Urbexing

Bex Appeal

I've always loved exploring derelict, disused and abandoned buildings long before this sort of activity was called urban exploration. My favourite types of "urbexees" are factories and I've been interested in industrial architecture, local history and archaeology as long as I can remember. I like manmade subterranean stuff like tunnels and mineshafts but am also quite keen on caves, although I'd prefer not to go anywhere where there is a danger of flash floods.

I'm not entirely sure where my fascination with urbexing comes from but I have more than a sneaking suspicion that growing up in the shadow of Markham Main's enormous pit wheel has something to do with it. On of my earliest memories is of hearing a monstrous sound that presumably signalled the change of shift and seeing scores of men whose eyes were rimmed with black.
I say one of my earliest memories as I believe that my first memory is of sitting in a church pew looking at pictures of Daniel in the Lion's Den while my Nana Minnie polished the brasses.

Is it just a coincidence that I love industrial and ecclesiastical buildings (and the smell of Brasso)?

Ancient History

One of my earlier explorations or a church took place in 1989 when I decided to look around a derelict church in Bedford Hill, Balham. Nigel wasn't keen on this at all but held my hand anyway. He absolutely forbade me to venture downstairs (which was in complete darkness and blocked by chairs).

Growing up in South Queensferry, there were numerous opportunities to rake around disused buildings and I didn't really appreciate this at the time. There was a wonderfully ruinous marina at Port Edgar which, along with WW1 buildings had, for some reason, a stage. There was the old picture house in the high street which was used at the time to store the council's landscaping equipment. I really wish I had have been sober enough to remember more about the building inside. There was the obligatory "Witch's House" in the Loan from which I salvaged a metal box containing lots of newspapers all from the week that JFK was shot.

At the other end of town, on the front going towards the Hawes Pier was an old hotel which had been gutted by fire and was boarded up. I entered that through the kitchen and retrieved a menu pad. I'm fairly certain that the building was later converted into luxury apartments and that Jim "Simple Mind" Kerr owned one when he was still with Patsy. Needless to say, my activities and 'souvenir hunting' were all very innocent but I really wish I had taken more notes or even photographs.

In South Queensferry there were always rumours of secret tunnels running from various houses. In fact, my friend Heather really did have one such tunnel running from her basement emerging in the woods. There were small animal bones in the tunnel and there was a grave marked "Flossie" in the woods. This might sound really far-fetched but as lots of my friends' parents were employed by the Dundas/Rosebery/Barnbougle/Dalmeny Estates, they often as not lived in peculiar lodge houses, gatehouses and grand villas perched on hilltops …and in woods. I thought I would die of excitement going through the tunnel at Heather's house and after that I was hooked on all things subterreanean.

Alas, I never found any of the other rumoured tunnels in South Queensferry, instead I had to make do with a cave. Not just any cave of course but one we were always warned about going into and which had a high shelf a few feet from the entrance. I was trying to fathom out how to reach this ledge - no mean feat as it was very dark inside the cave and I hadn't at that point began to sprout to my full adult height of 5'8. When I eventually decided to call it a day and come back better equipped I found that the tide had come in and I could no longer make my way back via the path without doing some serious swimming (and getting into serious bother from my mum) so I made the foolhardy decision to climb the crags. I ended up with nothing more serious than a pair of skinned knees and ripped school uniform.

My sister Rachel recalls being bribed by me to go through a toilet window in order to let me in through the front door of a deserted hotel on a West Sussex beach. There was evidence of a security guard (underpants under the one fully made up bed) and a fully stocked bar which held little interest to us kids. We scarpered when we realised we thought we had triggered an infra red alarm. We kept the key we found though. I hope the security guard didn't lose his job or anything. On second thoughts…where was he?? I must point out that Rachel is now a responsible grown up with a job, husband and child and no longer breaks into buildings.

In about 1986/7, on what is now an industrial estate in Bonnington Road, Edinburgh, I had one of the biggest frights while urbexing. I was in a dilapidated building on the site of what later became Spider Systems, behind Dr Bell's Baths. It was getting dark and I was in this totally wrecked building. It was full of masonry and there was no good reason for anyone of sound mind to be in the place. After a monumental struggle to reach what remained of the first floor and realising I had my work cut out to make a safe exit I heard two voices. I flew out of that building and never returned. Up till then it hadn't really occurred to me that other people might use buildings and might even be hostile to some intrepid explorer.

So, is it dangerous?

Well common sense tells you not to crawl around with bare hands if there is a change of being jabbed by a used needle. Industrial sites may have traces of chemicals. There may be sheer drops. The list goes on....

Be sensible

• Take a torch + a spare. A strap on headlight is ideal.
• Tell someone where you are going. Remember if your mobile phone works you are probably not doing it right! Some hard-core urbexers take walkie talkies with them but I'd personally prefer to fill my pockets with chocolate.
• Take a couple of plasters.
• Wear a hard hat, gloves, and reinforced boots - coupled with a hi-vis vest and a clip-board if you want to look "official".
• Ideally go with others - see meetup groups below.
• Take any medication you may require.
  
• Remember your camera!

Is it legal?

(or whether to use boltcutters or not). Well, it depends to a large extent what you plan to do. If you have a genuine interest in architecture and want to take photos then what harm are you doing? I think you should disguise your point of entry if only to deter youngsters from getting into bother. If, on the other hand you are a moron who wants to vandalise property for the hell of it then you deserve to be caught and stop reading our website you eejit.

 

The much-missed Ninjalicious on the Infiltration site says "I don't think there is anything wrong with urban exploration, at least not the type described here and on 95 percent of the other sites on the Internet, and I can't pretend I do. Genuine urban explorers never vandalize, steal or damage anything - we don't even litter. We're in it for the thrill of discovery and a few nice pictures, and probably have more respect for and appreciation of our cities' hidden spaces than most of the people who think we're naughty. We don't harm the places we explore. We love the places we explore.
While it's true that some aspects of the hobby happen to be illegal, it's important not to confuse the words "illegal" and "immoral". Laws against trespassing are like laws against being out after curfew: people get into trouble not for actually doing anything harmful, but simply because the powers that be are worried that they might."

 

I don't quite know when I will manage more urbexing but there is a certain former telephone exchange and an underground bunker I have my eye on. Watch this space and, if you fancy joining me or other urbexers then join one of the Urbexing Meet Up groups of which there are 93 worldwide and about half a dozen or so in the UK.

Meanwhile I will have to restrict my activities to watching the following films all of which have urbex appeal.

The Hole (2001)
A modern thriller set in a British private school. Based on the best selling cult novel by Guy Burt, 'After The Hole' takes us on a disturbing roller coaster ride where "truth" and "fiction" become commodities in a bizarre adolescent prank which goes wrong.
28 Days Later... (2002)
A powerful virus escapes from a British research facility. Transmitted in a drop of blood and devastating within seconds, the virus locks those infected into a permanent state of murderous rage. Within 28 days the country is overwhelmed and a handful of survivors begin their attempts to salvage a future, little realising that the deadly virus is not the only thing that threatens them.
The Omega Man (1971)
Robert Neville, a doctor,due to an experimental vaccine, is the only survivor of an apocalyptic war waged with biological weapons. The plague caused by the war has killed everyone else except for a few hundred deformed, nocturnal people calling themselves "The Family". The plague has caused them to become sensitive to light, as well as homicidally psychotic. They believe science and technology to be the cause of the war and their punishment, and Neville, as the last symbol of science, the old world, and a "user of the wheel", must die. Neville, using electricty, machinery, and science attempts to hold them at bay.

Links: Infiltration - www.infiltration.org/ The definitive Urbex site with an impressive load of links.

Urban Exploration Resource - http://www.uer.ca - a website which offers many resources to the average urban explorer. A large forum, spread across several websites, allows the community to exchange ideas. The Location Database allows anyone in the community to create, update, and comment on a specific Location. A Location is defined as a building, drain, tunnel ... essentially any location where UE might take place. UER is created and maintained by Avatar-X

Footnote

Ninjalicious died on Tuesday, August 23, 2005 aged 31. He was the reason UE has a name and how most people got into it or heard of it. I read about his passing on a forum 10 days after his death and, at that point, the message had been viewed 18793 times. He really was that big a deal.

He started the Infiltration zine and his book "Access All Areas" can be bought from the infiltration website. Ninjalicious was a recipient of a donated organ and his wife and family would like to encourage everyone to register as an organ donor (and, most importantly, tell your family of your wishes).

In thinking how I personally can honour his memory I'm minded to buy all the back issues of Infiltration and leave them ziplocked in a suitable bunker or tunnel somewhere.

A tribute can be read here