The Thread of Abandoned Places

[Perpetual Man]

Another thread seemed to digress very slightly and very interestingly into a chat about places that have become abandoned over the years, moldering remains of settlements, houses and villages, even cities that sit all but forgotten by society.

There is something almost hauntingly fascinating about these places and I wondered whether they could support their own thread, A place to chat about them and to post images.

So here it is!

 

[Perpetual Man]

To start with something fairly big.

In 1986 the Russian nuclear reactor at Chernobyl melted down creating one of the biggest nuclear disasters ever known. At the time there was talk of radioactive clouds sweeping across the continent and mutated life. Countless people were forced to uproot and leave their lives as it was deemed (rightly) that their homes were in danger from the radiation sweeping across the land.

One of these was the city of Pripyat and this is a recent film taken by a drone showing a city abandoned for the better part of 30 years.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

These are photos of one of the abandoned cottages I mentioned on the other thread. This is the one most easily seen and visible on satellite. One end of the roof has been restored recently to use as an animal shelter, but originally that end of the cottage would have been the weaving shed and would have housed several looms for weaving linen from flax. Now the living part is completely derelict and our horses graze around it in the summer. It has a beautiful overgrown garden at the back and the folks who lived here were pretty self-sufficient.

 

[Perpetual Man]

That's quite spectacular Kerry, did you say they were on your land? Or am I away with the fairies again?

 

[Perpetual Man]

Ironically someone just posted this on FB.

Coincidental?

Maybe:

The Thirty Eight Most Hauntingly Abandoned Places

 

[The Ace]

Roxburgh Castle - all that now remains of the ancient Royal Burgh of Roxburgh (there's a modern town close by, but the loss of Berwick meant that it lost its outlet for trade goods down the Tweed to the sea and Europe).

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Your film was very spooky (forgot to say that above). What a place.

Or am I away with the fairies again?

Quite possibly, but not in this case. It is on our land.

There are others which I'll try to get photos of tomorrow if the rain stops - they are much more impressive. We also have an ancient roadway running across one of our fields. I'm not sure how old it is but it shows as an abandoned lane on maps from the 1800s. It is almost certainly several hundred years old. Two dry stone walls edge it and it's only wide enough for a horse and cart, or maybe for herds being taken to market. Not even the oldest local can tell us anything about it.

We also have a huge tunnel running under our land. It is the abandoned Mourne Conduit, dug by hand in the late 1800s to bring water from the Silent Valley Reservoir in the Mournes to Belfast. There are inspection houses along the route and hundreds of little red gates to live the line inspectors access to the tunnel. We have a few of those too. One of them is now painted green and is our garden gate.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Goboly in the Antrim glens is an abandoned village - I used it in Waters and the Wild.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Like the picture Ace, it always seems a shame when there is so little left of something like a castle.

Look forwards to it Kerry, weather permitting.

I was thinking of taking a walk tomorrow and trying to get a picture of somewhere myself, but the weather is not looking good here now either.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

We have VERY old abandoned "villages" near.

only the mounds are left visible.

The abandoned villages on Achill Island are eerie. But it's 36 years since I was there.

 

[BAYLOR]

To start with something fairly big.

In 1986 the Russian nuclear reactor at Chernobyl melted down creating one of the biggest nuclear disasters ever known. At the time there was talk of radioactive clouds sweeping across the continent and mutated life. Countless people were forced to uproot and leave their lives as it was deemed (rightly) that their homes were in danger from the radiation sweeping across the land.

One of these was the city of Pripyat and this is a recent film taken by a drone showing a city abandoned for the better part of 30 years.

Tragic

 

[Perpetual Man]

There is not too far away from me an open park. It used to be a stately home, Radford Manor but it was leveled many, many years ago.

But there are still things of interest there. The park itself isn't abandoned of course...

Some of the ruins around the park. There is no description of what they actually were, but I'd guess one was a mill and the other a boat house

 

[Perpetual Man]

Also at Radford a rather lovely Folly

And a Lime Kiln

 

[Perpetual Man]

And finally, littered around the shore are the decaying hulks of old ships and boats:

View attachment 23542

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Why is it that the hulks of old ships always make me unbelievably sad, whereas ruined buildings fascinate me? Ships seem to have souls, somehow.

 

[Perpetual Man]

I don't know Kerry, but I feel the same. There is something hauntingly fascinating in looking at the ships, but there is, as you say, almost a feeling of life to them, a soul is a perfect description.

 

[Perpetual Man]

And finally for today Drake's Island situated in the centre of Plymouth Sound. I can't be bothered to type up all the details, so I'm linking through to Wikipedia.

Years ago it was an activity centre and Mrs Perp can remember going there, wandering round miles of underground tunnels....

Now it is all slowly rotting.

Drake's Island

Photo Gallery

 

[Caledfwlch]

BBC News recently did an article on this sort of thing, specifically the "Red Zones" around Northern France, areas from ww1 that are so contaminated by chemicals from explosives, unexploded ordinance and hundreds of thousands of corpses, often only a few inches deep that all housing, agriculture etc is banned, probably for centuries if not longer.

Since 1945, the Déminage à Douaumont who patrol the areas and destroy ordinance they find have lost over 600 members of staff, killed on duty.

In Wales we have the abandoned village of Troedrhiwfuwch
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-32258204

 

[BAYLOR]

The French town of Oradour Sur Glane abandoned since the 1944 massacre of 642 residence at the hands of the Waffen SS. The place is a war memorial.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

These photos are of the inspection house I mentioned above for the Mourne Conduit (One from outside, one taken through the window) and one of the red gates. All these are in our woods.