D
Dragon_Urbex
Guest
Guest
I only recently managed to explore this place about a week before my 21st birthday in early October, which was entirely down to me not realising for over two years this place was derelict! Wye seems to have a good little cluster of derelict sites now which makes for a nice afternoon of mooching around if you're in the area. Here's a small history, pinched from Zombizza's report: "The company was officially formed into Wyebugs in 1991, with a launch at the Chelsea flower show they offered biocontrol products for mail order from as little as £3.00. The biocontrol market was soon recognised as being very viable and other companies started coming on board. Due to Wyebugs being more focused on research and development they outsourced the retail side to companies with a better set up. They went on to work with non agricultural companies dealing with life threatening disease carriers like mosquitos. When the Wye college merged with Imperial College London the company decided to ditch higher education in 2002 and launch a fully commercial business. This business continues today and are endorsed by DEFRA."
The Explore:
I live fairly near Wye so once I had some free time, I jumped on my bike and got a train down to the sleepy Kentish village. I've explored other parts of the site before now, but only recently managed to access nigh on everything. There's one more place I haven't managed yet, but I hope to conquer it soon. The explore at the entomology (study of insects) labs was chilled out. Considering its location, I am very very surprised that it isn't totally destroyed and vandalised by local kids. Access was easy - holes absolutely everywhere. The greenhouses were full of all sorts of detritus and sheep crap, so I didn't bother too much with those. However the plant room (machinery, not plant plants!) was pretty nice and had a cool generator. I didn't stay too long in there due to the fact that there was a bloody enormous wasp nest on the chimney - got a bit of a phobia of wasps due to almost being blinded by one when I was a toddler. The absolute highlight for me was the many boxes of preserved insects leftover. Unfortunately I've read these have apparently now gone walkabout. Enjoy the photos:
1) A general view of some of the older greenhouses.
2) Looking down towards the east side of the site - plant room chimney on the left.
3) Inside one of the greenhouses. It was baking hot.
4) Nature is slowly taking over.
5) Looking into some of the more cluttered greenhouses. Sheep crap is evident in here!
6) Inside the laboratory building. Some nice peeling paint on the ceiling.
7) I like a nice retro looking sign.
8) In another laboratory.
9) The pin board still has the outlines of notices. I quite like that.
10) Looking down the narrow corridor.
11) I have no idea what these were. Ovens perhaps?
12) Dials and gauges.
13) Inside a lovely retro lab, with some very good looking wooden cabinets.
14) Looking back over, showing a walk-in fridge and instruments.
15) A shot of the cabinets. Shame they likely won't be salvaged.
16) I'm not sure what this was for, but it's certainly very interesting.
17) Unless I am mistaken, this could be a condenser.
18) The two boilers in the plant room.
19) A pair of pumps.
20) What seems to be a generator in case of off-site power loss.
21) A small tape thing. Possibly to record logs.
22) An electron microscope with some glass sheets, possibly the type to put into old school projectors.
23) Arty-farty photo of the microscope.
24) The bugs!!
25) A shot of the box with the beetles.
26) Some of these are absolutely enormous.
27) A glass case full of beetles and bugs.
28) Another nicely framed case of samples of things.
29) A box full of plant cuttings in microscope slides.
30) Box of fuchsia samples. Fuchsia is a plant with a flower that looks like a dancing lady. When I was little, I called fuchsia just that - "dancing ladies". It wasn't until I was 7 when I found out the real name of fuchsia in a book that my ecologist father had. However, I mispronounced it for a while ("fuck-see-uh").
Thanks for readin'!
The Explore:
I live fairly near Wye so once I had some free time, I jumped on my bike and got a train down to the sleepy Kentish village. I've explored other parts of the site before now, but only recently managed to access nigh on everything. There's one more place I haven't managed yet, but I hope to conquer it soon. The explore at the entomology (study of insects) labs was chilled out. Considering its location, I am very very surprised that it isn't totally destroyed and vandalised by local kids. Access was easy - holes absolutely everywhere. The greenhouses were full of all sorts of detritus and sheep crap, so I didn't bother too much with those. However the plant room (machinery, not plant plants!) was pretty nice and had a cool generator. I didn't stay too long in there due to the fact that there was a bloody enormous wasp nest on the chimney - got a bit of a phobia of wasps due to almost being blinded by one when I was a toddler. The absolute highlight for me was the many boxes of preserved insects leftover. Unfortunately I've read these have apparently now gone walkabout. Enjoy the photos:
1) A general view of some of the older greenhouses.
2) Looking down towards the east side of the site - plant room chimney on the left.
3) Inside one of the greenhouses. It was baking hot.
4) Nature is slowly taking over.
5) Looking into some of the more cluttered greenhouses. Sheep crap is evident in here!
6) Inside the laboratory building. Some nice peeling paint on the ceiling.
7) I like a nice retro looking sign.
8) In another laboratory.
9) The pin board still has the outlines of notices. I quite like that.
10) Looking down the narrow corridor.
11) I have no idea what these were. Ovens perhaps?
12) Dials and gauges.
13) Inside a lovely retro lab, with some very good looking wooden cabinets.
14) Looking back over, showing a walk-in fridge and instruments.
15) A shot of the cabinets. Shame they likely won't be salvaged.
16) I'm not sure what this was for, but it's certainly very interesting.
17) Unless I am mistaken, this could be a condenser.
18) The two boilers in the plant room.
19) A pair of pumps.
20) What seems to be a generator in case of off-site power loss.
21) A small tape thing. Possibly to record logs.
22) An electron microscope with some glass sheets, possibly the type to put into old school projectors.
23) Arty-farty photo of the microscope.
24) The bugs!!
25) A shot of the box with the beetles.
26) Some of these are absolutely enormous.
27) A glass case full of beetles and bugs.
28) Another nicely framed case of samples of things.
29) A box full of plant cuttings in microscope slides.
30) Box of fuchsia samples. Fuchsia is a plant with a flower that looks like a dancing lady. When I was little, I called fuchsia just that - "dancing ladies". It wasn't until I was 7 when I found out the real name of fuchsia in a book that my ecologist father had. However, I mispronounced it for a while ("fuck-see-uh").
Thanks for readin'!
