As I sit here working from home during Lockdown, the urge to explore gets stronger and it is very easy to drift into memory lane and I started posting old photos to Instagram. A crime, I know. Now, like some other members of this forum, my older threads have been lost in the mists of time and many photos can only be found on my hard drive or through my website, www.https://thetimechamber.co.uk
So I thought I would post some of my older photos back to here and I would have started with Pyestock, my first ever explore, but Speed has just done a brilliant report and my photos pale in comparison. So I won't, they are shit. After Pyestock we drove over to Essex, not for a cruise, but for a massive Asylum in Colchester that became very much loved by the wider exploring community in later years (and hated by others as they had seen the same photos many, many times). When we went back in 2007, security was none existent and we had an uninterrupted day wandering the extensive building and climbing the water tower, where we had birthday cake for an old explorer Chess. When I returned in 2015 for a solo trip, the infamous Michael was in attendance after the BBC news item and the day was a fun game of cat and mouse. I laughably spent time hiding in a cupboard thinking someone was walking down the corridor towards me, only to find that it was water dripping erratically on a sheet of metal. I a lot of time trying to spot his mobile cameras and dodge them, I somehow got out unscathed and unseen. No idea how, but it was fun
Our first trip spurred the long obsession with the Victorian Asylum system. I was going to post the history from my website, but its a bit short and shit, so a link to the county asylums one is more appropriate: http://www.countyasylums.co.uk/severallscolchester/
The second time round, the place was a lot more photogenic and I enjoyed taking photos there as it was a lovely crisp winters morning, so here for some photos, including some comparisons because I can:
The corridors got a lot better when they started peeling and falling apart!
Some Wards:
Services Areas
Back before smashy smashy
Final Corridor shot
God I am bored.
So I thought I would post some of my older photos back to here and I would have started with Pyestock, my first ever explore, but Speed has just done a brilliant report and my photos pale in comparison. So I won't, they are shit. After Pyestock we drove over to Essex, not for a cruise, but for a massive Asylum in Colchester that became very much loved by the wider exploring community in later years (and hated by others as they had seen the same photos many, many times). When we went back in 2007, security was none existent and we had an uninterrupted day wandering the extensive building and climbing the water tower, where we had birthday cake for an old explorer Chess. When I returned in 2015 for a solo trip, the infamous Michael was in attendance after the BBC news item and the day was a fun game of cat and mouse. I laughably spent time hiding in a cupboard thinking someone was walking down the corridor towards me, only to find that it was water dripping erratically on a sheet of metal. I a lot of time trying to spot his mobile cameras and dodge them, I somehow got out unscathed and unseen. No idea how, but it was fun
Our first trip spurred the long obsession with the Victorian Asylum system. I was going to post the history from my website, but its a bit short and shit, so a link to the county asylums one is more appropriate: http://www.countyasylums.co.uk/severallscolchester/
The second time round, the place was a lot more photogenic and I enjoyed taking photos there as it was a lovely crisp winters morning, so here for some photos, including some comparisons because I can:
The corridors got a lot better when they started peeling and falling apart!
Some Wards:
Back before smashy smashy
