December 24th 2004 at approximately 4:00pm. As you might have guessed I remember the afternoon well!
I was 18, fresh out of school barely 6 months previously, just past my driving test. It was Christmas eve and i was sitting at home bored, much like i am as i write this! After seeing someone's photos from the simply mind boggling abandonment that was Cane Hill and subsequently discovering Simon Cornwells 'urbexuk' website i had become hooked on the idea of this new 'urban exploring' thing. In all honesty i was shit scared of it, scared of getting caught doing something i shouldn't, scared of what or indeed who i might find lurking in such places i should not be. However i knew right from the start it was the life for me. After several months of umming and ahhing i decided this was it and i hopped in the car to take what at the time seemed like a pretty lengthy 20mins drive to the outskirts of Colchester. I found myself standing by the hole in the fence calmly considering my plan of action but no sooner had i put one leg through the adrenaline took over. This all sounds so stupid nowadays but this was the first time id consciously done an 'urbex' and crossing that simple line between were your 'supposed to be' and 'not supposed to be' was enough to overload my brains usual rock solid common sense and i almost instantly found myself running towards the building, why i was running i don't know. There was no logical need i just felt vulnerable out there in the open. At the time every door on that side of the building was wide open but for some reason i found myself climbing in a window, it was the closest point to the fence i guess! Crunching down on the broken glass i was finally in and all of what you see here began.
Yeh so Severalls was my first really. In East Anglia the UE scene was virtually non existent back then. There just wasn't any other explorers in Suffolk or Essex. At least none i could find. That meant there was no places to go either, or so it seemed. There was no 28days yet, not even a dedicated UE forum yet other then the American one. There wasn't really any Google maps. Virtually no online news, digital cameras still cost a bomb and i certainly didn't have one, my mobile phones most advanced feature was Snake! Yep the world has changed somewhat since then! The big change UE wise was 28DL coming along. Thats what really kick started the scene in this country, it brought everyone together and gave everything a purpose and a sense of competition and dare i say it 'sport' that had been missing for me. As time went on i met a few locals who liked doing the same thing and then progressed onto meeting real friends in their own right. By 2006 we were travelling for 5 or more hours to see somewhere and after that there was no going back. Now approaching 2015 ive been conscious of this milestone coming up and thought that something should be done not only for me to remember all the darn cool places ive been but also for some of the new people in UE to see just whats possible if you put your mind to it.
So here we go i guess, 100 photos from 100 places that ive been trying to whittle down into 'The Best' for what seems like ever now. Compromise has had to be made as once you really look theres just so many good memories and photos from places is virtually impssible to get down the 100. Ive been to over 50 Asylums and 80 Cinemas alone and it feels like half of them should be in! Ive tried to take into account the place itself, the fun of accessing it, the fun of exploring it, the challenge faced, what we found, how suprising it was. Theres just so much you can think about when choosing! So let me know what you think. One day il get time to write a little about each and turn it into a book for now im too busy working out where i need to go explore this holiday!
I was 18, fresh out of school barely 6 months previously, just past my driving test. It was Christmas eve and i was sitting at home bored, much like i am as i write this! After seeing someone's photos from the simply mind boggling abandonment that was Cane Hill and subsequently discovering Simon Cornwells 'urbexuk' website i had become hooked on the idea of this new 'urban exploring' thing. In all honesty i was shit scared of it, scared of getting caught doing something i shouldn't, scared of what or indeed who i might find lurking in such places i should not be. However i knew right from the start it was the life for me. After several months of umming and ahhing i decided this was it and i hopped in the car to take what at the time seemed like a pretty lengthy 20mins drive to the outskirts of Colchester. I found myself standing by the hole in the fence calmly considering my plan of action but no sooner had i put one leg through the adrenaline took over. This all sounds so stupid nowadays but this was the first time id consciously done an 'urbex' and crossing that simple line between were your 'supposed to be' and 'not supposed to be' was enough to overload my brains usual rock solid common sense and i almost instantly found myself running towards the building, why i was running i don't know. There was no logical need i just felt vulnerable out there in the open. At the time every door on that side of the building was wide open but for some reason i found myself climbing in a window, it was the closest point to the fence i guess! Crunching down on the broken glass i was finally in and all of what you see here began.
Yeh so Severalls was my first really. In East Anglia the UE scene was virtually non existent back then. There just wasn't any other explorers in Suffolk or Essex. At least none i could find. That meant there was no places to go either, or so it seemed. There was no 28days yet, not even a dedicated UE forum yet other then the American one. There wasn't really any Google maps. Virtually no online news, digital cameras still cost a bomb and i certainly didn't have one, my mobile phones most advanced feature was Snake! Yep the world has changed somewhat since then! The big change UE wise was 28DL coming along. Thats what really kick started the scene in this country, it brought everyone together and gave everything a purpose and a sense of competition and dare i say it 'sport' that had been missing for me. As time went on i met a few locals who liked doing the same thing and then progressed onto meeting real friends in their own right. By 2006 we were travelling for 5 or more hours to see somewhere and after that there was no going back. Now approaching 2015 ive been conscious of this milestone coming up and thought that something should be done not only for me to remember all the darn cool places ive been but also for some of the new people in UE to see just whats possible if you put your mind to it.
So here we go i guess, 100 photos from 100 places that ive been trying to whittle down into 'The Best' for what seems like ever now. Compromise has had to be made as once you really look theres just so many good memories and photos from places is virtually impssible to get down the 100. Ive been to over 50 Asylums and 80 Cinemas alone and it feels like half of them should be in! Ive tried to take into account the place itself, the fun of accessing it, the fun of exploring it, the challenge faced, what we found, how suprising it was. Theres just so much you can think about when choosing! So let me know what you think. One day il get time to write a little about each and turn it into a book for now im too busy working out where i need to go explore this holiday!
1
AJ Parkers Armoury Works
2
Aldwych Tube Station
3
Alexandra Palace
4
Ardeer Dynamite Works
5
Barbour Threads Lisburn
6
Barcley Curles Titan Crane
7
Barking Powerstation
8
Battersea Powerstation
9
Bawdsey Rotor Bunker
10
Belvoir Park Hospital
11
Berkyn Manor
12
Birmingham Municipal Bank
13
Bishopton Royal Ordnance Factory
14
BNG Littlebrook
15
BOCM Selby
16
British Celenese
17
British Cellophane
18
British Sugar Ipswich
19
British Xylonite
20
Broadford Works Aberdeen
21
Brompton Road Disused Tube Station
22
Bull and Bush Floodgate Control
23
Burnley Empire Theater
24
Bush Boake Allen Works
25
Cabot Carbon
26
Cadburys Summerdale
27
Cane Hill
28
Cardiff Civil Defense Bunker
29
Ceulan Mill
30
Crane Foundry Ipswich
31
Curtis Fine Papermill
32
Dalton Mills Keighley
33
Denbigh Asylum
34
Derby Royal Infirmary
35
Doncaster Grand Theater
AJ Parkers Armoury Works
2
Aldwych Tube Station
3
Alexandra Palace
4
Ardeer Dynamite Works
5
Barbour Threads Lisburn
6
Barcley Curles Titan Crane
7
Barking Powerstation
8
Battersea Powerstation
9
Bawdsey Rotor Bunker
10
Belvoir Park Hospital
11
Berkyn Manor
12
Birmingham Municipal Bank
13
Bishopton Royal Ordnance Factory
14
BNG Littlebrook
15
BOCM Selby
16
British Celenese
17
British Cellophane
18
British Sugar Ipswich
19
British Xylonite
20
Broadford Works Aberdeen
21
Brompton Road Disused Tube Station
22
Bull and Bush Floodgate Control
23
Burnley Empire Theater
24
Bush Boake Allen Works
25
Cabot Carbon
26
Cadburys Summerdale
27
Cane Hill
28
Cardiff Civil Defense Bunker
29
Ceulan Mill
30
Crane Foundry Ipswich
31
Curtis Fine Papermill
32
Dalton Mills Keighley
33
Denbigh Asylum
34
Derby Royal Infirmary
35
Doncaster Grand Theater
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