Derelict Miscellany: Ten Year Retrospective
 
Page Updated: November 2014
DerelictMisc started in November 2004 under the banner of ‘Derelict Horsham’ – a website which sought to document derelict and abandoned places in my hometown. In those days, urban exploration was still new and exciting, media attention for the subject was practically non-existent and the number of UrbEx websites numbered no more than ten or twenty.
I began by photographing small sites: pillboxes, ruined barns, demolition sites in town. Horsham was in the midst of a major redevelopment and new housing threatened to swallow vast swathes of the surrounding countryside. Recording the disappearing relics of the old Horsham became something of an obsession: every weekend, half-day and lunchbreak consumed with directionless wanderings in search of abandoned or transitional spaces.
Soon, with the aid of a map and my trusty bicycle, I began visiting larger sites: a disused station, secret bunkers and even a brooding gothic mansion. Inevitably I also widened my search geographically and so in January 2005 the present Derelict Miscellany was born.
Since then, I have explored hundreds of sites, of which more than fifty are written up here. These include twelve factories, eleven churches, six hospitals, five country houses, a graveyard of fighter jets and Wales' last lead mine.
This gallery displays some of my older photographs which no longer have their own pages (many pages were lost due to a hard drive failure in 2007).
Row I, L-R: [1]. Demolished building, Denne Parade, Horsham, 2004; [2]. Forestry Commission Ranger Station, St. Leonard's Forest, 2005;
[3-4]. The Nook, Dorking Hospital Nurses' Home, shortly before demolition in 2005.
Row II, L-R: [1]. Dorking Hospital redevelopment, 2005; [2]. Auclaye Brickworks, Capel, 2005; [3]. The webmaster explores, 2005; [4]. Fulfords Farm, Itchingfield, 2004 (being redeveloped in 2014)
Row III, L-R: [1]. Lower Lodge, Netherne Hospital (demolished c2006); [2]. The webmaster at Netherne, 2005; [3]. Netherne Hospital Recreation Hall, 2005; [4]. Graylands Farm, Warnham, 2004 (now converted to housing)
Row IV, L-R: [1]. Fox skull, Scott's Barn, Warnham, 2006; [2]. Bathtub and shed, Lampeter, 2005; [3]. Netherne Hospital, 2005;
[4]. Abattoir/angling shop behind Springfield Road, Horsham, 2004 (demolished c.2007)
Row V, L-R: [1]. Farm machinery at Broadbridge Heath, 2005; [2]. Fairlight Cove, 2005; [3]. Sports pavilion, Graylands Estate, Warnham, 2006; [4]. Derelict allotments, Rushams Road area, Horsham, 2004
Row VI, L-R: [1]. Horsham Yard weighbridge, 2006; [2]. Crane at Horsham Yard, 2005 (removed shortly after); [3]. Sedgwick Park, 2005;
[4]. Brighton Road Baptist Church, Horsham (demolished c.2006)
Row VII, L-R: [1]. Broadbridge Farm, Broadbridge Heath, 2005 (now converted to housing); [2]. Ockley Brickworks, 2005; [3]. Brains, 2005;
[4]. Graylands Farm, Warnham, 2004 (now converted to housing).
My first digital camera, the Sony Mavica MVC-FD75 was a formidable beast: weighing in at 1lb 5oz with an impressive 0.35 megapixels, it recorded 640x480 images to a 3˝” floppy diskette with a series of unpleasant grinding noises. Many of the photos I took with it were resized for dial-up internet speeds and the originals have subsequently been lost. The average size of these images is therefore 448x336 and many have suffered from JPEG deterioration. Nonetheless, many of the places shown have now disappeared or changed beyond recognition and as such the images cannot be recreated. I present them here as a record of the early days of my exploring, between 2004 and 2006.
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