scrappy

check it out

2011-08-12T10:23:00.000+01:00

if you like my photos and either want to have a go at urbex or just want to see more from other people have a look at this link

http://www.urbexforums.co.uk/

also dont forget to check out my new site, its much easier to view then on the blog

http://www.scrappynw.com/

hope you like! :)

Now i have a website!

2011-06-16T16:43:00.000+01:00

just to let you know i now have a website as well, you can find it here

http://www.scrappynw.com/

theres not as much on there as there is here yet but im moving it on steadily! :)

nileguide.com article

2011-03-23T17:28:00.001Z

Here is a great article on nileguide.com by Rachel Greenberg of top 11 abandoned UK asylums which is really worth a read if you have the time!

nileguide.com

some of my pics were used for st. marys asylum in stannington, which is on page number 7

enjoy :)

Ravenhead glass, st helens. aug 2010

2011-03-23T17:11:00.000Z

After ending up in st.helens with Over we decided to go and have a look at the old ravenhead glass factory, to be quite honest it looked part demolished but still it was worth the time and the epic climbs to get in! we didnt get any external shots as there were people on site. :)

History
Ravenhead Glass was a glass works near Ravenhead Colliery, St. Helens.it was founded in 1850 by Frances Dixon and John Merson, In 1852 this factory was sold to the Pilkington Brothers. Once every decade the company swapped hands until 2001 when following a series of downturns in the late 1980's it stopped production and went into administration.

In 2003 the Rayware Group, which bought the Ravenhead site announced that it would like to revitalise the brand, giving pint pots and other traditional glasses the Ravenhead name.

the office had been fairly trashed but still some interesting stuff to take pics of.

inside the furnace

i really like the colours of the glass on the walls in here.

hope you enjoyed the pics, until next time :)

ADM/spillers mill, newcastle

2011-03-22T16:59:00.000Z

Really wanted to see this one after seeing a the madness in the room with all the pipes in it! took some time to find a way in but managed in the end after hiding in bushes for a bit while a tyne tour boat came past! :)

History
Spillers had come to Newcastle from Bridgewater in 1896 when they acquired Daudson's Phoenix Mill in The Close. In 1938 the new premises were completed, comprising of two main buildings: The Silo/Grain Store, built to accommodate up to 34k tons of grain, and The Flour Mill/Warehouse, which also contained an animal food mill. At the time of completion in 1938, the flour mill was the tallest flour milling building in the world.

In Feb 2006, ADM (the current owners of the Spillers mill) announced they were to close the Newcastle mill and move production to other ADM Mills around the country; all milling here was stopped by May 2006.

top level, that floor was not the best!

its amazing what gets left behind!

now this is nuts, how did anybody know whay was going on in this room?

as ever a people shot! :)

Rossendale general hospital

2011-03-22T16:24:00.001Z

Turned up here some time at the start of last year with Snowdudejohn, it was a relaxing walk around trying to find access as there was no security on site for some reason(that's changed now). found are way in with no problem, its quite trashed inside and very much empty. theres the odd few things left around and it was an easy relaxing explore with it being a glorious sunny day last thing i wanted was to be exerting myself! :)

Rossendale General Hospital started life as a workhouse in 1868.

inmates of all ages mostly took part in hand weaving.

it changed into the Rossendale Hospital in the 1930s.

it was further extended with an annexe to the east.
Some parts of the hospital are still live.
the hospital radio was brought to a close not too long ago.
the hospital is now just used for day patients.
a new health hub in Rawtenstall might just take over from the hospital altogether.

the front

having a well earned rest!

then after exiting the main building and carrying on looking at some of the outer buildings at the relaxed pace the day had been so far, i only went and impaled myself on a metal rod that ripped my t-shirt and me on my chest(still carrying a scare from it) we only then found a door open to the morgue! which was nice.

coming out the closet?!? :) lol

Billinge Hospital, wigan

2010-12-15T15:37:00.000Z

Visited here with Snowdudejohn, he had been past it a few times and surgested going! when we went there was only 2 buildings left, all the rest of the site had been leveled for a new housing estate. visited in the summer, so i doubt there is anything left by now! :(

History:-
Billinge Hospital was originally founded in 1837 as a Wigan Poor Law Union hospital and workhouse.Mental Health services are still available

Opened in 1968, Billinge Maternity Hospital served as the maternity facility for the surrounding areas, including much of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, parts of the Metropolitan Borough of St.Helens and parts of the District of West Lancashire .

In June 2004, the maternity hospital was closed and maternity facilities were transferred to other units at hospitals in surrounding districts. Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust, who administered at Billinge Maternity Hospital, were transferred to a new maternity unit at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary (more commonly known as Wigan Infirmary) in Wigan. Maternity care units were upgraded at surrounding hospitals, including Whiston Hospital, Ormskirk Hospital, Bolton Hospital, Salford Royal, Chorley Hospital and Warrington Hospital.

In March 2007, demolition work on the maternity hospital building commenced. As of May 2007, only a small section of the maternity unit is left standing.
In April 2010, only two buildings stand which are due to be demolitished soon as more houses are being built on the site of the former hospital.

keys, for what? a lot of locks id say.

on the wall in one of the rooms.

left over pool table and ball, yep only one ball.

it was a lovely sunny day for exploring!

st. josephs orphanage/st. josephs hospital, preston

2010-12-14T17:16:00.001Z

Id not been in here for a while and wanted to see how the old place was doing, i know there would be some damage from the fire but there was a ceiling that had collapsed as well in another part of the building. visited with BB. I have never been able to find much in the way of history on this place for some reason but i was contacted by a someone through flickr and they provided the history.

So a big thanks to Linda Barton, archivist, Preston Historical Society.

history:-
Many people mix these buildings up but essentially there are three different Grade 2 listed buildings.

Firstly St Josephs Orphanage, Theatre Street, built and opened 1872 by Maria Holland Trust and run by the Sisters of Charity our Lady Mother of Mercy, nuns that came from Holland to open and run the orphanage.

Secondly, St Joseph's Hospital, Mount Street, referred to by all the locals as Mount Street Hospital was opened in 1877 again by the Holland Trust and run by the same order of nuns. However, completely seperate building and, at no time in its existence, was it an orphanage.

Thirdly, the R.C. Chapel on Theatre Street, designed by James Mangan and opened in 1910 was specially build by money raised for use by the Hospital and the Orphanage.

When the orphanage closed in 1954, the hospital took over the building and built a small link passage to link both buildings. The hospital used the orphanage building as a nursing school and it continued to be the convent for the order of nuns, as it had always been when it was an orphanage.

When the hospital closed in the 1980s all the three buildings were purchased by the present owner who then converted the Orphanage building into a private residential elderly peoples nursing home. No original features left in that building from when it was an orphanage. He did not use the Chapel nor the hospital building.

He also owns the 1930s extension on Mount Street and the 1950s extension on Theatre street which was the geriatric wing for the hospital. Planning application is in for conversion to apartments, but doubts have been raised whether this will happen. The buildings are deteriorating badly and I fear for their future. Grade listing doesn't really protect them from neglect and potential destruction.

Note that the hospital and the orphanage were run and administered as completely separate institutions even though both were run by the same order of nuns and funded by Maria Holland nee Roper.

first time i got a good pic of the stain glassed window!

left in the back of the chapel

no trip is complete without a trip to the theater

one thing about here is it never fails to creep me out beyond belief! you are forever hearing what sounds like footsteps just behind you.

fire damage from last year i think, this was the room with the pool table in it! remains now on corridor of floor below.

these wheel chairs are all over the place!

some relaxing!

and to finish off a pic of the outside from the inside! :)

St.Josephs seminary, upholland

2010-12-13T17:56:00.001Z

Me and Over where in the area and decided to have a look at st. Josephs, it had been a while since we had last been here. we got in easy enough, we went up to the roof with the statues on it for a few pics.

Then back in to the main building. we where on a corridor and heard some whistling, Over turned to me and said is that you? i replied does it look like me! i turned to see a bloke walking across the corridor he looked up at me and carried on! he was only about 20 feet away from me and it was as if i was not seen. so we darted to the end of the corridor, looked back the guy was not following?

we decided to go to the library to get some shots thinking we will be asked to leave soon, and what a shock we had when we got there, everything was gone! all the books as well as all the beds and chairs that was in every room. it was now just an empty building!

what its like now.

and back then.

view from roof of lake and woodland.

the main court yard, if you look closely you can see some guys in the corner of the court yard cutting back trees.

inside the chapel, my first time in here which I'm glad i got to see.

overall I'm glad i got to see it one last time but its a shame its just a bare building now, all the beds, chairs, books and TV's have been moved out. theres not a great deal to go in there to see, the best bits of the building are now the outside. :)

Whinstaley hall, wigan

2010-12-13T17:17:00.001Z

Me and Over went here after another site was not able to be done, i like it here because it has so many original features. the floors inside are a mess some fallen through and the upper floors feel like there made out of sponge, anyway here is a bit of history and pics.

history from wiki:-

The hall was built in the 1560s for the Winstanley family of Wigan; the Winstanley family were lords of the manor since at least 1252 and may have been responsible for building the moat on the site. The Winstanleys owned the hall until 1596, when the estate was sold to James Bankes, a London goldsmith and banker. Winstanley Hall has three storeys and has a date stone with a date of 1584, but this is not in situ so may not provide an accurate date for the construction of the house. Extra blocks were added in the 17th and 18th centuries. Further and extensive alterations were made in 1811-19 by Lewis Wyatt in a Jacobean style. He moved the entrance to the left flank of the hall and replacing the original entrance with a window.

The Bankes family retained ownership of the hall until the 21st century when it was sold for private development. The hall had been kept in good condition until the 1960s when habitation stopped. As the building decayed and the cost of maintaining Winstanley Hall was too much for the family it was sold on.

the view from the roof, trying to show the size of it.

Over getting a shot

a crest dated 1819, from alterations been completed.

some of the old fire places.

Poseidon fountain outside in the court yard.

had to be done! :)

stanley dock grain silo

2010-12-10T15:44:00.001Z

one of my favorite places to visit is Stanley dock, don't know why I'm just fascinated with the whole place. it was my first time up the silo and god it stank in there courtesy of winged rats i believe. it was a cold night and it was blowing a fair bit to add to the misery.

history:-
The Stanley Dock warehouse was built in 1848. The dock itself links to the Liverpool and Leeds Canal. It also stands apart from all the other Docks in that it was built on the landside of the dock road.

Directly opposite the Stanley Dock Warehouse stands The Tobacco Warehouse. Built in 1900 it was the biggest building in the world at the time. Even today, it remains the world's largest brick warehouse. While the Tobacco warehouse is partly used as a popular Sunday market, both buildings await much-needed restoration and redevelopment.

The Stanley Dock is a dock, on the River Mersey and part of the Port of Liverpool it is situated in the Vauxhall area in the northern end of the dock system. It is connected to Leeds and Liverpool Canal to the east and Collingwood Dock to the west.
Designed by Jesse Hartley, it opened in 1848. At the start of the Twentieth Century the Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse was built on the in-filled south half of the dock.

Built in 1852-4 this is one of the first dock warehouses to be designed for rail transport and the use of hydraulic power.

yes i know you may have seen this same style of pic from everybody else who has ever been up here but i like it. :)

over looking Liverpool

the tobacco warehouse on the left, not the best of pics but its the best i got from the night.

the 6 faced clock, which is also derelict.

a pic from the filming of Sherlock Holmes, Stanley dock was used in the filming of the first and and soon to be second!

st. marys asylum. stanington

2010-12-10T15:29:00.002Z

This post is made up of pics from a couple of visits, i went before they started demo of the buildings and then once during. while they where demolishing it there was a group of guys walking around the site in high vis, i only narrowly avoided them because of thick fog, on that trip i only went to see some of the out building.

shame that it was demolished as it was a great place to have a wander round, there is still some of it left now but i don't know how much.

the main hall, the floors in here where rotten.

some pics from what is referred to as the villa

i loved all the old beds in this building, it felt really strange seeing them all just left here.

old drug check book, cant remember the date inside.

Burnley Empire Theatre, Burnley - Jan 10

2010-06-04T22:28:00.001+01:00

visited here with andyj23uk, not the quickest of places to get in but worth it!

history:- it originally opened in 1894 and was converted in 1938 to a cinema, since then it was converted in to a bingo hall! it closed in 1995 there were fears that it would be vulnerable to neglect and vandalism. The disused upper level already shows signs of fairly extensive water damage and rot (there was a few floors falling threw and stair cases missing) and while were there plaster was falling off a stairway roof at random intervals. now with a false ceiling inserted half-way over stage. Flat, paneled ceiling with circular centre panel. Restrained plasterwork on balcony and box fronts. Three boxes and the upper balcony have been partitioned off, but could easily be reopened

as you can tell.......its the ceiling!

these lamps are all over the place and they are great looking things

these pics were difficult to say the least, the room is pitch black inside so thats why the first pic is a bit patchy as it was all light painted. the second was messing about with the tourch!

the old balcony that has been sealed, this could be removed if they wished but it would be pointless as the place is in a bad way, as i was in the main room plaster was falling off the walls in the stairways!

liverpool carlton cinema

2010-06-04T22:12:00.000+01:00

Taken from http://cinematreasures.org/theater/22279/

The Carlton Theatre is located in the Tuebrook district of Liverpool. It is located on a prominent corner site at Green Lane and West Derby Road and externally is an outstanding building, built with brick that has white stone trimmings over the windows.

It opened on 11th June 1932 with Gene Gerrard in "My Wife's Family". Built for an independent operator, at the time of opening it was Liverpool's largest purpose built cinema. Seating was provided for 1,280 in the stalls and 668 in the circle. The side-wall decoration was rather plain apart from plaster cast leaping stags above the circle level, a design which was copied on the original screen curtains. The proscenium arch had wings containing a series of vertical gold ribs on each side, which were lit by concealed lighting. The theatre was equipped with a stage, and dressing rooms, a Christie 3Manual theatre organ and a cafe, which had a Chinese decorative treatment.

It was taken over by Associated British Cinemas(ABC) from 12th June 1935. By the end of the 1950's the cafe had closed and the space became the district offices for ABC. The Christie organ, which was played regularly into the mid-1950's, had been sold and removed by the end of the decade. It was re-named ABC in December 1962 and continued until 22nd January 1972 when it closed for modernisation. The rear stalls under the circle was converted into a Painted Wagon pub, which had its own seperate entrance on West Derby Road. The circle was re-seated and re-opened with 636 luxury seats. The original proscenium and the side walls were covered with a curtain material and the front stalls area was left un-used.

It re-opened on 27th March 1972 with Ali McGraw in "Love Story". In 1975, the ABC was only open for evening performances and it closed on 9th July 1980 with a John Travolta double bill "Grease" and "Saturday Night Fever".

However all was not quite lost as it re-opened the following day under a new name Carlton Cinema by an independent operator. Unfortunately, this was not to last long and final closure came on 4th December 1982 with Nastassia Kinski in "Cat People".

didnt take many pics in the cinema as it stank of bird crap! :)

the projectors are what make this place worth the visit!

Preston odeon revisited. Nov 09

2010-03-04T15:24:00.000Z

a revisit of original post, went back after we found out we missed the second screen some how! any way visited with Over and to say the least it was easier this time! :) hope you enjoy the pics! since my first visit i found a action group that is looking at getting the 1928 cinema back in to use here.

these first 3 pics are from of the roof above the main street

miller arcade

second screen, not many seats in here at all

refreshments from 1992

what could only be described as the owners flat maybe?, there was a few rooms such as living room possible bedroom and kitchen.

piece of old film found on floor!

lettering found in front lobby, had to be done!

ponteland ROC post, northumberland. nov 09

2010-03-04T15:00:00.000Z

history taken from newcastlephotos.blogspot

In 1924 the introduction of the "Air Defence of Great Britain" led to the provision of a Raid Reporting System delegated to a committee with representatives from the Air Ministry, Home Office and the Post Office. This was later to become known as the Observer Corps and awarded the title Royal by King George VI in 1941 as a recognition of its service during the Battle of Britain. The corps was created to provide a system for detecting, tracking and reporting aircraft over Britain. During World War 2 it was complementary to and often replaced the radar system in that it provided an 'over land' element while radar handled the 'over water approach' requirement.

In 1955 the detection and reporting of nuclear blasts and fall-out was introduced. By 1965 the aircraft role was no longer needed and the corps formed the field force for the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO) until both organisations were disbanded in the early 1990s when the Cold war ended.

the outside

still got stuff stored in the cupbords

tried to put these gloves on and there set solid!

looking back up to the outside!

Combine harvester graveyard, Alnwick. nov 09

2010-02-26T11:56:00.001Z

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

2010-02-26T11:37:00.002Z

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

2010-02-11T16:22:00.000Z

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

2010-02-11T15:20:00.005Z

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......

2010-02-01T04:38:00.001Z

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

odeon cinema, preston. july 09

2009-10-02T16:07:00.007+01:00

The old odeon cinema in preston is located next to lava and ignite night club in preston, its been disused since 1992. more info can be found here :- http://cinematreasures.org/theater/6542/

me and Over set out to have a look at this place to see if someone could get in and get a look at this place, and god it was worth it! it was not the easiest of places to get in to, but it didnt take us long to get in. and it felt strange, that somewhere like this is being left to decay when it should be being used.

the front, taken from outside

this is a pic of the seats in the main screen

the screen has long gone, now all left there are the speakers that where behind the screen

there was quite abit of stuff stored around the place from the night club next door as its owned by the night club.

a rusty panel in the projection room

the remains of the projector, all the film on the floor was test film of some sort, it was like looking in to a kaleidoscope

looking through the projector hatch in to the main screen!

as ever the people shot! thats me and Over behind

its such a shame that its been left to rot, if done right it should be restored and reused, as something like this cant be just left and forgotten about.

leeds international pool, leeds. june 09

2009-09-20T18:11:00.006+01:00

Here is what we went all the way over to leeds for, as it was going to be demolished soon (been done at the moment). we got in to the roof and was walking around the roof for 20 mins trying to find a way down! when we finally did it was worth it but its a bit of a mess now!

from top of the diving board, shows the size of the place

looking back at the diving boards with Over doing some pull ups!

some graffiti that was up on the wall at the back of the place

Over standing on a wall, im sure he didnt need to stand on the Wall to get the picture he wanted! he just wanted to stand on the wall!!!!

and finally the excitement got to much for Over.

timble beck culvert, leeds. june 09

2009-09-17T12:55:00.004+01:00

last place before we hit leeds pool, not many pics but not a bad culvert. we did scare a mother duck and ducklings, and some of the ducklings got stuck in the currents of the water and swept off, which we chased down and saved, then returned to there mother!

here are some of the pics!

most off the culvert was like the above, in parts the walk way was wider the some streets

sealed off grids

the above pic was my favorite bit of the culvert! holy grail, death or tigers? which would you choose???

Park Plaza hotel, leeds. june 09

2009-09-16T14:39:00.003+01:00

after doing the queens hotel we walked across the road to park plaza hotel and it was just as strange at first, we got in the lift with a member of staff who was asking about are trip and "what we are getting up to? anything interesting?" we said "hope so!" what made me smile was her parting words of "have fun!"

this was alot higher then the hotel across the road, which gave some great views!

here is a couple of Over on the roof, its not as dangerous as it looks! those girders don't go past the edge of the building!

and as ever a rooftop pano

Queens hotel, leeds. june 09

2009-09-16T14:10:00.005+01:00

long due an update, not that ive been doing nowt just not putting on here! went over to leeds with Over in june to have a look at the international baths, but as there was workers in there at the time we went we decided to keep are selfs busy till 5 o'clock!

first up was the Queens hotel in the city centre, walking through the lobby to the lift was a bit nervy as it was a bit posh for us 2! :)

the strangest thing happened when we got on to the roof with was done comically, we had been on the roof for 1 min and some guy comes from around the back of an air vent he was working on and just looked at us then made a phone call next to us then went back to work! but i got a pic!

looking down at the bus station

the next hit, park plaza!

roof pano

HSBC bank, manchester. june 09

2009-07-09T16:33:00.008+01:00

What an explore! this place is great, its an old bank in the centre of manchester, its still got a safe deposit room as you will see later. we where not the first to visit here that was done a few days before by a few friends of mine! visited with Over, Gimbulate, Gims cousin and andyj. and thanks to Over for original finding this site! ;)

external

main lobby

from behind the desk

the safe door to the safe deposit boxes! we went here first!

as you can imagine the feeling when you walk in on this! :) very shiny!

sadly they are all empty! :(

this was one of the rooms below the safe deposit box room, think it was unused like much of the building!

looking up the centre of the building, it was like this from the 3rd floor up!

me having a moment on the 2nd from top floor!

steel work on the stairs from the days of midland bank, long before it was HSBC

looking off the roof!

manchester wheel and arndale centre

looking down at all the open windows!

and yes that is Over absailing down the centre of the building!! and its andyj having a go below!

vernon carus mill, penwortham. may 09

2009-07-03T18:43:00.005+01:00

Id been here a few times in the past but only got in to the workshop, which was not worth doing a report on to be honest! but went along with Over and Stoka on this trip and glad i did it! the workshop is not not doable any more which is a relief!

some history:- Penwortham Mills, just to the south of Preston, Lancashire, was home to Vernon-Carus since 1915. It was a major manufacturer of surgical lint, which was the first surgical dressing to be commercially manufactured in the UK. When it was founded, Lancashire was the world’s centre for weaving and fabric production.The mills were closed in 2006 after the company relocated to brand new premises on the Matrix Business Park near Leyland. Most of the equipment was taken with them, and the remaining stuff i guess was old and needed updating so was left behind.

this pic was of a dark passageway a long exposure brought it out! and i know it looks like a silver pac-man in the pic!

this was one of my favorite pics of the day, really like the red doors at the end, they really stand out! and a thanks to Over for carrying a small first aid kit which was needed after i cut my leg climbing on to the roof!

river street tower crane, manchester. april 09

2009-05-07T18:26:00.005+01:00

this is the last site of the day for me, after a walk from primark to here and then climbing the ladder to the top with the tripod catching on everything on the way up id had enough! here are the pics! :)

crane in question!

pano! (CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO SEE IT AT A BETTER SIZE!)

Over taking another pic of me

looking down the jib

Over on the crows nest

not going to get a taxi up there mate! :)

primark rooftop, manchester. april 09

2009-05-07T18:14:00.003+01:00

this was the 3rd site of the day, the only have two floors open to the public for shopping, next floor is for storage, then there are 2 more floors that are unused then there is the roof! here are some pics!

Over taking a photo of me taking a photo

Over and myself

Over on a glass dome roof on the top of primark, and on the the next site

Ramada rooftop, manchester, april 09

2009-05-07T17:57:00.006+01:00

second on the list after food was ramada rooftop, its a city centre hotel with some great views, it was a bit hazy when we was up there so pictures arnt to great! here they are any way!

green quarter tower crane

the next hit, primark rooftop, see the glass dome above the sign to the right, Over was stood on the centre of that as you will see in the next post!

new york street crane, smallest in manchester!

hilton hotel

and finally a panorama!

mayfield station, manchester. april 09

2009-05-07T17:29:00.007+01:00

went along with Over on exploring day in the city centre of manchester, we did 4 sites and here is the first, an abandoned trrin station! we got in what can only be described the hard way! found an easier way on the way out! :)

History:- Mayfield station, located on Fairfield street, Manchester, was originally opened for it's primary use as a passenger station on thr 8th of August, 1910, under the ownership of of London & North Western Railway. The intention of the Mayfield addition was offering more control over the increasing rail traffic along the Styal Line.With the German bombing raids of World War II, the Mayfield suffered damage due to a hit of a land mine, though was repaired soon after this event. The station was closed to passengers on the 28th of August, 1960, though it was re-opened on the 6th of July, 1970 after it was altered to a parcel depot for the Royal Mail sorting office located on the opposite side of the main line. This was closed after 16 years in 1986, as a result of Parcelforce changing from rail transport to an entirely road based fleet.Since closure in 1986, Mayfield has remained derelict, though some alterations such as track and postal tools removal over a two decade era. The building suffered fire damage in 2005 after fire broke out in the roadside building. The site was also used in the makings of two TV drama programme; Prime Suspect and The Last Train.

posing!

stairs from street level!

victoria baths, manchester. april 09

2009-04-22T11:06:00.003+01:00

This was an organized visit to the baths in Manchester where you get to see how its been restored using lottery funding. and it is well worth a visit here! its was opened in 1906 it was built for £39,000 it would normally cost £20,000 to build a swimming baths in those days!

from the street outside!

male 1st class changing rooms and pool

pump house round the back of the building

boilers!

one of the stained glass windows at the front of the building, i liked the way the colour was projected on to the floor!

male 1st class pool for the balcony

here is a link to the web site for the baths:- http://www.victoriabaths.org.uk/index.html

they do guided tours most weekends

Leyland crane

2009-04-22T10:59:00.004+01:00

saw this while driving through leyland a while ago, its not often you see cranes in leyland so it caught my eye! it was on an industrial park on the out skirts! heres the pics!

looking towards the jib

leyland DAF built trucks car park!

in the control seat!

taking in the views

it was not a big crane, only about 40 meters but still dont get cranes in leyland! :)

St. georges asylum, Morpeth. feb 09

2009-03-18T12:32:00.000Z

went here on the same day as St. Marys in stannington as its in the area, originally called Northumberland County Asylum, it was built in 1859 to house 200 patients costing £58,000 to build. it closed down in 1995. and getting in was proving to be a problem as its well boarded up! and i mean almost every window! but persistence paid off! when you first get in you notice the damp smell straight away, for those who have been its the same as st. joes in preston, and in places on the bottom corridor the wood floor has buckled up to 1 foot up! not the best explore ever but glad i got in, here some of the pics:-

found this pic of the plane in a museum in newcastle before i went, took the pic for reference.

lecture room

corridor pic, showing some of the floor buckling

this was the only place i found drawings on the walls, they were nuts, all the way to the top of the stairs!

the main hall, this was in a lot better condition then St. Marys! you could walk on the floor!

roof shot, you can see the water tower in the back ground

finding this made me smile, done by explorers who had visited before, ive been told its something for the security guards back when the place had them that is!

St. marys asylum, stannington. feb 09

2009-03-18T12:00:00.000Z

well it was about time i updated the blog! so here we go, went to St. Marys asylum in stannington near newcastle. Originally named Gateshead Borough Asylum, it opened in 1914 and closed in 1995. there was dog walkers about but they was friendly enough, they know what i was going to be doing as i was carrying my tripod and had no dog! its bare inside but not really damaged as its miles from anything this place there was only a few house's near by. it was very much like whittingham asylum in preston but it was ALL natural decay, no vandals! here's the pics

first place i stumbled across was the morgue, found totally by accident! not often you find slabs undamaged!

this one is of the laundry so im told! just looks like a big store!

the main hall was very grand, but the floor was rotten as ive ever seen, there was a few places that looked like people had found this out for themselves! i decided to give this one a miss!

i like this pic as for some reason the chair only has 3 legs left on it!

yes its a HDR, was trying to show the state of the place with the building outside!

finally found the chapel was stripped to nowt, but there was the remains of an organ in there as you can see below!

and finally these two pics had to be done! :)

arla foods, bamber bridge. jan 09

2009-01-28T14:41:00.000Z

forgot to post this when i did it, only remembered the other day! so here we go! firstly the externals where done last september when i didnt get in but went back at start of january and got inside! arla foods shut in bamber bridge 4 years ago, as far as i know im the first explorer in there, its got security on site and cameras in and out! so had to take it slow! did most of it but ran out of time! as i expected it was almost bare inside but glad i did it in the end as i did live around the corner from it for a while! and its somewhere i wanted to see!

abit about the company:-Arla Foods is a cooperative based in Århus, Denmark, and the largest producer of dairy products in Scandinavia. Arla was formed as the result of a merger between the Swedish dairy cooperative Arla and the Danish dairy company MD Foods. Arla Foods is owned by approximately 10,600 milk producers in Denmark and Sweden. The name Arla derives from the same word as the English word "early" and is an archaic Swedish term for "early (in the morning). Arla was the name of a local Swedish dairy industry in the end of the 19th century which was one of the founders of modern Arla Foods.

these outside shots where done around the back as security are around the front!

thi one of the switch room was in total darkness, had to reflect the light of a pannel cover on the otherside of the room and it took about 6 go's before i was happy with it!

this is my first pic of the inside that i took, very empty but worth getting in.

this was the only machine left inside the lab!

one of the docking bays

the only spare part left inside the maintenance workshop, a plastic fan.

this door way is great! it leads from one chiller to another, dont have a clue why its that shape but i like it!

there was plenty of holes in walls with cameras on the other side of them so it took some time getting around them but overall i think it was worth it.

Weston POW camp, jan 09

2009-01-22T10:19:00.000Z

had a bit of a mini meet here some time in january, its only a small site,but worth the time to have a look around. In WW2, Weston POW camp was a camp for ‘trusted’ prisoners of war. It was later used to house Polish refugees. It is currently scheduled for demolition for the building of a road.

first pic is in one of the blocks if you could call them that! it stil got all original fetures intact.

of one of the buildings, this one was a bit different in the chimney it had a water tank at the top

one of the overgrown buildings done in black and white.

a few arty ones looking through the windows from inside one of the overgrown buildings.

st joes, wigan 31st december

2009-01-22T10:13:00.000Z

went along on the hope of meeting the caretaker, but after a while we decided he had more sense and stayed at hope! lol it was a cold morning and very foggy, but here are a couple of pics from outside!

looking from the lake to the main entrance, the next 2 are of a fency next to the lake!

Bunker drain, Warrington

2008-12-17T13:27:00.000Z

Went along with Over with a few other sites in mind in the area, but i was glad we did this one first as it was alot warmer in here then it was on the surface! was my first time seeing the Bunker and its massive, you also don't get a feel of how deep you are till half way through when you are 40ft below a manhole in one chamber! its also full of frogs and eel's at the start! here some of my shots anyway!

this was the first part you see, through them windows as they could be called is the river.

Over and that hat!

one of the many seamingly endless pipes!

this was the chamber when you find out how deep you are! this chamber has 3 levels before you get to the manhole

and finaly one of the residents in bunker!

Green quarter tower crane, manchester. november 08

2008-11-23T21:47:00.000Z

after finishing off at london road me and over finised an exploring day and went on to this tower crane over by th the M.E.N. arena it was an 81 meter hook to floor and my first tower crane!

its not as easy as you thing going to the top of one of these, i needed 20 rest at the top!

but what a view!

the cab, which was heated, had a kettle and a cracking view of manchester!

London road fire station, Manchester. November 08

2008-11-23T21:34:00.000Z

after the trip to deva me and over where still in an exploring mood, so we went on to have a go at london road fire station! once we were in it didnt take long before we headed for the tower. been some where i wanted to see for a while, its mainly empty but still got intresting features! and lots of rooms to see!

a bit of history:- London Road Fire Station is a former fire station, police station and coroner's court, in Manchester, England. Designed and built between 1904 - 1906 by Woodhouse, Willoughby & Langham at a cost of £142 000. Until 1974 and the formation of the Greater Manchester Fire Service, it was the headquarters of the Manchester Fire Brigade.Built of red brick and terracotta by Burmantofts it is now a Grade II listed building in the Whitworth Street conservation area. Since 2001 the building has been listed as “at risk” by English Heritage.

was decribing this as some sort of racking earlier, but since found out that it was a victorian laundry drier.

over and me in the tower opposite Manchester Piccadilly!

deva mental asylum, Chesire. November 08

2008-11-23T21:12:00.000Z

OK its been a bit over done on the forums recently, but after cutting abit off my finger and missing out on going to denbigh asylum i was doing this! :)

went along with over 5050 snowdudejohn and omega, we gained access with directions from chewy off northwest(thanks for those) its only closed in 2005 and is still attached to a working hospital. as we was in there we bumped in to a group of chav's/scrote's who was wandering around, they where as big of losers as you could imagine! when we got up to the hazard room as its called we found them again after losing them that is, and they was kicking a door in we got them to stop but left after that! here are some pics any way!

this is the main hall, it had a nasty false ceiling in, there was some tiles missing which showed the roof. dont know why they covered it up!

this was the last photo before we called it a day as we bumped in to the chavs again kicking in doors and was going to get caught! :(

st. Marks church preston

2008-11-19T11:04:00.000Z

saw the scaffolding on this church driving past on the way to play football and thought got to do that! :) on the night i went to do it i was amazed the front door was open and the light where on! but that didn't put me off, and away i went. here is the outside

stone work of the tower

below is looking at preston docks

as it turns out its no longer a church! its been converted to apartments! that explains the open doors at mid-night!

grange over sands lido

2008-11-19T10:46:00.000Z

went here on the way to following up some leads was well worth nipping in to not really that much to see! its an open air swimming pool that by the looks of it has been closed awhile, and these are the only photos i got befour the weather changed and it started to really rain!

my photos make it look slightly better then it was! the water was a nasty shade of green! :)

st.joes seminery, wigan

2008-10-09T16:29:00.000+01:00

st. josephs seminery is a place ive seen many a time on the net but never been able to do, so when i got the chance to visit the place you can imagine the thrill of walking the corridors of this fantastic building! its massive, and so much to see through out the site. when we entered it was just in time as it started to pour down! but here are some of the pics any way! went along with OVER.

an HDR off the roof looking at one of the statues on the roof.

one of the many empty corridors with the rooms the residents used to live in!

found this in the attic space away from the rest of the rooms! dont know why it was away from the others but it was a dark room!

heres a couple of pics of the 1st years living quaters from what ive heard of the place, still with the names of the last students on the post entering the small space they had!

this plave is one of my favorites to go, and an over all great explore!!

winstanley hall, wigan. sep 08

2008-10-09T16:24:00.000+01:00

after failed attempts at another site me over gimbulate meet up with spark, we then headed up to winstanley hall (thanks to spark for this one!) only spent 1 hour in there as after been on the roof the lighting was a problem and with the lack of some of the upper floors we thought best to get off, but spark had other ideas and followed up a drain lead on the way out if i remember correctly!

historyThe hall was built in the 1560s for the Winstanley family of Wigan; the Winstanley family were lords of the manor since at least 1252 and may have been responsible for building the moat on the site. The Winstanleys owned the hall until 1596, when the estate was sold to James Bankes, a London goldsmith and banker. Winstanley Hall has three storeys and has a date stone with a date of 1584. Extra blocks were added in the 17th and 18th centuries. Further and extensive alterations were made in 1811-19 by Lewis Wyatt in a Jacobean style. He moved the entrance to the left flank of the hall and replacing the original entrance with a window. The final additions to the hall were made in 1843 when an extra wing was added. To the south, on lands belonging to the hall, is a small stone building which was used to house bears that provided entertainment for the hall's guests.The Banks retained ownership of the hall until the 21st century when it was sold for private development. The hall had been kept in good condition until the 1960s when habitation stopped. As the building decayed and the cost of maintaining Winstanley Hall was too much for the family it was sold on. It was intended to develop the hall into private flats, however refurbishment was held up due to Wigan council withholding planning permission.

NWEX

2008-09-16T05:02:00.000+01:00

the forums have been changed, used to be northwestexploration.co.uk, but after been closed down and then reborn again its now www.nwex.co.uk but for some reason blogger adds a backslash to the link when used which dont work so hit the link, see the error, delete the backslash, hit enter and your on the forum

Newport art college

2008-09-16T04:39:00.000+01:00

Went along on the wales meet, me and FKN arrived at sheep2405 house at about 2 in the afternoon, and along with a member i cant remember his name from DP we went along to asda for food, i had some intrest on this place before i came down here and i could not drive past it 3 times and not go in! so on the way back that was the plan! it took us a few mins to enter as there is all new sheeting up around the building. the building has had a temporary roof fit as the original is missing in parts and letting alot of water in, even with the temporary roof there was alot of water still getting in the place when it rained, which is a shame as its not doing it any good. the place is going to be developed in to apartments im told, here are some of the pics!

in the photo below you can see the fake roof they have put over the place as all the roof is buggered and letting the rain in which aint doing the place any good, even with the roof over there is still alot of water getting in to this place as we saw when it started to rain!

this cup and chair was in the roof space befour we stumbled over the entry point to the tower

the above pics is of a water tank in the top of the tower with Fkn inside doing the lighting for me, and the one below is of the tower its self, could get some good views from up there! as you will see in the pic below again, but the rain was coming down hard by now and the veiws became restricted.

this one is of one of the main corridors coming off the stairs on the bottom floor, got to say thanks for Fkn helping with the lighting againby the way!

the above had to be done! :) me, jonas and Fkn

these are of the main hall, this was a great place for colour as you can see in the picsthis is in the centre of the site and the last one is of a black and white of the hall.

this was a great site, well worth a visit! this is a place i will be going again as you cant get fed up of those big corridors and stairways! one of my favs up to now!

Cathedral Steps, victoria arches

2008-08-21T14:58:00.000+01:00

The arches are right in front of Manchester cathedral under victoria street, they have been the centre of many arguments between urbexers. there is alot of hype about this place on how great it is! you i went with an open mind as i didn't want to be disappointed.
went along with fknsamuelbonney after the Manchester meet we went on, thanks to Sam for providing the climbing gear to make this possible and taking my along after he found the location for access!

the arches was used in 1939 as a bomb raid shelter and was supposed to house 3500 people but later changed the capacity was dropped to 1619 people.

one of the many famous signs down there! the one that people wrote there name on in the dust has been wiped clean by someone for a reason unknown to me, but the was some recognisable names in dust in other places!

if you ever come across pics of the arches you will always see these steps going down to the toilets, so i felt like i had to!

overall it was a great explore, somewhere i wanted to do for a long time and now Ive done it and it wasn't as great as it has been made out but it was still great to see!

Manchester meet august 08

2008-08-20T14:04:00.000+01:00

The Manchester meet started off as a drain meet and soon turned in to more after a spot of lunch! but it started out as a drain meet. we ( thenewmendoza, bungle666, sheep2405, pr1vate piles, andyj23uk, peanuts, smileysal, fknsamuelbonney and myself) did a few drains which was easy to say the least but it was a drain virgin meet!

the first drain was a river tunnel thing which was quite roomy and none smelly! :)

only really got one photo from the second and it was where the drain met up with a sewer overflow! that's sheep2405 in the pic coming in for a rest!

as i said it soon turned from the drain meet to the what else can we do meet, we could see a mill near to where we all dined and managed to get access in a way which i think must be new to the world of urban exploration! on shear comedy values that is! dont know the mill new sorry!

we managed to gain access to the tower to my delight as i was something to see and also got on to the roof as you can see the door open in the pic below!

lift shaft cables and motor

it then had another turn and went on to Radcliffe school not to far from the mill itself, it was a little creepy walking through an abandoned school as i remember them being place full of people and it was my first abandoned school! found this on the way to asda for mendo's fags!

playing in the gym, found the ropes all still set out and some of us decided to have a swig on them for old times sake!!

overall it was a great day out cracking a few new sites in the not so far off area to myself along with meeting a load of new people which I'm hoping on been able to meet up with again soon!

Mersey Tunnel trip

2008-08-01T13:35:00.000+01:00

Went along with fellow explorers to have tour on the mersey tunnel, was a very intresting trip, they went through the history and the making of the tunnel before being taken on to see the fans, the fans for the tunnels air intake and exhaust are 28 feet in diamiter each! which is one big fan, and there are 5 of them in total! here are some pics from the trip:-

air exhaust fan covered in soot from car exhausts

turning exhaust fan.

the above fan is from the air intake, its a clean room as they take the air from outside

old cable supports, they used to have 500 mile of the big copper cables down here but now they use small fibre optics!

this is under the car way, its used as an escape route, runs the lenght of the tunnel was original going to be used for trams!

The Stanley Dock warehouse

2008-08-01T13:21:00.000+01:00

Came accross this place as i was going on a tour of the mersey tunnel thought it was worth a go!

The Stanley Dock warehouse designed by Jesse Hartley was built in 1848. The dock itself links to the Liverpool and Leeds Canal. It also stands apart from all the other Docks in that it was built on the landside of the dock road. The original warehouses are of a similar design to those at Albert Dock and are grade II listed buildings. Part of the northern warehouse was demolished after sustaining damage in an air raid during the Second World War.

plans have been unveiled for the warehouses to be redeveloped into office space and a total of 930 apartments. The plans involve digging out the centre of the tobacco warehouse to create a garden-filled courtyard.

the next two pics are from the top off the castle style tower in the above pic, had to go up the spiral stairway of death!

st. joes orphanage, preston 11/7/08

2008-07-13T18:18:00.000+01:00

went along to what now is one of my fave places (which ain't hard as not been to all that many!!). went along with snowdudejohn (northwest exploration) first time we had met and a place he was really wanting to do so instead of forwarding details went along with him on my morning from work!

access was same as ever, and first port of call was the chapel only took a couple of pics in here as got so many!

after the chapel went on a wander around the rooms on the right hand side of the building, and did some corridor shots, looking at the pic below the electricity is still on.

here is one of the many signs you see in the place, don't know why 246 but there every where in the building, look like they light up but for what i don't know!

up in the attic of the building with the theater in it

and here is me having a go at HDR, first time at it! but its not that hard! :)

didn't spend to long inside as on the way back to the main building we crawled through a hole in the wall and someone had blocked it back up with a board! from the other side. so i went dumped my kit and went back to the chapel to look through the window at the main gate, it was open and there was 2 cars and a ladder! the had been inside but we had to go!

i went back to snowdudejohn we moved the board as quiet as possible, got the kit through and slowly made are get away! the hole they blocked up was just around the corner from the main door! we made are way out on a promise to return again soon!

2008-07-01T04:51:00.000+01:00

Roach bridge paper mill is set just outside of preston its in a nice location next to a river, it used to have a water wheel for power, but now been turned in to some sort of new bussiness park. its not a great site but with a water fall and asomeone new to exploring its good as no security and its in the middle of know where. went along with mitsuko, tried but could not get in to the mail building as only acccess is from the road which means jumping a fence with barb wire in full view of the road! asking to be caught!!!!!

no go??? what ever!

whittingham 28/6/08

2008-07-01T04:36:00.000+01:00

went along with mitsuko, was her very first explore and she wanted to see whittingham! we bumped in to a few other explorers on this trip but kept are distance as we wernt going to be to here long! as we all know this place needs no introduction! so here are some of my pics

st joes orphanage 7-6-08

2008-06-27T14:21:00.001+01:00

This was my second time here, first time was on my own and it was very creepy to say the least. this time i spent 7 hours here and covered everything! such a great site! dont really know much about it but its an orphanage with an operating theater and chapel! as you can see started off in the chapel, but there are so many rooms to this place! you really could spend all day here!

this was in the operating theater that i never saw on my first visit, but glad of gimbulate who showed me the way!

these are the shots i got from going up a long wood ladder in the tower to get to the top, you could see for miles from here, here are the best 4.

the final resting place, me and andyj set here for about 20 mins after been all explored out after the 7 hours marathon!

dewhurst mill bamber bridge 4-6-08

2008-06-27T13:53:00.000+01:00

Been past this place many times but thought ive got to give it a go! could not get in to the tower but managed to get in to the main part of the mill, but not off the ground floor, will have to spend more time on this one but im sure you could still get somewhere near the top! it was also to dark inside as every window was boarded up and only had a crap torch.

whittingham asylum 31-5-08

2008-06-27T13:32:00.000+01:00

It seamed for my first post i only go and put up the place that got me in to all this! whittingham first went hear 2 years ago with a few friends all on are first explore, im the only one thats been anywhere since. this is from my 3rd visit here on the above date, went along with gimbulate and UED.

this ones from the top of the main hall looking down to the window.