I is world's bittiest Urban Explorer.
I've always wanted to try my hand at the Urban Explorer thing. I love lonely, lost, derelict and secret places, and climbing around them with a camera sounds like awesome fun. Unfortunately, due partly to having been raised with a healthy fear of the law and therefore being a bit nervous about the whole potential-trespassing aspect, and partly to not having a suitable adventuring partner, I've never managed to get around to really trying it.
However, just to pretend I'm cool, here's a few pictures of my favourite easily-accessible, severely entry-level-UrbEx, Derelict Place in Whitby. :) anglonemi, remember the Terrace I was telling you about? Well, since there weren't any photos online, I went and got a few myself...
Okay, so these were taken on Whitby's West Cliff, behind and above the Whitby Pavilion. This is all that's left of a derelict terrace that must at one time (probably at the height of Whitby's Victorian glories - I'm no architectural expert to guess its exact age) have been part of some kind of cliffside promenade or gardens. It's now completely unused, and what would once have been a magnificently commanding view out over the sea is now blocked off in its forward arc by the massive extension that's since added to the west end of the Pavilion. From the top of the cliffs, you'd hardly know there was anything there, as you can only just see the top of the steps:
However, if you duck through the fence and scramble down, you can get onto the landing at the top quite easily and on looking down, you see what must once have been fine stonework, laid over brick to form an elegant set of stairs. Most of it is now cracking and coming away in chunks, so you have to watch your step (and I apologise for the weird glitch on this first pic, I have no idea what that is but it seems to be in the original photo so I can't get rid of it):
It looks pretty broken up but it's actually fairly safe, despite the litter of broken glass left by the kids who presumably sneak down here on a night to drink. Here's the view from the bottom of the stairs:
And if you go around the corner, you find yourself looking down the length of the terrace:
It actually feels like being on some kind of abandoned stage. There's enough room to put an entire rock band and all their gear on there, if you wanted to (it would make such a fantastic set for a music video) - hells, a smallish band could set up at one end and you could fill the rest of the space with an audience, let alone use it as a stage wide-ways. The surface is cracked and grown over with grass and weeds but still sound underfoot, though it glitters dangerously in the sunshine with more splinters of broken glass. Here's the view from the other end, looking back west:
As I say, before the Pavilion extension was built the view from here must have been something else, as you can tell from this diagonal shot that shows you what's left of it. That's the roof of the Pavilion in shot on the right:
At the northwestern corner there's this rather lovely bit of stepped stonework that not only acts as a structural buttress to the terrace itself, but is a handy way to get down... :)
Having made it down the unofficial steps without mishap (though they're steep and very overgrown, so caution is advised if anyone tries this) I took another few shots from below to show how the terrace must have looked when people had a clear line of sight to it from the cliffside and the beach. As it is now, it's actually almost impossible to see anyone who's on the terrace from anywhere except half a mile away out along the cliffs (or right above the back of the Pavilion where hardly anyone goes anyway) so it's surprisingly private:
So yeah, it's pretty awesome. I would absolutely love to see this place used in a music video or a movie, or heck, even put a band on there and just get them to play. Anyone feel like organising a Friends Of The Terrace event? ^_^
Laters,
Rath
However, just to pretend I'm cool, here's a few pictures of my favourite easily-accessible, severely entry-level-UrbEx, Derelict Place in Whitby. :) anglonemi, remember the Terrace I was telling you about? Well, since there weren't any photos online, I went and got a few myself...
Okay, so these were taken on Whitby's West Cliff, behind and above the Whitby Pavilion. This is all that's left of a derelict terrace that must at one time (probably at the height of Whitby's Victorian glories - I'm no architectural expert to guess its exact age) have been part of some kind of cliffside promenade or gardens. It's now completely unused, and what would once have been a magnificently commanding view out over the sea is now blocked off in its forward arc by the massive extension that's since added to the west end of the Pavilion. From the top of the cliffs, you'd hardly know there was anything there, as you can only just see the top of the steps:
However, if you duck through the fence and scramble down, you can get onto the landing at the top quite easily and on looking down, you see what must once have been fine stonework, laid over brick to form an elegant set of stairs. Most of it is now cracking and coming away in chunks, so you have to watch your step (and I apologise for the weird glitch on this first pic, I have no idea what that is but it seems to be in the original photo so I can't get rid of it):
It looks pretty broken up but it's actually fairly safe, despite the litter of broken glass left by the kids who presumably sneak down here on a night to drink. Here's the view from the bottom of the stairs:
And if you go around the corner, you find yourself looking down the length of the terrace:
It actually feels like being on some kind of abandoned stage. There's enough room to put an entire rock band and all their gear on there, if you wanted to (it would make such a fantastic set for a music video) - hells, a smallish band could set up at one end and you could fill the rest of the space with an audience, let alone use it as a stage wide-ways. The surface is cracked and grown over with grass and weeds but still sound underfoot, though it glitters dangerously in the sunshine with more splinters of broken glass. Here's the view from the other end, looking back west:
As I say, before the Pavilion extension was built the view from here must have been something else, as you can tell from this diagonal shot that shows you what's left of it. That's the roof of the Pavilion in shot on the right:
At the northwestern corner there's this rather lovely bit of stepped stonework that not only acts as a structural buttress to the terrace itself, but is a handy way to get down... :)
Having made it down the unofficial steps without mishap (though they're steep and very overgrown, so caution is advised if anyone tries this) I took another few shots from below to show how the terrace must have looked when people had a clear line of sight to it from the cliffside and the beach. As it is now, it's actually almost impossible to see anyone who's on the terrace from anywhere except half a mile away out along the cliffs (or right above the back of the Pavilion where hardly anyone goes anyway) so it's surprisingly private:
So yeah, it's pretty awesome. I would absolutely love to see this place used in a music video or a movie, or heck, even put a band on there and just get them to play. Anyone feel like organising a Friends Of The Terrace event? ^_^
Laters,
Rath