolate people with yellow fever and tuberculosis.
After more than 100 years it finally closed in 1999 as the NHS looked to save money. Its final use was as a place to look after elderly patients and stroke sufferers.
But the last 19 years have still been highly eventful.
The building has been used to temporarily house refugees from Kosovo, was occupied by travellers in 2007 and was plagued by vandalism as it slowly fell into disrepair.
A total of 17 planning applications - including proposals for offices and a car park - had been submitted for the site before the current development was granted planning permission in 2015.
Upon completion the 16.5 acre site will have apartments and two, three and four-bedroom houses.
Joseph Donkor, from Henley, said: “The scheme at the former Barnes Hospital has been created to regenerate the area and bring a wonderful historic building back to life.
“The former hospital is an amazing building and it is great to be able to save it for future generations.”