Combine harvester graveyard, Alnwick. nov 09

this was very close to whittingham station in the previous post and what a great place to have a walk around! i did this one with permission from the owners of the land. its like a scrap yard for combine harvesters, cant see there being many of them around!

had to be done :)

you would need more then a tetnus if you fell on that

trying to show the amount of combine harvesters that they have (click to see full pic!).

Whittingham station, Alnwick. Nov 09

went here while i was in the area, great place to have a look around with some of the original fittings still intact, history is taken from here forgottenrelics.co.uk

History

Opened on 5th September 1887, this extensive station was rather distant from the village after which it is named, being more than a mile to its east. Construction of the route received considerable support from Lord Ravensworth, a local landowner, and the station was built very much for his benefit.

Whittingham boasted the only island platform on the single track branch, creating one of two passing loops, the other being at Wooler. As well as its large main building, the site boasted a signal box and water column to the east as well as five sidings to the west serving a goods shed, goods platform, loading bay and coal drops - the latter also having a weighbridge. The substantial Station Master’s house sits close to the south-west corner of the platform, overlooked by a road-over-rail bridge.

The passenger service was short-lived, ending on 22nd September 1930, but the goods facilities continued to welcome traffic until March 1953.

Although the decorative cast iron canopy has long since lost its glass, the platform building adorned by it is now Grade II listed and awaiting restoration as a dwelling. Five adjacent railwaymen’s cottages are also undergoing refurbishment and will soon become holiday lets.
 

ticket hatch

ticket office

and lastly a pic of the station back in the day, with all glass pannels in the ironwork.

denbigh asylum, wales. 09

visited with Over and Mel. i had been wanting to go here for about 1 year before the 3 of us went, and im glad i got to see it, shame about the fire that had burnt down the main hall, but here is some of the history to the place.

history

North Wales Hospital was built between 1846 and 1848, the plans drawn up by Thomas Fulljames. The hospital was made due to poor publicity about the appalling treatment Welsh people suffering from serious mental illnesses who were forced to seek treatment in English asylums. Joseph Ablett, a local landowner, donated the original 20 acres of land for the hospital complex in about 1842. The buildings are now surrounded by 126 acres of wooded, landscaped grounds. Plans for it were laid in 1842 and building actually commenced in September 1844. It was the first mental hospital to be built in Wales.

An extension to the Hospital in 1867 closed the open rear of the U-shaped main building and provided two twin-bayed wards to either side. Further extensions and new building works were carried out between 1903 and 1908. Two large private dwellings near the Hospital were purchased and extended in 1926, and two villas and a new nurses’ home were built in 1934. Additional ward accommodation was built in 1956, when the Hospital reached its peak capacity of 1,500 patients and there were further additions, links and extensions constructed until the closure announcement in 1987.

the view we had of the place on the walk from the car

the top of the tower!

showing the size of the place

dont know whats worse the wall paper or the big holes in the floor

let there be light

where the hall was before it got leveled after the fire.

lancashire flight may 09

this is from a while back i know but i got the chance to have a flight over the local area in a 2 seater plane with my camera. as you can imagine i jumpped at the chance. well it all started off not so great as i got stuck in traffic and arrived late but with thanks to the pilot the rest went really smooth! and here are some of the pictures.



the first pic is of winstanley hall near wigan



here is the old leyland test track


st joes seminary in wigan


southport gas tower



and finally we have whittingham asylum near preston, showing the shear size of the place.

update coming......

getting very lazy with updates recently, but there's a few on the way this week :)