Urbex
Urbex: Loundon Castle Theme Park
Jan 17th
It’s been an absolute age since I did an urbex post, so I thought I would rectify that with one I did in late 2011.
The castle
A grand castellated mansion which now forms a substantial and atmospheric ruin amongst parkland overlooking the River Irvine, Loudoun Castle was built 1804-11 incorporating portions of a 15th or 16th century keep (of which four storeys remain) to the design of architecht Archibald Elliot and is now a listed building. Known at the time as the ‘Windsor Of Scotland’ it comprised some 90 rooms and boasted a library containing over 10,000 volumes. As is the case of so many of these older buildings, there is rumour of a ley tunnel running from the castle, under the River Irvine to Cessnock Castle over a mile away. During the second world war the castle was used to house Belgian troops, till a fire starting in the library in 1941 gutted the building. A Yew tree in the grounds is reputed to be over 800 years old.
The theme park
The theme park on the site opened in 1995 and became a 4 star visitor attraction stretching over 600 acres, including 25 rides, live shows and an educational farm. The theme park however was short lived, closing as soon as 2010, which the owner put down to a number of reasons such as the increased VAT rate, and nearby publicly funded attractions such as the Burns Centre and Transport Museum in Glasgow, which were free for the public to visit. The closing of the park resulted in the loss of 11 permanent positions, and 160 seasonal jobs. The owners are still in discussions for future uses of the site, but as yet nothing has been decided.
The Pictures
~Shepy
Sold another two photographs for book covers
Jul 18th
More good news, just had another two photographs picked up to be used for book covers. This is my second for Quintin Jardine as well, which is good to see an author coming back to use my images again :)
~Shepy
Urbex: Dalton Pumping Station
Dec 27th
Dalton with chimney intact (click to enlarge)
Bestwood pumping station (click to enlarge)
Dalton grounds plan (click to enlarge)
The Architect
Thomas Hawksley was a big name in water engineering in his lifetime, with many great achievements under his belt. He worked with Lord Armstrong to invent a self-activating valve which allowed for the water pipes to be fully charged under pressure meaning water could be drawn at any time from the system. Previous to this water supplies would run intermittently due to lack of pressure and leaks (which couldn’t be isolated with valves) making them wholly unreliable. Hawksley went on to be the lead architect and engineer on no fewer than 150 water pumping stations, many of which remain to this day as grade listed buildings. Hawksley was a fan of using tried and tested designs, which can be seen in the similarities between many of his pumping stations.
The top two pictures on the right of this page show Dalton and Bestwood, where the similarities are readily obvious. Some very impressive work really from a man who was entirely self taught, and managed to get himself attached to a local architectural firm at the age of 15, continuing on to be lead engineer for a number of highly prestigious architecture firms and even to become the first president of the Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers.
The Water Company
The Sunderland & South Shields Water Company, created from an act of parliament in 1852 by combining the water boards from the two districts, were responsible for the clean water supply to a large urban conurbation. One of their primary roles was the commissioning and then operation of water pumping stations to draw water up from groundwater wells up to reservoirs on the surface. One of these pumping stations at Ryhope still remains in serviceable condition, though not in active use, and is steamed up periodically through the summer as a museum and visitor centre.
One of the pumping stations built for the Sunderland & South Shields Water Company was the Dalton Pumping Station, built between 1873 and 1879, the station was one of five built in the North East by esteemed water engineer Thomas Hawksley and the only one designed to the Venetian Gothic Revival style in the region. (Humbledon is neo-classical, Tees Cottage & Fulwell are Gothic, Cleadon is Italianate and Ryhope is Jacobean.)
The Design & Build
Many water pumping stations at the time of the build would use a Watt Steam Engine, so it was consider quite unusual when Hawksley opted for a pair of 72″ single-acting non-rotative Cornish beam engines (and Dalton is widely considered to be the only Cornish engine to have used super-heated steam). The reason for these massive engines was the need to pump the water from a depth of approximately 450ft, the first 268ft by bucket lift and then the last 182ft by ramp pump operation. When you compare this 450ft to the nearby well depth of Ryhope at only 250ft, you can understand the requirement for such engines. Though the engines were not as fuel efficient as other pumping stations, they were the right choice for working to such demanding depths.
With engines of this size, there was little choice other than to prepare the borehole, then build the engines, and then build the engine house around them once in place. The engine house also incorporates one of the earliest gantry cranes, with a 20 tons capacity which runs on cast iron tracks running above the side windows.
The engines were intended to pump water up through the limestone to a reservoir on the site, from which it could be pumped back out and supplied to Sunderland and it’s outlying areas. Hawksley didn’t wish for this utilitarian building to be too industrial, and so designed the grounds of the site to be as pleasant to look at and walk through as they were functional, arranged as a formal water garden. The grounds map on the right shows the three cooling ponds directly in front of the engine house all with ornate shapes, and the central one of which even included a fountain. The reservoir to the north of the Engine house continued this ornate theme, and all were interlinked by an array of pathways, grassed areas, trees and bushes lending the whole installation more of a feel of landscaped garden than industrial complex. The design for the grounds had 6 houses for workers of the site, two of which were full time gardeners to keep the grounds in pristine condition.
Urbex: St Joseph’s Seminary
Dec 8th
Early Years
St Joseph’s college was founded in 1880, designed to be the primary seminary priest college for the North East of England, and formally opened in 1883. The location for the college was selected as it is the perfect geographic centre for the Diocese of Liverpool, which in itself was created in 1880 as an off-spur of the Diocese of Chester. The seminary provided training and guidance in the North West through the process of being ordained for priesthood candidates, along with another similar facility at Ushaw College (also partially derelict now) which served the North East.
From the early age of 11 boys could enroll at the Junior Seminary and undertake early learning and preparation for entering the Senior Seminary at age 18. This system remained largely the way of things from it’s inception, till the Second Vatican Council, a 3 year council which resulted in radical reforms throughout the church, with it’s primary tasks being to:
- to more fully define the nature of the church and the role of the bishop;
- to renew the church;
- to restore unity among all Christians
- seeking pardon for Catholic contributions to separation;
- and to start a dialogue with the contemporary world.
Later changes
This Second Vatican Council, combined with dwindling interest and joining of the church, it was decided to combine and specialise the two main seminary sites, with St Joseph’s taking all of the junior seminary roles in 1972, followed by Ushaw taking all of the senior roles in 1975. St Joseph’s remained as a boarding school for children considering a vocation right up until 1987, and then for the final four years remained as a domecile only for the children studying a vocation at Sj John Rigby College in nearby Orrell. The building finally closed in 1991.
Famous Alumni
St Joseph’s can lay claim to several well known alumni from many walks of life through biblical scholars, politicians and even the odd celebrity, such as comedian Johnny Vegas and Paddy McAloon who went on to be the sinnger with Prefab Sprout.
Gladwell Collection
On closing the college donated it’s “Gladwell Collection” – a rare and highly valued literary collection to the Liverpool Hope University. The collection, though not grown since it’s donation in 1975, comprises of much material covering all of the topics one could expect of a seminary and college such as theology, philosophy, the church, secular and local history and contains documents dating back as far as the 16th century.
Current plans
Plans are still under consideration for conversion of the Grade 2 listed building to 92 apartments, though even this has controversy surrounding it as much of the art and artefacts of the seminary are to be marked for sale or disposal despite them originally having been donated by numerous parishes, and they return has never been offered. In the meantime the buildings have served for use as location shooting for several TV shows, including the cellars being used for a wedding for Hollyoaks.
Though I’m not a fan of religion (but that’s one for another post!), I’ve always admired the grandeur and elegance in religious architecture and buildings. So, on with the pictures (click to enlarge)
Urbex: Pirniehall School
Nov 25th
Sadly not a huge amount of information about this place on the net, so this will be a bit less informative than I would usually like, but on with what little info I could find:
Pirniehall was built originally in 1896 as a mansion house for Sir Alexander Murray, on an estate purchased from the Duke of Montrose, using stone from a Quarry a few miles away. The architects were John Archibald Campbell & Andrew Edwin Martin.
In the 1940s Pirniehall was purchased by the old Dunbarton Council Education Department, who up until the late 1970s used the building as a residential school, giving many primary pupils a week’s introduction to a simple early version of adventure activities.
During the 1970s & 80s the site was altered for use as a residential education facility before closing in 1993.
In the grounds of the school are two very tall trees, which were used by pilots during WW2 as markers to show them they were nearing their base.
Plans have been discussed for the regeneration of the nearby village of Croftamie, which would also involve the “sensitive restoration of this redundant building” which reeks of progress stamping all over history to me.
And so, on with the pics:
Urbex: Curtis Fine Paper
Nov 21st
Guardbridge started as a small village clustered around the Guard Bridge. in 1810 the Seggie Distillery, ran by William Haig, opened right next to the shore overlooking the former Harbour of Cupar. William Haig, of the famous Haig family known throughout the lowlands for their whiky trade, had trained as a distiller at Kilbagie distillery which was ran by the equally powerfull Stein family. William’s death in 1837 passed the distillery to his son John, enjoying bountiful yields through the recently introduced Coffey Still (or column still). Despite it’s output the distillery went through a series of financial problems, passing back and forth between the Haig family, until it finally closed in 1860.
The site, with it’s good transport links and ample water supply, was quickly taken over and re-used by the Kilbagie Chemical Manure company who obviously took pride in their manure, complaining about “the heartless swindle of manure companies selling trash and worse under the name of chemical manures”. Even despite their pride in their work, they also only managed to operate the site for little under 15 years.
In 1874 the site went into production as a mill, after a year of building and preparation from the site being acquired in 1873. In the first twenty-five years, Guardbridge Paper Mill grew from a single machine operation to being one of the largest in Scotland. The first machine was installed in 1873/4, with second, third and fourth machines added before the end of the 19th century. Machine number five was built in 1923 and number six added in 1952. The company was already exporting by the beginning of the 20th century.
From modest beginnings in 1873 producing 15-18 tons of paper per week, the company went on to produce high quality esparto grass paper at the rate of 230 tons per week in 1951. The 1960s was a period of serious modernisation but market and technological changes led to the merger, in 1967, of The Guard Bridge Paper Company Ltd with The Culter Mills Paper Company Ltd to form Culter Guard Bridge Holdings Ltd. By 1988 the company had become GB Papers Limited, a subsidiary of the James River Corporation of Richmond, Virginia, USA, and finally operated as Curtis Fine Papers.
In 2008 the plant closed, despite upturning profits, after a deal to sell some of it’s land fell through. The close took with it 180 jobs that this tiny community could scarcely afford to lose, and in protest the workers staged a march through nearby St Andrews, though to no avail.
Two of the buildings on the site, named as Kilbagie House and Kilbagie Mill House, are listed though what will happen to the rest of the site remains to be seen.
And so, on with some pictures (all click-able to enlarge):
Photography: More Flight Around Newcastle
Oct 8th
Following on from my previous post, here are a few more images from a recent flight around Newcastle and the North East.
Tyne and Newcastle
Sage and Tyne Bridge
St James's Park
Central Station
High Level, Swing and Tyne Bridges
Millennium Bridge
Newcastle Quayside
Tynemouth Priory
St Mary's Lighthouse
St Mary's Asylum
The last one was a particular favourite, as it’s one of the sites I have explored for urbex many times :)
~Shepy
Another photo sold for book cover
Jun 18th
More good news today, had another one of my images used for a book cover. Really quite happy about this one as it is one of my urbex photos used this time, rather than one of the the more ‘normal’ shots. The shot was taken at Paton’s Mill in Scotland, sadly mostly burned down now. Here is the original image, and the cover sent from the publishers.
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Sadly nowhere online that i can see is showing the new cover design yet, but as its just out of design it could take a while to be updated in most places.
The rest of the photos from that photo shoot can be seen in my Paton’s Mill gallery and in case you missed the last book cover post, it can be found here.
~Shepy
Urbex: Broadford Works
Jun 6th
The Broadford works in Aberdeen has at times had a chequered past, whilst also enjoying many ‘firsts’ and remarkable attributes in its history spanning over more than two centuries. The mill occupies a massive site of over 32,000 square meters right in the centre of Aberdeen, though this has expanded over the years from the initial buildings.
Scott Brown & Co (of Angus) commissioned the initial fireproof brick and stone mill building in 1808 which would go on to become the oldest iron-framed mill in Scotland and the fourth oldest known to survive in the world. Rather aptly this initial building would later to be known as the ‘Old Mill’ to those at Broadford works as others were added to the site. Scott Brown & Co would operate the company here until 1811 when bankruptcy forced the sale of the mill to Sir John Maberly MP, a man credited with the introduction of Jute (a fiberous plant easily spun into threads) to the UK, and also the gentleman after whom the street the mill is on is named after .
The mill underwent massive overhaul and improvements with Maberly starting with gas lighting being installed in 1814-1815, making it the first gas lit industrial complex in Scotland. This gas lighting installation was put in place by Boulton & Watt, a firm which employed William Murdoch who is widely recognised as the pioneer of the gas lighting process played a massive part in the industrial revolution (alongside the Watt Steam Engine, from the same firm) by allowing factories to remain open into the dark evenings, and eventually escalated him to partner in the firm of Boulton & Watt.
Maberly further expanded the production capabilities of the company with the construction of the South Mill from 1820 to 1830, adding a second fireproof spinning mill to the site. This new building was required in part to house the 200 power-looms installed for linen manufacture making it only the second power loom installation in Scotland, looms which continued to operate uninterrupted until at least 1911.
Sadly money worries would hit the mill again in 1834 when Maberly was also declared bankrupt after years of financial wrangling an misgivings, and the works were taken up by Richard’s & Co who already had several sites in Montrose and Rubislaw working in the manufacture of tarpaulins and fire hoses, and would operate the Broadford Works till its eventual closure.
Richards & Co operated a thriving business from the site, employing over 3,000 people at the peak in the early 20th century, and claiming it the title of the largest single employer in Aberdeen. The company made permanent changes to the Aberdeen skyline with the first of the three tallest structures on the site in 1862-1864 when they built the square chimney at the North West corner. Additional weaving sheds, flax warehouses, joiner workshops, boiler houses and more would all be built in the time of operation and expansion by Richards & Co, including a complete re-roofing of the three main mills in 1922-1923. The second tall structure, the red brick tower, was initially used in the extraction of dust from the brick mill, however later being converted for use in the lining of fire hoses with latex. To aid in this process, it would be later joined by a second tower of concrete construction in 1960.
Richards began also to fail financially, with a deficit of over £5m in their pension scheme in November 2004 they finally went into liquidation. The workers of the mill only found this out when their wages were not paid into their accounts and in the following days the supplies and deliveries to the site started to dry up too. There were stories in the press at the time of ex-workers of the site attempting to make a co-operative bid to buy out and re-open the site, a move which was backed financially by the mill’s suppliers and based on the assertion from the workers that the order books were full. Sadly this never occurred and the site, as with so many derelicts, has gradually decayed and fallen derelict since then, including a significant fire in one of the upper floors on June 20th 2009. Presently there are plans submitted to convert the site to an approximately 400 home ‘urban’ village, but this has not begun yet.
And so, on with the pictures:
The rest of the images from the day can be seen in my urbex gallery.
As always, comments and suggestions welcome :)
~Shepy
Urbex: St Mary’s Asylum
Mar 8th
This is a site I’ve explored many times, probably one of the sites I have explored the most in fact, but yet it still manages to throw up new things when you go off the beaten track a little bit. After seeing a pic by a friend of something I hadnt seen, i decided to head back up there and poke about some more. Click images to enlarge.
 A private room in St Mary's Asylum |
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 A nicely decayed bathroom in St Mary's Asylum |
 A discarded chair at St Mary's Asylum |
 Upstairs or down, St Mary's Asylum |
 Radiator and lights, St Mary's Asylum |
 Rotting corridor, St Mary's Asylum |
 Rusting radiator, St Mary's Asyl |
 Trio of radiators, St Mary's Asylum |
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The rest of the set can be seen in my gallery by clicking here
As ever, comments and suggestions welcome.
~Shepy