G
Gemini
Guest
Guest
This morning I awoke with a mighty hangover. All I wanted to do all day was lay in bed, feel sorry for myself and watch crap on TV. However MrChill had other ideas. Around 11am he called me and persuaded me to get off my butt and come out exploring. He had spent the morning scouring google earth for possible former industrial sites and had a number of leads that he wanted to follow up. Grudgingly I crawled out of bed, grabbed my camera and and set off to pick him up. I had after all always wanted to see Stanley tools and it would be a great opportunity.
We entered the massive former tool manufacturer's complex, which has sat silent and empty for several years now. We tiptoed around the site checking a couple of possible entrances and looking in through windows and letter boxes. Suddenly I realized there was an old man standing right next to us. We hadn't even noticed him. We tried to flee but were caught and had to explain ourselves before leaving, defeated.
Unperturbed we headed south towards Chesterfield to visit a possible location MrChill had seen on google earth, following vague directions and a rough map with "X" marked on it.
After driving around in circles, parking up, following a footpath round in a circle and contemplating walking across a fallen tree across a river, we found our way onto a strange site which appeared to have last been used as a cold rolling mill.
Upon entering the site we passed this sign which I loved:
A building, possibly the offices for the site had been stripped out. It appeared to have been inhabited by punk squatter graffiti artists with a sever mental disorder.
"Dreaming in a world so full of shit."
This was the most disturbing.
"A boy came here who found beauty in the wretched. Now it will live in him forever."
"Dead Nation."
The rest of the site contained piles of stock, including sheets of metal, some pressed and some waiting to be pressed and piles of insulation.
The site appeared to have consisted of several large shed structures. There were still rolling machines and huge saws in the site.
After here we headed over to another site that we could see in the distance. Although there were no signs of life at the place we could not be sure it was derelict and did not venture in.
From here we could see an old farm house on top of a hill and headed up there to take a couple of pictures.
From here we could see an enormous industrial complex not far away, which was one of the originals on MrChill's list. It was back in the car and over there.
What we found when we got here was so much more than we had bargained for. The site could have been half a mile across. Made of several different buildings. Although there were floodlights in operation and there was power to the site, the grounds were littered with debris and materials. It looked like an industrial wasteland.
We made our way across the site, venturing ever deeper, listening to the rusting of plastic sheets, and wildlife on the site, including rabbits and pheasants. There was no one around and we grew ever bolder and ventured ever deeper. This place was seriously creepy though. It made no sense to leave the lights on, and machinery humming with no body there and so much material left strewn around.
This machine was so impressive. Standing so tall and menacing. We had to get near it and take more pictures.
However as we did so a car drove strait past us. We began to run but could hear the sound of very heavy footsteps chasing us. The game was up and we surrendered ourselves to a rather out of breath security guard. He was nice about it and showed us out without really saying very much and soon it was on to the pub for a post explore pint.
We entered the massive former tool manufacturer's complex, which has sat silent and empty for several years now. We tiptoed around the site checking a couple of possible entrances and looking in through windows and letter boxes. Suddenly I realized there was an old man standing right next to us. We hadn't even noticed him. We tried to flee but were caught and had to explain ourselves before leaving, defeated.
Unperturbed we headed south towards Chesterfield to visit a possible location MrChill had seen on google earth, following vague directions and a rough map with "X" marked on it.
After driving around in circles, parking up, following a footpath round in a circle and contemplating walking across a fallen tree across a river, we found our way onto a strange site which appeared to have last been used as a cold rolling mill.
Upon entering the site we passed this sign which I loved:
A building, possibly the offices for the site had been stripped out. It appeared to have been inhabited by punk squatter graffiti artists with a sever mental disorder.
"Dreaming in a world so full of shit."
This was the most disturbing.
"A boy came here who found beauty in the wretched. Now it will live in him forever."
"Dead Nation."
The rest of the site contained piles of stock, including sheets of metal, some pressed and some waiting to be pressed and piles of insulation.
The site appeared to have consisted of several large shed structures. There were still rolling machines and huge saws in the site.
After here we headed over to another site that we could see in the distance. Although there were no signs of life at the place we could not be sure it was derelict and did not venture in.
From here we could see an old farm house on top of a hill and headed up there to take a couple of pictures.
From here we could see an enormous industrial complex not far away, which was one of the originals on MrChill's list. It was back in the car and over there.
What we found when we got here was so much more than we had bargained for. The site could have been half a mile across. Made of several different buildings. Although there were floodlights in operation and there was power to the site, the grounds were littered with debris and materials. It looked like an industrial wasteland.
We made our way across the site, venturing ever deeper, listening to the rusting of plastic sheets, and wildlife on the site, including rabbits and pheasants. There was no one around and we grew ever bolder and ventured ever deeper. This place was seriously creepy though. It made no sense to leave the lights on, and machinery humming with no body there and so much material left strewn around.
This machine was so impressive. Standing so tall and menacing. We had to get near it and take more pictures.
However as we did so a car drove strait past us. We began to run but could hear the sound of very heavy footsteps chasing us. The game was up and we surrendered ourselves to a rather out of breath security guard. He was nice about it and showed us out without really saying very much and soon it was on to the pub for a post explore pint.
