Whilst the majority of the exploring published on this websites concentrates on the Cold War era and the Mental Health system within the UK, there is a need for a number of pages dedicated to the other sites that we have explored over the years. You will find it all here, ranging from industrial sites through to religious centres.
Acid House, Frith Park, Surrey
The Frith Park estate, which lies to the south west of Walton-on-the-Hill and comprises of approximately 104 hectares of land nestled in the Surrey Hills. The site comprises Frith Park, a former 19th century locally listed manor house, together a number of post-war commercial buildings, four cottages, a former 16th century farmhouse and a group...
BBC Tatsfield Receiving Station, Surrey
BBC Tatsfield was established in 1929 to monitor domestic radio broadcasts and to ensure that that the frequency was correct and that it was of the highest broadcast quality possible. During the Second World War the site was used as a technical site to monitor propaganda sites being broadcast from Europe. It carried out technical...
Bramham House, Leeds
The house was built in 1806 by the Vicar of Bramham , the Rev. Robert Bownas. No less than a decade later they sold the house and grounds to James Fox of Bramham Park for £3000. The house was then gifted to his son, George Lane Fox, as a wedding present. George bought and moved to Bowcliffe Hall in...
Bron Y Garth Hospital Casual Ward, Penrhyndeudraeth
The Festiniog Poor Law Union was formed on 8th May, 1837. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 22 in number, representing 15 parishes in the area of Snowdonia. In 1831, the census showed that the population that fell within these parishes was taken to be 11,489; around the same time, the...
Celuan Mill, Talybont, Wales
In the middle of the 19th Century, the Morgan Family constructed a new woolen mill in Talybont on the banks of the River Celuan, this was the only mill to be in this location. Four other woolen mills were constructed nearby along the banks of the River Leri. The Celuan Mill is thought to have...
Central Power Station Switchgear Control Room, Bromborough
Central Power Station was built in 1918 to serve the industrial works owned by the Lever Brothers. Initially, it consisted of three chain grate coal fired boiler and a 5megawatt generator set. The power stations capacity was expanded during the following decade when another three boilers and 6.25megawatt generator set were installed to serve the local area....
Clock House Brickworks, Surrey
Brick production at the Clock House Brickworks dates back to 1933 when the Clock House Brick Company Ltd was founded to exploit a rich seam of Weald Clay that had been discovered. By 1941 the original company entered into liquidation due to the war effort and the lack of need for the hollow-block ceramics they...
Cornish Works, George Barnsley & Sons, Sheffield
George Barnsley and Sons Ltd were founded 1836 by George Barnsley, who began making and selling files in Wheeldon Street in the Brookhill Area. George operated the business by buying in blank steels already cut to shape, converting the metal to files and selling them on. It was around 1850 that the business moved to the...
Dinorwic Slate Quarry, North Wales
Dinorwic (sometimes Dinorwig) Slate Quarry is a large former slate quarry located in North Wales located between the villages of Llanberis and Dinorwic in Wales that saw operation between 1787 and 1969. At its height at the turn of the century, it was the second largest slate quarry in Wales, and the world, after the...
Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, New York
Note: If you happen to find yourself in New York and visiting the Ellis Island museum; ditch the crowns and join one of the hard hat tours for $20. It's worth it and you'll learn a lot more about the history of the Islands. The original immigration station on Ellis Island opened on the 1st...
Federal Mogul Camshafts, Surrey
Federal Mogul announced in May 2007 that it was seeking 70 redundancies in its 140-strong workforce at the long established engineering premises in Surrey. It announced that it would continue to manufacture out of the Elstead factory, supplying customers such as BMW and Perkins. However, in 2008 the remaining workforce was informed that the entire...
Finson Fertiliser Factory, Essex
Fisons Fertilizers Limited began in 1959 the manufacture of ammonium nitrate for use in Fisons compound fertilisers at their new site in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex. This nitrate salt provides nitrogen to the soil, one of the three essential elements of all plant food, as is used on the Agricultural industry as a main fertilizer. A starting material...
G.L. Murphy’s Machinery Factory, Menston
Established in 1926, G.L. Murphy was a family run business and supplied bespoke machinery to the tanning industry, as well as building rag cutting and cable stripping machinery. The company also provide refurbishment and renovation works for various machinery types. In 1949 the company located to the Imperial works on the rural outskirts of Menston,...
La Porte Fullers Earth Works, Redhill
The greyish, mineral-rich clay, called fuller's earth is well-known for its absorbent qualities and has many uses ranging from ingredients incosmetics to 'mud' used for drilling oil wells. Its best known use is as cat litter, of which millions of bags are sold every year to adoring pet owners. Fullers earth is now imported from the...
Leri Tweed Mills, Mid-Wales
The Leri Woolen Mills are situated at the confluence of the Ceulan and Leri rivers in Talybont, Mid-Wales and produced Tweed for suit making. Motive power was provided using both water wheels from the river, and workers, to power the looms and spinning machinery. Unfortunately, little history can be found about the mills. What can be...
Loxley Independent Chapel, Sheffield
Loxley Chapel was built in 1787 by the Rev Benjamin Greaves who was the curate of Bradfield, along with a few friends. The chapel closed in 1993 after the parish had dwindled to an unsustainable amount. When the construction of the chapel had been completed, consecration was to be refused because the builders declined to...
Middlesex Hospital Chapel, London
The first Middlesex Hospital opened in 1745 as the Middlesex Infirmary in Windmill Street, London. It moved to Mortimer Street in 1757 and was incorporated in 1836 by an Act of Parliament. In 1924 the building was found to be structurally unstable and was to be rebuilt and the rebuild was completed with out ever...
RNCF Holton Heath, Dorset
The Royal Naval Cordite Factory (RNCF), Holton Heath was opened in January 1916 and was the first purpose-built site for cordite MD production in the country. Other factories in the country were already in existence, but they also produced other weapons for the armed forces. The site at Holton Heath was selected because its adjacency to...
Shoreham Cement Works, West Sussex
The Beeding Portland Cement Company was established in 1878 in Upper Beeding near Shoreham; production of cement at the site did not begin at the in 1883. Initially, six Johnson Chamber kilns were in operation in 1890 and had a maximum weekly output of up to 144 tonnes of cement. The Plant was taken over...
Silverlands Orphanage, Chertsey
Nestled on the outskirts of the M25 in Chertsey lays a Grade II listed manor house with a potted history of uses. Originally built in the early 19th century by the Brewer Robert Porter, it was then went through multiple ownerships until it became the Actors Orphanage in 1938. The Actors Orphanage had previously started...
Sinaia Bobsleigh / Skeleton Track, Prahova County, Romania
Located in the mountains around Sinaia, Prahova, the Sinaia Bobsled track was built between 1974 & 1976 and used through until approximately 2009. The course was constructed primarily of concrete, with wood side bars and consisted of 11-14 turns, a bridge across the main access road and a total length of 1500m. Known locally as...
Swillington Brickworks, Leeds
Swillington Brickworks was constructed between at the end of the 1950's, finished in the mid 1960's, by George Armitage and Sons PLC, who had a history of making bricks in the area since 1824. Initially, the site was built to produce around 30,000 bricks per day, but by the 1980's it was capable of up to 100,000 bricks per...
The Littlewoods Building, Liverpool
The Littlewoods Pools empire was founded in 1923 when John Moore, John & Colin Askham, and Bill Hughes joined together to start a pools business. Their business was based on the same principal as a similar scheme started in Birmingham by John Jervis Barnard, who had latched on to the countries passion for Football and Betting....
The National Gas Turbine Establishment – Pyestock
The National Gas Turbine Establishment, or Pyestock, was the countries leading Jet Engine research establishment. In 1926 the Royal Aircraft Establishment under the guidance of Dr Alan Griffith begun theorising the development of the Gas Turbine for the powering of an aircraft. The RAE authorised two experiments to be carried out to verify the theory...
The Potters Manor, Sussex
Nestled in the Sussex Hills is an old Edwardian Manor House, dating back to 1904. Not a lot of history can be found about the house, but for an unknown reason the last occupants deserted the property and left behind a vast amount of belongings. From what we can gather, the last occupants where orchid...
Tone Mill, Wellington, Somerset
During the late sixteenth century the Were family of Wellington began producing serge as a cottage industry. In the early seventeenth century, Edward Fox married Hannah Were and soon took over the serge trade. Typically, the wool industry thrived in areas used for sheep farming, such as Somerset, and Taunton serge was particularly popular. The Were family...
Tonedale Mill, Wellington, Somerset
During the late sixteenth century the Were family of Wellington began producing serge as a cottage industry. In the early seventeenth century, Edward Fox married Hannah Were and soon took over the serge trade. Typically, the wool industry thrived in areas used for sheep farming, such as Somerset, and Taunton serge was particularly popular. The Were family...
Tower Brickworks, Selborne
Brickwork production has existed at the Selborne site since circa 1872, where handmade bricks were produced using traditional methods. On the 6th of November, 2009, the site was closed due to the worldwide economic down turn that severely effected the construction market. Various plans have been put forward to revitalise the works, including a digester...
Tower Colliery, Hirwaun, Wales
Coal mining at Tower Colliery can be traced back to the start of the 19th Century when it was locally known that it was possible to drift mine coal from around Hirwaun common. In 1864 the first colliery was established and the first drift mine was dug. The colliery was named Tower after the nearby folly, Crawshay's...
West Ham Magistrates’ and Coroners’ Court, Stratford
The West Ham court house, also know as West ham Magistrates' or West ham Police and Coroner's court, is a Yellow brick Victorian era Italianate Court house built in 1884 and officially opened in 1885. The complex of buildings were designed by the Borough Architect & Engineer Lewis Angell. West Ham court house was later extended by...
West Middlesex Hospital, Brentford
Before the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, the administration of the English Poor Laws was the responsibility of individual parishes throughout the UK. These varied widely in their size, populations, financial resources and requirements, which led to differing standards and levels of care due to the voluntary nature of the Old Poor Law....
Wolverton Railway Works, Buckinghamshire
The Wolverton Railway Works was established in 1838 by the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR). The railway works is famously known as being the home of the Royal Carriages. The Works were situated at the midpoint of the 112-mile corridor from London to Birmingham. Two towns, Wolverton and New Bradwell were built to serve the railway...