Schools Out, Forever - June 2016

Having popped by this old village school back in April  Zer081, Tbolt and myself took another sneaky look at this old village school again as we passed the area.

The building had gone down hill very quickly with signs of vandalism and a failed attempt of arson.

I still rather like this place.


Follow @fragglehunter

A Closed Synagogue - September 2015

I try to avoid return visits to most places, mostly as I am generally shocked and saddened by the vandals and halfwits that pillage. Having first visited this place back in March 2014, It was a reluctant return visit with Tbolt and the intrepid gentleman explorer known only as Blacksnake.



No external shots as such on this visit, on with a few shots












Yep, this place has still got it and remains that little bit special 7/10

Follow @fragglehunter

Williamsons, Oldham, Lancashire - May 2015

Williamsons' had been trading since 1920, then one day in 2013 they didn't open for business.

Hardware supplies, fire and rescue equipment, conveyor systems and fork handles - they sold it all - but sadly no more.

 

Time for a visit from Team Weasel - Zer081, myself and the one only known as The Judderman.

With a previous recce by Judderman months ago amounting to a no go, this had been on the to do list for a while. Heads up from Trousercowboy, a big thanks must be given. Judderman got all excited for he is a lover of nicknacks and the precious little things that are to be found in local shops for local people.

Having noted this place sold everything, we entered in our usual geriatric fashion with big cheesy grins.



Lots of bits in this place, lots of hidden rooms - up and down and left and right and "oh look yet another little bit".



 

 

Turning a corner upstairs and by jove ! I stumbled across two fine Chaps Tbolt and Underdog snapping away, an unexpected pleasure if ever there was one.












Stables, legend has it you can smell a hundred years of shit, sadly this day it was odor free.





 





I've missed out loads (seriously loads of stuff) and you need to visit this place and soon - sadly the roof has been stripped and the place will go down hill rapidly.

Wide angle lens a must for the nooks and crannies - which sadly I don't own.

Follow @fragglehunter

RAF Stenigot, Lincolnshire - April 2015

On the list on places you have to visit if your one of us weird urban explorers is Raf Stenigot.

Somewhere between the asylums that you must visit and them there dark satanic mills of Northern England is Raf Stenigot, for some reason it is written down in the rules of UK Urbex that you must visit this farmers field.

 

On top of a hill, in a farmers field in Lincolnshire are 4 f**k off parabolic dishes. Now this, I am told, is very common in Eastern Europe to find such paraphernalia littering the countyside - but this is England !!

Built in 1940 as part of a Chain Home radar station, RAF Stenigot was in simple terms a long range early warning system for air raids from the German Hun, primarily Luftflotte V and Luftflotte II attacks on the Midlands, Sheffield and Nottingham.

Are we allowed to use the word Hun these days ?? No ? Fritz ? I suspect not.





"Bull in Field", not a good sign to see normally, however the referenced beast was in fact on the loose on the main road and currently admiring itself in the wing mirrors of my car. A nice large hairy bovine with reasonably sized horns, strangely not attracted to my rather red jacket.











Pilgrimage done, time to move that bull along.

 

8/10 simples and strangely rather satisfying.

Follow @fragglehunter

Vue Cinema, Pilsworth - December 2014

This 12 screen multiplex cinema opened in 1989 as a Warner Bros, re-branded as Vue in 2004, finally closing July 2010.

In March 1996 the cinema hosted the UK premiere of the John Travolta/ Christian Slater blockbuster Broken Arrow - sadly neither Travolta or Slater turned up, but thankfully John Leslie and Sonya did.

So as 2014 drew to a close up popped this little gem, we had been very patiently waiting, watching the grass and moss grow around the place for years.
 

 - and then photos appeared....

Weeks passed, with one thing and another we didn't get there, by the time we did the metal fairies and local vandals had trashed the place.

This is what we found, myself, Jdub, Urban Spaceman and a rather pleasant new chap on the scene, Shucky. With tales of roaming metal fairies safety in numbers was order of the day.



First off its a cinema, it is dark, tripod and light painting are the themes of the day, oh to repeat it is dark, very dark and I would not recommend a solo, you wouldn't want to meet anyone dodgy here.











A few of the auditoriums had been stripped bare, seats and all, thankfully not all.









 



Alas the show was over, time to leave, it had been kicking off down at the Pick n Mix.





Jolly good fun after an extended break from mooching, also interesting to note that at its time of closure in 2010 it was turning over £71,000 a week in nacho, popcorn and hotdogs sales......

Follow @fragglehunter