2015 - The Year of Trans-Atlantic Decay - Thread

Well my weekend plans went thoroughly tits-up so here, a little earlier than planned, is my 2015 highlights review thing. I gotta do something to try and not have the disappointment of this weekend overshadow what was an exceptional year.

I can state without any shadow of a doubt that this has been my best year ever since I began actively exploring in 2009. In January I set myself the goal of exploring 100 locations and although it looked a bit unlikely at times throughout the year I managed to succeed, and my final count was, I think, 106. Of that total, 43 were spread over two trips across the Atlantic and the remaining 63 were all over the UK. I made my first ever trip north of the borders into both Canada and Scotland, saw some locations on both sides of the Atlantic that had been on my 'to do' list for years, saw some incredible places I never knew existed and revisited a few old favourites along the way. I happened to meet many great new people including EsseXploreR and Ganesha off here, as well as an amazing group of new friends in Chicago and new people in the Buffalo area to add to my already pretty large group of friends out that way.

Next year's goal is 100 different locations I haven't explored before, so no revisits will count. I don't think I will manage it but you never know.

Grab a beer or some food or something because this is going to be a long one. If I have something interesting to say about the locations I'll try and sum it up as well.

1. I kicked the year off by visiting a factory that I had wanted to see for an absolute age, widely regarded as one of the best industrial locations in the UK by explorers and even in the freezing cold January rain I could see why. The difficulty of the access has helped keep many of the idiots out.

2. On the same trip I paid a revisit to the long-derelict Cannon Brewery to show my friend around but left sharpish upon the arrival of a very unsubtle group of teenagers making loads of noise and breaking things. Demolition has since begun sadly.

3. One of my friends who lives in a city about 40 minutes from mine discovered an abandoned school close to where she lived, she went to check it out alone but was spooked by noise inside which turned out to be coming from all the metal window blinds banging against the broken windows whenever even a small gust of wind blew. I visited here twice to show different people around.

4. This small hospital near to where I live closed very recently, and was still completely powered up. Part of the building was being used as storage by a film props company and there was an unavoidable alarm on the ground floor which we managed to trigger twice...

5. Former Jewish school. Fun until we met the very angry caretaker on the way out who tried to run one of us down with his van.

6. Abandoned post office, one of the highlights of my year. It's location in the middle of a large city and the extremely tricky and exposed access means it is totally untouched and an absolute beauty.

7. Former nursing home, the place was a bit of a mess when I saw it in January but since then it has been absolutely destroyed by vandals.

8. Piano factory I have visited numerous times over the past two years.

9. Old football (soccer) stadium, had the most embarrassing exit from a location ever and a minor brush with the police here, both conveniently at the same time.

10. Another highlight of my year, Bellerbys College. A huge old manor house-turned school with additional outbuildings including a large gym hall, swimming pool, science labs, and an accomodation block which still had a working clock tower if you wound it up in the room below. Renovation works started in August 2015.

11. Royal Ordnance Factory, where bombs were made.

12. School for children with special needs and disabilities.

13. Victorian school that was expanded massively in the 1950s, before closing in the late 90s and being taken over by an art college, which also later closed. This place attracted quite a bit of attention when I first uploaded the photos, I think it's my most viewed photoset on Flickr this year.

14. Victorian fort on the south coast, something a little different. But very interesting.

15. Naval training facility, also on the south coast. Located beside a nudist beach although I think February was too chilly for them.

16. My first foray on the other side of the Atlantic took place in March, and to say it was cold was an understatement...and perhaps spending five and a half hours wading through thigh-deep snow in the middle of the Canadian wilderness among thousands of mostly buried cars wasn't the wisest idea ever.

17. Abandoned church.

18. Another abandoned church, my personal favourite from this year. Such a shame some moron has graffitied over the Jesus mural now.

19. A well-known abandoned Maltings

20. A lesser known abandoned Maltings, now half demolished which took away the only viable access point.

21. Railway Roundhouse, total chance discovery.

22. Abandoned shopping plaza, again another total chance discovery.

23. Abandoned mansion in NJ, now being renovated.

24. Abandoned theatre, another highlight from this year for me. The whole auditorium was filled with mist from the melting snow running off the roof into it, which gave it an incredible atmosphere.

25. I finally explored an American asylum, I had wanted to see one for so long and it didn't disappoint. It wasn't a Kirkbride but I'm still happy...

26. Popped into this ruined shell of another asylum on the way back, took one photo. Would like to go back for more next time even though it's absolutely ruined.

27. Gorgeous little hydroelectric power plant, the best single room explore I've done. Beautifully undamaged by idiots.

28. Nearby was this hotel which had suffered an alarming amount of subsidence on one side. The location was absolutely stunning however, located right on the cliff edge looking down the river valley.

29. I don't often fall in love with locations but this place I made an exception for. I don't know what it was about the place but I didn't want to leave.

30. Abandoned grain elevator, one of the most mindblowing bits of industry I saw all year. I could have spent all day in here it was that good.

31. High School complete with collapsed auditorium roof in a very rough neighbourhood. There was a traffic accident on an intersection outside here when we were inside which meant climbing out in full view of the cops dealing with it, they didn't care.

32. 'That school'

33. Back on home soil I made it a hat-trick of schools in a row with this one that promised so much from the outside but delivered nothing except bare rooms and rotten floors inside.

34. I returned to George Dyke Dropforging which I first saw in 2014, the whole place has now been flattened.

35. I made two trips to a fantastic derelict manor house which once housed the headquarters for a chemical manufacturing company.

36. I'm not one for small houses really and the air quality in here probably shortened my lifespan considerably, and finding plastic urns with the ashes of the former residents still inside them wasn't the best either.

37. A large ceramic factory I had wanted to see for years, a total ruin but the kind of place I love.

38. Admin block of a large pharmaceutical factory, which was demolished years back. The admin block stood until the end of the summer until it too was demolished.

39. A factory that manufactured fire & rescue service machinery among other things.

40. Stunning abandoned church in the north of England.

41. A not so stunning church in the north of England

42. A large semi-demolished mill we found by accident driving to another location.

43. Another mill, however the route into the much bigger and nicer half was well sealed.

44. All that led up to an absolutely fantastic derelict mill which has been pretty much untouched by vandals. Sneaking around in here knowing that on the floors above you and through a (presumably) locked sliding door at the end of the room were people working was pretty awesome and I was so sure we were going to get busted at numerous points.

45. At the end of May I headed to a huge derelict hospital in the midlands. I'm not usually one for modernised hospitals but this was a peach, as far as they go. Usually they are stripped of everything for use elsewhere but this one wasn't and the mortuary was the icing on the cake. It is now being stripped out for demolition, the mortuary has been badly graffed up and it has meathead security who patrol the outside carrying metal bars. No such drama when I went thankfully...

46. Following an epic fail at a hotel on the south coast me and my mate headed to another mortuary - two in a week is something I've never managed before. This small mortuary chapel stands separate from a large and boring and well sealed derelict hospital which was reportedly being used as an organised fight club venue earlier this year. A real nice little untouched gem.

47. Before heading home in the glorious summer sun we stopped to check out a very overlooked brickworks in the middle of nowhere. It was totally intact and a wonder to see, and on the way out we bumped into the owner who after being a bit suspicious was happy to talk about the place as he was once an old site manager before it was closed.

48. The news that the security, the guard dogs and the CCTV cameras had disappeared from this fantastic derelict mill complex meant I high-tailed it down there very quickly. The main buildings are very stripped but it houses the most amazing engine room I have ever seen, combining steam, electic and diesel power sources. I could have spent all day in that one room.

49. Half a mile north is the other part of the mill, a place I have visited a number of times now over the years as I never tire of shooting the details in the place. It's a real time capsule.

50. I finally checked out a small local spot, a mysterious swimming pool which was once attached to the now converted county asylum but left to rot.

51. Another location I had wanted to see for years, a former RAF Hospital home to one of the longest enclosed corridors in the country. This is one of the few places I've been to genuinely creep me out, there is something about the place which just doesn't feel right. I'm far from alone in feeling this as well, it's often reported that people get uncomfortable in certain areas, hear strange noises or feel like there is someone standing behind them in the corridor.

52. A care home, left to rot for two decades with very little vandalism. My perfectly decayed location.

53. Abandoned house beside a railway line, the whole house stunk because of a pair of aquariums still half full of stagnant water left in a bedroom.

54. Another abandoned house, a chance find while on the way somewhere else.

55. Tanks!!!

56. An old school friend of mine found an abandoned building whilst out with his cycling club so sent me to investigate. Turned out to be an old village school house, quietly decaying away almost totally hidden by undergrowth.

57. A big barn full of abandoned classic cars.

58. I avoided a large amount of floor coming down on my head in this old mill by about ten seconds.

59. I returned to the site of my first ever explore back in June 2009. The main asylum complex has been demolished for a long time now, however there are still a couple of buildings on the outskirts. One only closed in 2010 so is modernised and not decayed, but one closed in 1994 with the rest of the asylum so for me it was one massive trip down memory lane.

60. One more location that I thought I'd never see again was this cinema. I first explored it in January 2010 and my photos were total cats arse, so to get in again after it had been sealed for so long was awesome.

61. A water tower for an old country estate, hidden deep in the woods.

62. Back across the Atlantic, I had my first experience of a 'proper' rooftop.

63. I lay personal claim on finding this church, I never expected it to be as awesome as it was inside.

64. Afterwards we paid a visit to one of my favourite factories I have ever explored. I had no idea what to expect from here as I'd seen no photos of it prior to heading there and I was blown away. We simply don't have these kind of factories in the UK any more.

65. The well-known silos. All fun and games until the cops rolled in as we were packing up to leave.

66. My second proper rooftop.

67. Our motley crew managed to explore this high school on the same day that there was a whole school reunion taking place on the old playing field behind it.

68. Some ruined apartments.

69. The rubble church

70. Another abandoned school...

71. A sprawling multi-storey religious hospital-turned-nursing-home, closed for years and years and almost totally empty apart from the most awesome dental suite I've ever seen, in a pitch black room.

72. Revisited this industrial facility I first saw last year as the people I were with hadn't been before. Left pretty quickly after the smashy smashy crew turned up to break things.

73. Had an even quicker explore of this factory where I very narrowly avoided arrest. Not fun.

74. Former wireworks that used to produce millions of staples among other things, now securely sealed up. It's in the ghetto so probably a good thing.

75. The huge former hotel turned into mega nursing home, neither me nor my friend expected to find this accessible on a chance walk past as it had been sealed up for so long.

76. Just a random abandoned house...

77. Random quarry scrapyard.

78. Former country club, I never expected something of this size that's for sure.

79. I made a return to one of my favourite industrial locations in the world, hidden deep in upstate New York.

80. There was an abandoned shoe factory as well.

81. And a cheeky bit of cocking around on a trestle bridge.

82. I returned to the Railway Roundhouse primarily to practise my photographing of people.

83. On my last weekend in America I visited one of my favourite hospitals to date.

84. And on my last full day finally got to explore the closest thing left to Pyestock you can find.

85. Back on home soil again first port of call was an absolutely filthy incinerator plant.

86. Then it was off to Scotland. First location the shell of an asylum.

87. Then an extremely quick explore as the house attached to the garage is sealed up and a nosey neighbour rumbled us poking around.

88. Onwards to another chapel, this one was attached to a large residential property but that has been half demolished and the rest is in a perilous state.

89. Heading back into England I finally got a chance to see a former Catholic Seminary I had had on my 'want' list for a long time.

90. On the way home we popped into an old Masonic Lodge, now infested with pigeon poo. Went in the hard way then found the open front door like normal.

91. After five attempts I finally got to see inside this chapel in an abandoned cemetery, which was good timing as it's been ruined by vandals and idiot taggers now.

92. Rediscovered a huge brewery we all thought was long demolished. Turns out it's still there in it's entireity.

93. I never thought I'd see two wireworks in a year but this was less impressive than the American one.

94. The burnt out collapsed remains of a once grand manor house still look nice from the outside.

95. Another small house, I'm still not sold on these places.

96. Metal foundry visited in truly biblical rain.

97. Another brickworks, technically this was my 100th explore of 2015 as I visited a couple of locations twice through the year and there was one I took no photos of.

98. Long abandoned railway tunnel, a new experience for me.

99. One final empty house, very very empty.

100. Derelict publishing facility. Pain in the arse to get in and not really worth the effort.

101. Random find of an old hospital therapy building.

102. The best derelict RAF base in the country.

103. Not the best derelict RAF base in the country.

I think I can say it's been a pretty decent year...thanks for reading if you got this far!