June 12th, 2024 marks a whopping fifteen years of me bumbling around derelict buildings making a nuisance of myself. As I'm not going to be in the country for that particular anniversary, and because I failed myself by not doing anything to commemorate the decade milestone, it's only right to put together somewhat of a retrospective look at the (publicly safe) mischief I have found myself involved in since that warm June day in 2009. Certainly that day was probably the single most pivotal day of my entire life and shaped in one way or another the path I have followed ever since.
I have covered how I came to be involved in this weird hobby before, however for those at the back of the class who haven't been paying attention, here is a potted history of my life. Ever since I was a young child I was fascinated by ruined castles, abbeys and similar type buildings. I can remember vividly looking at photos of Whitby Abbey in a 'place to visit in Britain' type book (remember those things?) and finding myself weirdly obsessed with it (I still haven't managed to visit it...yet). Visiting places as a child like Kenilworth and Corfe castles, and the wildlife park that once sat around the derelict shell of Riber castle in Derbyshire, only served to fuel my interests in all things ruin-related. Fast forward to the turn of the millenium and we got our first dog, which we as a family would on occasion walk through the local park to a small village over the railway line, in which sat a small thatched cottage which was the stereotypical 'derelict' cottage and I was fascinated by it, of course it has long since been renovated but I can remember it so clearly even today. One fateful day in 2005 or 2006 (I forget) I was browsing the internet looking for photos of abandoned cars, which led to me discovering the 'Derelict London' website, photos of Cane Hill, and then shortly after that, this very forum.
For a few years I was very much an armchair explorer, living vicariously through the early reports on here and the updates to Derelict London. Then quite by chance, in 2009 one of my good friends I had gotten to know over the years through my other passion that consumes my time - short circuit oval racing - told me that he had been exploring stuff for years and would I like to go along with him one weekend? Of course I absolutely jumped at the chance, although I distinctly remember being quite nervous about telling my parents what I was going to be doing (they were surprisingly chill I must say). So one Thursday afternoon, after my last A-Level exam, I hopped on a train from Oxford to Redhill and then, the next day, me and my friend, his girlfriend of the time, and one of their friends, made our way as a group from Redhill down to Hellingly, a convoluted journey via public transport and his mother who lived in Hailsham. Honestly there are maybe four or five core memories that are forever seared into my mind, and stepping foot inside Hellingly for the first time is one of them. It was, for me, Genesis, the beginning of everything to follow and the utterly insane path my life would take over the next fifteen years, I just didn't realise it at the time.
This thread is a retrospective but also a personal thing for me, and I have spent a long time writing it. I wanted to showcase not just 'the best' but also the places that mean the most to me on a personal level for whatever reason, or places where something really memorable happened, and there are a few here that tick all three of those boxes. Over the course of fifteen years, there have been an estimated 1200 explores that I have documented, and from that the first draft of my 'list' for inclusion here sat at around 150 locations. It was very, very difficult to slowly wittle it down to 100 as I had to make some really tough choices on not showing some and keeping others in. These 100 are a mix of all three of those categories - places that are undoubtedly 'the best', ones that mean most to me personally, and some where I had truly memorable experiences. Outside of my 'top five' list I really cannot possibly begin to rank them in order, so instead the order is simply from 'genesis' (June 2009) up until now (June 2024).
Lastly, before getting on with it, I want to thank every single person I've ever explored with, whether it was just the once, whether we used to explore a lot but lost contact, or whether you're one of the few who've been there along for the ride for the whole time, you have all made it worth it.
1. Hellingly Hospital
There's no way I couldn't include this, of course. It wasn't just my first, but it was also my favourite UK asylum. Whilst I missed out on a lot of the northern ones during the dying days of the great 'age of asylums', I am proud that Hellingly was my first everything. Yes of course, there were objectively much better asylums out there to be explored, but there was nowhere quite like Hellingly. The vast hospital was one of only a few that weren't swallowed in some urban sprawl over the years and it sat in complete silence in the Sussex countryside. Being there was like being in another world, completely disconnected from the outside, especially in the days pre-smart phones and the like. The lack of any security resulted in a totally carefree experience where you could spend hours wandering the complex unchecked, and the hall...oh the hall. My favourite asylum hall, battered and bruised but so beautiful in it's decay. So many times people had tried to burn it down and it had always failed, until the bulldozers and diggers arrived in 2010. I was lucky enough to go back in November of 2009 to see basically the entire hospital when the first bits of it were being demolished and that to this day is one of my most favourite explores ever.
I have very few usable photos from that explore, or indeed many of my early ones, but here is the hall in all of it's fuzzy grainy handheld glory.
After my first weekend - which also involved a look at the outside of Cane Hill mid-demo (oh what could have been), the Peugeot spares garage next to Coulsdon station, and Fullers Earth when it was still relatively mint, I had a little hiatus, and then West Park happened.
2. West Park Hospital, Epsom
No other location has done more for me or my life choices than this incredible, infamous, wonderful asylum. After my first weekender I'll be honest it could have gone either way for me, but my six visits to West Park between August and October 2009 (the so-called 'open season') really cemented in my mind that urban exploration, or poking around derelict buildings was the silly hobby I wanted to do more often.
I had some truly memorable experiences at West Park with so many people during those few brief months, as all the old timers reading this certainly can appreciate as I think we all did at the time. Although the most memorable experience was certainly the time we returned to our cars in the nature reserve opposite only to watch as a middle aged man wearing women's clothing (and not much of it) came tearing out of the woods, jumped into his car and sped off.
3. Wispers School, Haslemere
A former girls school, which to this day forms one of the craziest moments I've ever had, after the local police turned up to do some dog training inside the building shortly after we stumbled across the caretakers cupboard filled with masks, knives and other questionable things. An epic escape occurred shortly afterwards.
Very few usable photos from this one too.
4. RAF Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire
I could write for days, and days, and days, about this place. It was my local massive stomping ground, I went here so many times with so many amazing people over the years, and saw probably more of it than most people did. Most of it was always kept pretty well secured but on this trip in January of 2010 we found more than expected to be accessible. It was scene of my first ever police encounter a few months later, we cracked the ridiculously hard hospital boiler house/incinerator a year or so later, I wangled a permission visit to the Commissioned Officers Club in 2011 which almost nobody ever saw, and I spent innumerable hours wandering the corridors and rooms of the school which had been derelict since the 1980s and was home to the infamous indoor beach volleyball court.
5. NGTE Pyestock, Fleet
I don't think I need to say anything about this place that hasn't already been said, better, by others.
My biggest regret in exploring is not going back to see it in 2012 when I had my DSLR/wide angle setup.
6. BIBRA, Carshalton
BIBRA, or to give it it's full name, the British Industrial Biological Research Association laboratory in Carshalton, a truly infamous place for those who knew of it. Sealed like a fortress 99% of the time and with an alarm system reportedly wired straight into the local police station, our escape from here after setting off an alarm in a stairwell was both comical and epic in it's timing. Very few people ever managed this place, and although my photos were jank I'm glad to have seen at least part of it. Afterwards we went to Fullers Earth in the pouring rain and ruined the Redhill McDonald's.
7. Courage Brewery, Reading
At the end of 2010 I upgraded my camera to a Fujifilm bridge camera which I used for less than a year before getting my first DSLR setup, but I used it to see some awesome places like Reading's Courage Brewery, which had a painfully short life on the exploring circuit with it being demolished in 2011. This place was ridiculously relaxed for an enormous brewery with all the power still on, every single door was unlocked, no signs of any security or anything, whereas nowadays it's the sort of location that would be crawling with security or PID towers. It just shows how much the landscape has changed over the years.
8. Centre For Human Sciences, Farnborough
Located about a mile and a half from Pyestock, it's sister site that went largely ignored and not explored by many apart from a select few. The CHS was used to test military equipment on live human subjects in simulated real-world conditions, and it was an amazing place. A sprawling mass of huge anonymous looking 1950s buildings that hid inside them two massive climatic cold chambers, two heat chambers, an anechoic chamber, mock-up fighter plane cockpits and all sorts of other goodness. Oh, and at the time the only operational human centrifuge in the country, which is now a museum in the middle of a housing estate.
On our first visit here we were eventually caught by two security guards who had been sent from QinetiQ's HQ as we had been spotted on a security camera nosing around the centrifuge building, we thought we were going to be given the biggest bollocking of our lives but they were absolutely the nicest security guards I've ever met.
9. Water Eaton Grain Silo, Oxford
My local not so big haunt and another spot I wish beyond words that I could see again. I went here countless times with and without my camera with so many different people, explorers, random friends, on my own, you name it. On St. George's Day 2011 we hung a huge England flag off the side of it, and a year later for the royal wedding we decked the whole building out in Union Jack flags and bunting, some of which stayed attached until it was demolished in 2013.
Going here on my own one morning after a fairly substantial snowfall shortly before Christmas in 2010 is one of my absolute favourite exploring memories of my entire life.
10. Mitchell Grieve Needle Works, Coalville
An epic, dated factory filled with all sorts of wonderful stuff, which was only really explorable for the very short period of time between the alarms being turned off and the entire place being demolished. I believe there is still nothing built on where it stood, a full 13 years later.
11. Denbigh Hospital, North Wales
I couldn't not include this place, really. It only made my shortlist because it was the day of the utterly ridiculous encounter with Beardy which ended with him chasing us onto the road outside and the dog taking a dislike to someone's arm. Oh, and we got up the Admin tower, which was the sketchiest thing I have ever done and may well still be, death trap doesn't even begin to cover it.
12. RAF Bicester, Oxfordshire
My other local massive haunt, and the first place I ever shot with a DSLR. RAF Bicester is one of the most complete, unmodernised pre-Second World War bases in the country, home to a Bomber Command squadron during the war, and all-round awesome explore. Another place I visited many times with different people, my final visit was conducted on a boring Christmas Eve in 2011 when we decided to have a mooch around the former communal side which in later life was home to DLO Caversfield, where a lot of military clothing was sent to be tested.
I had absolutely no idea how to work a DSLR at this point.
13. RAF Greenham Common, Berkshire
Sitting on top of the nuclear missile silos whilst the sun came up, after using a telescopic ladder to climb over three fences, was one of the most incredible moments of my life.
I had slightly more of an idea how to use a DSLR at this point.
14. Great Tew Manor, Oxfordshire
Another local spot which unlike the others so far has had a very long shelf life. I went here a great many times again, and saw it go from a building filled with oddities and small curios and interesting items to a bare shell filled with dodgy floors and outright collapsed parts, it's still incredible though.
15. Central Hydraulic Tower, Birkenhead
Going up this absolute deathtrap of a place in the middle of the night when it was blowing a gale outside was an amazing, if somewhat foolish, thing to do. The staircases and ladders in this place, even back in 2011, were verging on scary. It's still there, although I think all the staircases and ladders have gone.
16. Mobil Oil Grease Blending Plant, Birkenhead
One of my favourite industrial explores I've ever done. A vast complex, totally rebuilt in the 1950s after it was bombed to oblivion in the Second World War, filled with masses of stuff to see and loads of original machinery left behind in the blending tower. These sort of places are so few and far between now it's pretty sad.
17. GKN, Smethwick
Another place I paid many visits to over the course of a few years. The vast maze of tunnels and rooms once formed the basement of the GKN Fasteners factory, it was never a 'shadow factory' as is often repeated, but it's a place I really liked. It's also still there, in much the same shape. Going there in the pouring rain on one visit was great if a little silly, the amount of water pouring into the tunnels from all the holes gave the place an incredible atmosphere and biblical noise.
18. Tone Mills Dyehouse, Wellington
Another spot I simply could not miss off anything. I've been here at least half a dozen times over the years and even though it got steadily more tagged and ruined it's without doubt one of the all-time greats, a true 'time capsule' (god I hate that phrase) and I have always loved shooting it.
I had acquired a Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 by this point, I've been using it ever since - it's the single longest lasting piece of equipment I've ever owned, and despite me doing my best to kill it a few times it's still soldiering on twelve and a half years later.
19. Mansfield General Hospital, Mansfield (duh)
Simply one of the best derelict hospitals there ever was. Gloriously dated, seriously decayed, filled with all manner of 'stuff', and with some truly ridiculous security measures including probably the entire supply of Heras fencing in Nottinghamshire scattered around the outside. Getting in involved climbing over a fence which left you within touching distance of and at eye level with the bedrooms of the neighbouring houses.
However if you knew and were privy to the information (and I was), the security guard who lived opposite the front gate was perfectly happy to let explorers in as he knew we weren't the ones ruining it. He was a sound guy, who even kicked open the door into the mortuary for us, which he'd recently sealed! Then after a couple of hours he decided to come inside and give his dog a bit of 'scent training' following our scents around, which did come as a bit of a shock to us when he suddenly appeared in the x-ray department corridor with an Alsatian.
Like I said before, it was a different world back then.
20. ECVB, Belgium
This probably wouldn't have made my list were it not for a really crazy story. So I embarked on my first international trip with my good friend Adam, and after a couple of days rocked up behind ECVB, for some uncomfortable sleep in the car before trying it early the next day. After we got ready we crossed the railway lines at the back of the site, Adam threw himself over the fence first and I followed a few seconds later. The trouble started when I realised that those few extra steps I had taken had put me on the other side of an internal fence to Adam, and then I looked to my left and realised the pipes I was standing on were in the process of being cut up by a crew of workmen about 100 feet away. Sheepishly I made my way over the internal fence to join Adam, perplexed at why nobody had shouted or at least made some effort to stop me. After a minute or so one of the guys wandered over and through the language barrier we kind of reached an understanding of sorts, he went back to his work, and we went about getting into the old part of the power station that housed the museum in later life. Sadly due to the workmen on site we didn't feel comfortable climbing back over the internal fence to push our luck too much.
Unfortunately my photos from here were shocking, as I had misplaced my tripod (left it at home), and the lighting was awful. But looking back on these photos now I'm very happy I got to see the 'lesser seen' part of ECVB.
21. Monceau Power Station (IM), Belgium
One I am very very happy I got to see whilst it was still mint, although I'm still bitter about missing the old control room - we just couldn't find it! A literal open door explore, a truly classic Belgium experience where nobody seemed to give a crap what you did.
22. Foster Bros. Oil & Cake Mill, Gloucester
Possibly my favourite mill in the country. It was just so nice, completely intact, and relatively local to me. I went here twice, before it was burned to the ground in a huge fire.
23. Bass Maltings, Sleaford
I love maltings for similar reasons to my love of mills, and it doesn't get any better than the one in Sleaford. Serious case of right place right time for me, as all the good stuff was open, and we didn't see anything of any security for the whole time we were there.
I've always wanted to go back, but the distance and the fact it's usually kept very well secured now has put me off.
24. Val Benoit University Mechanics Institute, Liege, Belgium
Art Deco is my favourite architectural style, and so on my second trip to the continent seeing the enormous entirely Art Deco Mechanics Institute campus in Liege became a must. It really didn't disappoint, even though we only saw a couple of the buildings. Thankfully the collection of five huge buildings was saved and is now completely renovated I believe.
Almost immediately after we left the site it began to snow, and then kept snowing for the rest of the week long trip, it really was an amazing week.
25. Clock House Brickworks, Capel
Up there with the best brickworks in the country before it was all ripped out, it's still there but is now just a huge empty shed filled with graffiti. As is standard the place was a walk in whilst it was mint, and then the palisade fence went up only after it had been pikeyed to within an inch of it's life.
26. Cwm Coke, Beddau
A classic, which is still somehow alive and kicking today. Headed here at some ungodly time one summer morning in order to stand the best chance of avoiding the sporadic security who liked to appear at random at the time, and had a really good morning with the whole place completely to ourselves.
27. Chateau Burrus aka Lumiere, France
Arguably the continent's greatest ever derelict chateau. Vacated at some point in the 1980s, and despite how well known it was it's position in a small village deep into France meant it was a mission in itself to get to for many. I had wanted to see it ever since I began exploring and finally found the time and the means to do so during a baking hot roadtrip in July 2014. Having to deal with a random bout of apparent food poisoning on the way down though wasn't the nicest though, but I didn't let it put me off when we arrived and my ailments had eased somewhat. Shortly after my visit, the mirror in the central hall was smashed by some drunk locals and it was never quite the same. It was recently sold and is in the process of being renovated into a wedding and events venue.
28. HF6 Blast Furnace, Seraing, Belgium
10/10 all time classic Belgian explore. Another I had wanted to see for forever, I had tried it on both my previously Belgium trips and was foiled the first time by a random group of workers on site, and the sudden onset of a blizzard stymied the second effort, but third time was the charm and, with some unexpected help from the local homeless man who was living in a bus shelter on the perimeter of the site, we were in. Hearing him shout down the road to us in almost perfect English 'you guys want to go in there? I'll show you how' was music to my ears.
29. Klotz Throwing Company, USA
Honestly I think 2014 was the best year I had for hitting bucket list spots. Whilst making plans for my first America trip I knew that I needed to see this place by any means necessary, as it had sat at the top of my bucket list ever since I started exploring. The Klotz Throwing Company, better known as Lonaconing Silk Mill after the small town in Maryland where it sits, closed it's doors in 1957 after 51 years of operation, and it was left almost exactly as it was the day it closed. It is the single best 'time capsule' location to ever exist, a truly incredible, unique, wonderful location that could have so easily been lost forever were it not for the passion of the local guy who bought it in the 1970s. His efforts in preserving the building through donations and allowing photographers to roam around it for a fee saved it from certain death. Unfortunately he passed away a few years ago, which had myself and many others worried about the future of the building, but thankfully it has recently been bought by another local, who is just as passionate about the history and preserving the building, so it would appear to be safe once again.
30. U.S. Marines Hospital, USA
The high point of the most utterly ridiculous long weekend I've ever done, where I went from NYC to Albany to Memphis to Chicago in three days via a combination of airplanes and Greyhound buses with virtually no sleep, my two clearest memories of the three days were desperately trying not to fall asleep in a blues bar in Memphis, and the stripper who was sat next to my friend during the first Greyhound bus journey I ever took. By the time we got to Memphis I was struggling to function and by the time I arrived in Chicago I was pretty much the walking dead.
I have covered how I came to be involved in this weird hobby before, however for those at the back of the class who haven't been paying attention, here is a potted history of my life. Ever since I was a young child I was fascinated by ruined castles, abbeys and similar type buildings. I can remember vividly looking at photos of Whitby Abbey in a 'place to visit in Britain' type book (remember those things?) and finding myself weirdly obsessed with it (I still haven't managed to visit it...yet). Visiting places as a child like Kenilworth and Corfe castles, and the wildlife park that once sat around the derelict shell of Riber castle in Derbyshire, only served to fuel my interests in all things ruin-related. Fast forward to the turn of the millenium and we got our first dog, which we as a family would on occasion walk through the local park to a small village over the railway line, in which sat a small thatched cottage which was the stereotypical 'derelict' cottage and I was fascinated by it, of course it has long since been renovated but I can remember it so clearly even today. One fateful day in 2005 or 2006 (I forget) I was browsing the internet looking for photos of abandoned cars, which led to me discovering the 'Derelict London' website, photos of Cane Hill, and then shortly after that, this very forum.
For a few years I was very much an armchair explorer, living vicariously through the early reports on here and the updates to Derelict London. Then quite by chance, in 2009 one of my good friends I had gotten to know over the years through my other passion that consumes my time - short circuit oval racing - told me that he had been exploring stuff for years and would I like to go along with him one weekend? Of course I absolutely jumped at the chance, although I distinctly remember being quite nervous about telling my parents what I was going to be doing (they were surprisingly chill I must say). So one Thursday afternoon, after my last A-Level exam, I hopped on a train from Oxford to Redhill and then, the next day, me and my friend, his girlfriend of the time, and one of their friends, made our way as a group from Redhill down to Hellingly, a convoluted journey via public transport and his mother who lived in Hailsham. Honestly there are maybe four or five core memories that are forever seared into my mind, and stepping foot inside Hellingly for the first time is one of them. It was, for me, Genesis, the beginning of everything to follow and the utterly insane path my life would take over the next fifteen years, I just didn't realise it at the time.
This thread is a retrospective but also a personal thing for me, and I have spent a long time writing it. I wanted to showcase not just 'the best' but also the places that mean the most to me on a personal level for whatever reason, or places where something really memorable happened, and there are a few here that tick all three of those boxes. Over the course of fifteen years, there have been an estimated 1200 explores that I have documented, and from that the first draft of my 'list' for inclusion here sat at around 150 locations. It was very, very difficult to slowly wittle it down to 100 as I had to make some really tough choices on not showing some and keeping others in. These 100 are a mix of all three of those categories - places that are undoubtedly 'the best', ones that mean most to me personally, and some where I had truly memorable experiences. Outside of my 'top five' list I really cannot possibly begin to rank them in order, so instead the order is simply from 'genesis' (June 2009) up until now (June 2024).
Lastly, before getting on with it, I want to thank every single person I've ever explored with, whether it was just the once, whether we used to explore a lot but lost contact, or whether you're one of the few who've been there along for the ride for the whole time, you have all made it worth it.
1. Hellingly Hospital
There's no way I couldn't include this, of course. It wasn't just my first, but it was also my favourite UK asylum. Whilst I missed out on a lot of the northern ones during the dying days of the great 'age of asylums', I am proud that Hellingly was my first everything. Yes of course, there were objectively much better asylums out there to be explored, but there was nowhere quite like Hellingly. The vast hospital was one of only a few that weren't swallowed in some urban sprawl over the years and it sat in complete silence in the Sussex countryside. Being there was like being in another world, completely disconnected from the outside, especially in the days pre-smart phones and the like. The lack of any security resulted in a totally carefree experience where you could spend hours wandering the complex unchecked, and the hall...oh the hall. My favourite asylum hall, battered and bruised but so beautiful in it's decay. So many times people had tried to burn it down and it had always failed, until the bulldozers and diggers arrived in 2010. I was lucky enough to go back in November of 2009 to see basically the entire hospital when the first bits of it were being demolished and that to this day is one of my most favourite explores ever.
I have very few usable photos from that explore, or indeed many of my early ones, but here is the hall in all of it's fuzzy grainy handheld glory.
After my first weekend - which also involved a look at the outside of Cane Hill mid-demo (oh what could have been), the Peugeot spares garage next to Coulsdon station, and Fullers Earth when it was still relatively mint, I had a little hiatus, and then West Park happened.
2. West Park Hospital, Epsom
No other location has done more for me or my life choices than this incredible, infamous, wonderful asylum. After my first weekender I'll be honest it could have gone either way for me, but my six visits to West Park between August and October 2009 (the so-called 'open season') really cemented in my mind that urban exploration, or poking around derelict buildings was the silly hobby I wanted to do more often.
I had some truly memorable experiences at West Park with so many people during those few brief months, as all the old timers reading this certainly can appreciate as I think we all did at the time. Although the most memorable experience was certainly the time we returned to our cars in the nature reserve opposite only to watch as a middle aged man wearing women's clothing (and not much of it) came tearing out of the woods, jumped into his car and sped off.
3. Wispers School, Haslemere
A former girls school, which to this day forms one of the craziest moments I've ever had, after the local police turned up to do some dog training inside the building shortly after we stumbled across the caretakers cupboard filled with masks, knives and other questionable things. An epic escape occurred shortly afterwards.
Very few usable photos from this one too.
4. RAF Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire
I could write for days, and days, and days, about this place. It was my local massive stomping ground, I went here so many times with so many amazing people over the years, and saw probably more of it than most people did. Most of it was always kept pretty well secured but on this trip in January of 2010 we found more than expected to be accessible. It was scene of my first ever police encounter a few months later, we cracked the ridiculously hard hospital boiler house/incinerator a year or so later, I wangled a permission visit to the Commissioned Officers Club in 2011 which almost nobody ever saw, and I spent innumerable hours wandering the corridors and rooms of the school which had been derelict since the 1980s and was home to the infamous indoor beach volleyball court.
5. NGTE Pyestock, Fleet
I don't think I need to say anything about this place that hasn't already been said, better, by others.
My biggest regret in exploring is not going back to see it in 2012 when I had my DSLR/wide angle setup.
6. BIBRA, Carshalton
BIBRA, or to give it it's full name, the British Industrial Biological Research Association laboratory in Carshalton, a truly infamous place for those who knew of it. Sealed like a fortress 99% of the time and with an alarm system reportedly wired straight into the local police station, our escape from here after setting off an alarm in a stairwell was both comical and epic in it's timing. Very few people ever managed this place, and although my photos were jank I'm glad to have seen at least part of it. Afterwards we went to Fullers Earth in the pouring rain and ruined the Redhill McDonald's.
7. Courage Brewery, Reading
At the end of 2010 I upgraded my camera to a Fujifilm bridge camera which I used for less than a year before getting my first DSLR setup, but I used it to see some awesome places like Reading's Courage Brewery, which had a painfully short life on the exploring circuit with it being demolished in 2011. This place was ridiculously relaxed for an enormous brewery with all the power still on, every single door was unlocked, no signs of any security or anything, whereas nowadays it's the sort of location that would be crawling with security or PID towers. It just shows how much the landscape has changed over the years.
8. Centre For Human Sciences, Farnborough
Located about a mile and a half from Pyestock, it's sister site that went largely ignored and not explored by many apart from a select few. The CHS was used to test military equipment on live human subjects in simulated real-world conditions, and it was an amazing place. A sprawling mass of huge anonymous looking 1950s buildings that hid inside them two massive climatic cold chambers, two heat chambers, an anechoic chamber, mock-up fighter plane cockpits and all sorts of other goodness. Oh, and at the time the only operational human centrifuge in the country, which is now a museum in the middle of a housing estate.
On our first visit here we were eventually caught by two security guards who had been sent from QinetiQ's HQ as we had been spotted on a security camera nosing around the centrifuge building, we thought we were going to be given the biggest bollocking of our lives but they were absolutely the nicest security guards I've ever met.
9. Water Eaton Grain Silo, Oxford
My local not so big haunt and another spot I wish beyond words that I could see again. I went here countless times with and without my camera with so many different people, explorers, random friends, on my own, you name it. On St. George's Day 2011 we hung a huge England flag off the side of it, and a year later for the royal wedding we decked the whole building out in Union Jack flags and bunting, some of which stayed attached until it was demolished in 2013.
Going here on my own one morning after a fairly substantial snowfall shortly before Christmas in 2010 is one of my absolute favourite exploring memories of my entire life.
10. Mitchell Grieve Needle Works, Coalville
An epic, dated factory filled with all sorts of wonderful stuff, which was only really explorable for the very short period of time between the alarms being turned off and the entire place being demolished. I believe there is still nothing built on where it stood, a full 13 years later.
11. Denbigh Hospital, North Wales
I couldn't not include this place, really. It only made my shortlist because it was the day of the utterly ridiculous encounter with Beardy which ended with him chasing us onto the road outside and the dog taking a dislike to someone's arm. Oh, and we got up the Admin tower, which was the sketchiest thing I have ever done and may well still be, death trap doesn't even begin to cover it.
12. RAF Bicester, Oxfordshire
My other local massive haunt, and the first place I ever shot with a DSLR. RAF Bicester is one of the most complete, unmodernised pre-Second World War bases in the country, home to a Bomber Command squadron during the war, and all-round awesome explore. Another place I visited many times with different people, my final visit was conducted on a boring Christmas Eve in 2011 when we decided to have a mooch around the former communal side which in later life was home to DLO Caversfield, where a lot of military clothing was sent to be tested.
I had absolutely no idea how to work a DSLR at this point.
13. RAF Greenham Common, Berkshire
Sitting on top of the nuclear missile silos whilst the sun came up, after using a telescopic ladder to climb over three fences, was one of the most incredible moments of my life.
I had slightly more of an idea how to use a DSLR at this point.
14. Great Tew Manor, Oxfordshire
Another local spot which unlike the others so far has had a very long shelf life. I went here a great many times again, and saw it go from a building filled with oddities and small curios and interesting items to a bare shell filled with dodgy floors and outright collapsed parts, it's still incredible though.
15. Central Hydraulic Tower, Birkenhead
Going up this absolute deathtrap of a place in the middle of the night when it was blowing a gale outside was an amazing, if somewhat foolish, thing to do. The staircases and ladders in this place, even back in 2011, were verging on scary. It's still there, although I think all the staircases and ladders have gone.
16. Mobil Oil Grease Blending Plant, Birkenhead
One of my favourite industrial explores I've ever done. A vast complex, totally rebuilt in the 1950s after it was bombed to oblivion in the Second World War, filled with masses of stuff to see and loads of original machinery left behind in the blending tower. These sort of places are so few and far between now it's pretty sad.
17. GKN, Smethwick
Another place I paid many visits to over the course of a few years. The vast maze of tunnels and rooms once formed the basement of the GKN Fasteners factory, it was never a 'shadow factory' as is often repeated, but it's a place I really liked. It's also still there, in much the same shape. Going there in the pouring rain on one visit was great if a little silly, the amount of water pouring into the tunnels from all the holes gave the place an incredible atmosphere and biblical noise.
18. Tone Mills Dyehouse, Wellington
Another spot I simply could not miss off anything. I've been here at least half a dozen times over the years and even though it got steadily more tagged and ruined it's without doubt one of the all-time greats, a true 'time capsule' (god I hate that phrase) and I have always loved shooting it.
I had acquired a Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 by this point, I've been using it ever since - it's the single longest lasting piece of equipment I've ever owned, and despite me doing my best to kill it a few times it's still soldiering on twelve and a half years later.
19. Mansfield General Hospital, Mansfield (duh)
Simply one of the best derelict hospitals there ever was. Gloriously dated, seriously decayed, filled with all manner of 'stuff', and with some truly ridiculous security measures including probably the entire supply of Heras fencing in Nottinghamshire scattered around the outside. Getting in involved climbing over a fence which left you within touching distance of and at eye level with the bedrooms of the neighbouring houses.
However if you knew and were privy to the information (and I was), the security guard who lived opposite the front gate was perfectly happy to let explorers in as he knew we weren't the ones ruining it. He was a sound guy, who even kicked open the door into the mortuary for us, which he'd recently sealed! Then after a couple of hours he decided to come inside and give his dog a bit of 'scent training' following our scents around, which did come as a bit of a shock to us when he suddenly appeared in the x-ray department corridor with an Alsatian.
Like I said before, it was a different world back then.
20. ECVB, Belgium
This probably wouldn't have made my list were it not for a really crazy story. So I embarked on my first international trip with my good friend Adam, and after a couple of days rocked up behind ECVB, for some uncomfortable sleep in the car before trying it early the next day. After we got ready we crossed the railway lines at the back of the site, Adam threw himself over the fence first and I followed a few seconds later. The trouble started when I realised that those few extra steps I had taken had put me on the other side of an internal fence to Adam, and then I looked to my left and realised the pipes I was standing on were in the process of being cut up by a crew of workmen about 100 feet away. Sheepishly I made my way over the internal fence to join Adam, perplexed at why nobody had shouted or at least made some effort to stop me. After a minute or so one of the guys wandered over and through the language barrier we kind of reached an understanding of sorts, he went back to his work, and we went about getting into the old part of the power station that housed the museum in later life. Sadly due to the workmen on site we didn't feel comfortable climbing back over the internal fence to push our luck too much.
Unfortunately my photos from here were shocking, as I had misplaced my tripod (left it at home), and the lighting was awful. But looking back on these photos now I'm very happy I got to see the 'lesser seen' part of ECVB.
21. Monceau Power Station (IM), Belgium
One I am very very happy I got to see whilst it was still mint, although I'm still bitter about missing the old control room - we just couldn't find it! A literal open door explore, a truly classic Belgium experience where nobody seemed to give a crap what you did.
22. Foster Bros. Oil & Cake Mill, Gloucester
Possibly my favourite mill in the country. It was just so nice, completely intact, and relatively local to me. I went here twice, before it was burned to the ground in a huge fire.
23. Bass Maltings, Sleaford
I love maltings for similar reasons to my love of mills, and it doesn't get any better than the one in Sleaford. Serious case of right place right time for me, as all the good stuff was open, and we didn't see anything of any security for the whole time we were there.
I've always wanted to go back, but the distance and the fact it's usually kept very well secured now has put me off.
24. Val Benoit University Mechanics Institute, Liege, Belgium
Art Deco is my favourite architectural style, and so on my second trip to the continent seeing the enormous entirely Art Deco Mechanics Institute campus in Liege became a must. It really didn't disappoint, even though we only saw a couple of the buildings. Thankfully the collection of five huge buildings was saved and is now completely renovated I believe.
Almost immediately after we left the site it began to snow, and then kept snowing for the rest of the week long trip, it really was an amazing week.
25. Clock House Brickworks, Capel
Up there with the best brickworks in the country before it was all ripped out, it's still there but is now just a huge empty shed filled with graffiti. As is standard the place was a walk in whilst it was mint, and then the palisade fence went up only after it had been pikeyed to within an inch of it's life.
26. Cwm Coke, Beddau
A classic, which is still somehow alive and kicking today. Headed here at some ungodly time one summer morning in order to stand the best chance of avoiding the sporadic security who liked to appear at random at the time, and had a really good morning with the whole place completely to ourselves.
27. Chateau Burrus aka Lumiere, France
Arguably the continent's greatest ever derelict chateau. Vacated at some point in the 1980s, and despite how well known it was it's position in a small village deep into France meant it was a mission in itself to get to for many. I had wanted to see it ever since I began exploring and finally found the time and the means to do so during a baking hot roadtrip in July 2014. Having to deal with a random bout of apparent food poisoning on the way down though wasn't the nicest though, but I didn't let it put me off when we arrived and my ailments had eased somewhat. Shortly after my visit, the mirror in the central hall was smashed by some drunk locals and it was never quite the same. It was recently sold and is in the process of being renovated into a wedding and events venue.
28. HF6 Blast Furnace, Seraing, Belgium
10/10 all time classic Belgian explore. Another I had wanted to see for forever, I had tried it on both my previously Belgium trips and was foiled the first time by a random group of workers on site, and the sudden onset of a blizzard stymied the second effort, but third time was the charm and, with some unexpected help from the local homeless man who was living in a bus shelter on the perimeter of the site, we were in. Hearing him shout down the road to us in almost perfect English 'you guys want to go in there? I'll show you how' was music to my ears.
29. Klotz Throwing Company, USA
Honestly I think 2014 was the best year I had for hitting bucket list spots. Whilst making plans for my first America trip I knew that I needed to see this place by any means necessary, as it had sat at the top of my bucket list ever since I started exploring. The Klotz Throwing Company, better known as Lonaconing Silk Mill after the small town in Maryland where it sits, closed it's doors in 1957 after 51 years of operation, and it was left almost exactly as it was the day it closed. It is the single best 'time capsule' location to ever exist, a truly incredible, unique, wonderful location that could have so easily been lost forever were it not for the passion of the local guy who bought it in the 1970s. His efforts in preserving the building through donations and allowing photographers to roam around it for a fee saved it from certain death. Unfortunately he passed away a few years ago, which had myself and many others worried about the future of the building, but thankfully it has recently been bought by another local, who is just as passionate about the history and preserving the building, so it would appear to be safe once again.
30. U.S. Marines Hospital, USA
The high point of the most utterly ridiculous long weekend I've ever done, where I went from NYC to Albany to Memphis to Chicago in three days via a combination of airplanes and Greyhound buses with virtually no sleep, my two clearest memories of the three days were desperately trying not to fall asleep in a blues bar in Memphis, and the stripper who was sat next to my friend during the first Greyhound bus journey I ever took. By the time we got to Memphis I was struggling to function and by the time I arrived in Chicago I was pretty much the walking dead.
